What's the deal with the PC vs. console animosity?

Can someone please explain this dichotomy to me? Because I've never fully understood it. Rather, I've never understood the extent to which some people identify with one and outright despise the other. Why does it seem so much more intense than the contention of fanboyism between the Big Three in the console business?

Am I missing something? I use a keyboard and mouse for one and a controller for the other. Why are some people seemingly willing to kill over this?

Because people dont understand that sometimes you need the right tool for the right job.

Because stupidity.

People in general feel a need to evangelize things that they have enjoyed for a long time.

I respect other people's preferences and opinions. I don't care if you own a PC, or a console, using a keyboard or a gamepad, whatever you wanna do is YOUR business, I may have an opinion on it but I sure as hell respect it. 
Thing is, I have seen my favorite franchises get twisted and simplified in order to appeal to those who buy an Xbox on Christmas and play video games three hours a week for simple 'casual' entertainment, and therefore I dislike consoles for indirectly fucking with my games. 
 
Buuuut I've been playing less and less games and I'm going to university in two months so I'm slowly moving on from the gaming craze.

I didn't know there was a conflict. I play pc and console.

I don't think it's anywhere near as much an issue as it use to be back when I was a kid, but it does seem like it's flaring up again. Understandable considering this generation of console hardware has become so old.

I'm personally platform agnostic, but I have plenty of friends on both sides of the issue. It's really funny to argue with people about each platform having their own advantages and them disagreeing no matter how logical your arguments. It's usually people who've never really tried one or the other. I feel the same way with Mac/Win. I use both, most people pick a side and fight to the death over it.

@Dagbiker said:

Because people dont understand that sometimes you need the right tool for the right job.

See, this actually makes sense to me.

If I'm going to play an RTS, it'll probably be on the PC. A fighter? Probably on a console. I don't understand how some completely shun one or the other.

How I see it, it's a typical guy thing. Just like mine is bigger, it's my device is more powerful, my graphics are better, my controls are better, etc.

Usually PC gamers act a little stuck up, because they feel their game experience is more valuable because they have a more powerful machine that provides better graphics, or easier controls. Consoleros usually reply that they prefer consoles because they don't need to upgrade them every year or every two years, which can be pretty expensive.

I say, live and let live. Diversity is important.

@AhmadMetallic said:

I respect other people's preferences and opinions. I don't care if you own a PC, or a console, using a keyboard or a gamepad, whatever you wanna do is YOUR business, I may have an opinion on it but I sure as hell respect it. Thing is, I have seen my favorite franchises get twisted and simplified in order to appeal to those who buy an Xbox on Christmas and play video games three hours a week for simple 'casual' entertainment, and therefore I dislike consoles for indirectly fucking with my games.

Inadvertently proving the OP's point. In short, PC gamers feel they've been ignored by the publishers ever since the consoles became the lead platform for games that were traditionally the PC's playground: FPS (Call of Duty and its ilk), RPG (Fallout, Elder Scrolls, heck BioWare). It doesn't help that PCs are arguably more powerful than consoles, in other words the superior platform. Not to mention that the shift also lead to some much loved PC-only studios (BioWare, Epic, Westwood, Bethesda, Bullfrog, and many, many more) focusing on consoles, or worse, closing.

There's ignorance on both sides.  
 
Some console fanboys think that PC gamers are elitists, and there's no significant differences between the platforms so PC gamers are just circlejerking each other. This is wrong; graphics on PC are vastly superior and mods make for infinite gameplay variety and customization. 
 
On the other hand, PC fanboys think consoles are "holding games back" both technologically and mechanistically. This is also incorrect; the lazy graphics industry and global recession is holding game development back, even PC-only developers like Blizzard and Creative Assembly don't pump out anything graphically or creatively superior to their multiplatform counterparts.
 
Basically uninformed idiots at the extremes of both sides yelling at each other is what fuels the "PC vs. console animosity". Both PC and console fit their niches quite nicely. 

@Zenogiasu: Because the PC version of Borderlands was an abomination.

At the end of the day, I'll play on whichever one interests me the most. I've gotten hooked on Steam achievements, and I don't want to pay for Xbox Live Gold. The part where you build it yourself is really awesome, as well. That said, I really enjoy older console games. I feel that anything more recent than 2002 should be played on PC if the option is available.

Well, I like to strenghten my belief that spending a grand on a gaming rig would be a stupid waste of money since I already have a 360.

I can do without civ, sim city, diablo, WoW and starcraft sooooo fuck the PC I guess...

@Morrow said:

How I see it, it's a typical guy thing. Just like mine is bigger, it's my device is more powerful, my graphics are better, my controls are better, etc.

Usually PC gamers act a little stuck up, because they feel their game experience is more valuable because they have a more powerful machine that provides better graphics, or easier controls. Consoleros usually reply that they prefer consoles because they don't need to upgrade them every year or every two years, which can be pretty expensive.

I say, live and let live. Diversity is important.

Now that you say this, all the woman gamers I know who game on a single platform don't really get as impassioned about it as males do. On the other hand I don't know any "hard core" female gamers. Perhaps it is the male mentality.

Vocal minority.

@Dagbiker said:

@Morrow said:

How I see it, it's a typical guy thing. Just like mine is bigger, it's my device is more powerful, my graphics are better, my controls are better, etc.

Usually PC gamers act a little stuck up, because they feel their game experience is more valuable because they have a more powerful machine that provides better graphics, or easier controls. Consoleros usually reply that they prefer consoles because they don't need to upgrade them every year or every two years, which can be pretty expensive.

I say, live and let live. Diversity is important.

Now that you say this, all the woman gamers I know who game on a single platform don't really get as impassioned about it as males do. On the other hand I don't know any "hard core" female gamers. Perhaps it is the male mentality.

Hmm, maybe because men usually define themselves more by what they own and achieve, while women usually define themselves by how they look and by their social status. Or maybe men are more into competition and see it as rewarding to be superior in a way.

Any psychologists here?

It's simple fanboy mentality. They can only afford one thing and feel the need to validate there choice by laying into people who dare to choose differently out of the fear they may be missing out.

@Morrow said:

@Dagbiker said:

@Morrow said:

How I see it, it's a typical guy thing. Just like mine is bigger, it's my device is more powerful, my graphics are better, my controls are better, etc.

Usually PC gamers act a little stuck up, because they feel their game experience is more valuable because they have a more powerful machine that provides better graphics, or easier controls. Consoleros usually reply that they prefer consoles because they don't need to upgrade them every year or every two years, which can be pretty expensive.

I say, live and let live. Diversity is important.

Now that you say this, all the woman gamers I know who game on a single platform don't really get as impassioned about it as males do. On the other hand I don't know any "hard core" female gamers. Perhaps it is the male mentality.

Hmm, maybe because men usually define themselves more by what they own and achieve, while women usually define themselves by how they look and by their social status. Or maybe men are more into competition and see it as rewarding to be superior in a way.

Any psychologists here?

I could see Men feeling challenged. I know I get sweeped up into that too sometimes.

@Zenogiasu said:

I've never understood the extent to which some people identify with one and outright despise the other.

I think the root of this attitude is the inner desire to belong to a certain group. To feel that you belong somewhere can give you a lot of confidence, as well as a place in our world. And to mark you affiliation with that group, you put the opposite group down.

I'm probably reading way too much into this, lol :D

As a PC gamer (always have been always will be) ... I think why a bunch of PC gamers are overly defensive is because of the way the platform has been treated for quite a while. Also there are so many false information out there that even I (and im a pretty mellow guy) got kinda angry about them (the famous Pachter "there is no PC out there more powefull than the PS3 and PC's are always 5k and need to be upgraded every month).

See it this way: Many PC gamers build their machine themselves ... they handpick everything they want in there, they assamble it themselves and set everything up. That gives you a closer relationship to the device than simply going into a store an buy a console (and yes, I know relationship is a stupid word there, couldnt come up with something better). So if people attack the thing you like with false information or if you feel like you are treated like a second class citizen by the publishers ... that tends to get on your nerves.

That said it has gotten better the last 1 or 2 years ... not that I think this whole thing will start over again once the new consoles are out.

@Morrow said:

@Zenogiasu said:

I've never understood the extent to which some people identify with one and outright despise the other.

I think the root of this attitude is the inner desire to belong to a certain group. To feel that you belong somewhere can give you a lot of confidence, as well as a place in our world. And to mark you affiliation with that group, you put the opposite group down.

I'm probably reading way too much into this, lol :D

Actually, I think you're reading into it accurately and I agree.

People who put their money into a platform are already financially invested, but it's easy to make strong associations with the platform on a personal level to the point of eventually getting emotionally invested, as well. Sometimes people take their emotional investment to the next level and feel obligated to share their emotional investment while inadvertently overlooking others' investments to other platforms. This leads to misunderstandings and people inevitably get into arguments over this.

I've invested myself passionately on both ends of the spectrum throughout my experience of gaming, so I feel no strong association with gaming on consoles or PC. Actually, I do feel a strong association with my PC, but it isn't gaming related. It's just the fact that I practically grew up with PCs almost as long as I can remember, from when HP went by Packard Bell and the Internet standard was 56k. I don't let that cloud my judgments with regards to gaming platforms, however.

As others have said, most of the animosity come from the PC gamers because they've had to deal with games being made for consoles then ported to PC for a long time. Many of the biggest games over the years (Borderlands and GTA 4 most famously) had just complete garbage PC versions, and there's plenty more that either had bad UI or gameplay solutions that didn't account for the different style of controls. One of my biggest pet-peeves about this is non-overlay UI, like in Fallout 3 and Skyrim. It just feels so damn clunky on a PC having a completely seperate screen for inventory and character sheet etc.

Sometimes it's similar to the hate between Xbox players & PS3 players. You've invested your time and money into one system, so you may feel the need to defend that platform as the superior choice. I would say a minority of those complaining about one side or the other own both a console and a gaming PC. Just a theory on my part though.

To quote a great man...

"God damn it I love them bloody video games." - Fattony12000

It really doesn't matter what you play your video games on, so long as you're playing them. Anyone who thinks different is no friend of mine, AND THEY AIN'T NO FRIEND OF YOURS.

#obamacare2012

I've got an xbox, a ps3 and my pc all on one desk. I prefer keyboard and mouse and better graphics, but certain console exclusives require consoles. Gran turismo, Dark Souls(For now), Forza, Motorstorms, Mortal Kombat, White Knight Chronicles, JRPGS... All good reasons to have a console or 4. If it comes to PC though, even if it's late, I prefer to get it there. Even if It's best to play with an xbox or ps3 controller, since I have those for my PC also.

Most of the time it's people starting to feel insecure about their precious new PC or their super duper new console. 
They fork out a lot of their money(or in most cases, their parents money) fora console and a few games and then they go online and on to some message board and see everyone else with another system/platform or whatever talk about how much fun they're having and that is pissing the simple minded folk off!  
 
It's ok though, in the real world none of it fucking matters. 
If you're having fun then that's all that matters.

As long as you're having fun I couldn't give a fuck. I have multiple reasons for choosing PC over console, and others have reasons for buying consoles. Although I will admit I have seen a hell of a lot of people who think some pretty dumb things about PC gaming, the biggest one being the the whole needing to spend a grand every year to upgrade it.

It's more a case of 'right tool for the right budget' than 'right tool for the right job'. The latter implies that each of the tools is better at something than the other, which doesn't apply here.

@Dagbiker said:

@Morrow said:

How I see it, it's a typical guy thing. Just like mine is bigger, it's my device is more powerful, my graphics are better, my controls are better, etc.

Usually PC gamers act a little stuck up, because they feel their game experience is more valuable because they have a more powerful machine that provides better graphics, or easier controls. Consoleros usually reply that they prefer consoles because they don't need to upgrade them every year or every two years, which can be pretty expensive.

I say, live and let live. Diversity is important.

Now that you say this, all the woman gamers I know who game on a single platform don't really get as impassioned about it as males do. On the other hand I don't know any "hard core" female gamers. Perhaps it is the male mentality.

Hmm, maybe because men usually define themselves more by what they own and achieve, while women usually define themselves by how they look and by their social status. Or maybe men are more into competition and see it as rewarding to be superior in a way.

Any psychologists here?

People get far too emotional and stop being rational.

The simple idea of "this thing exists to serve an audience that I am not a part of" is damn near impossible for some people to accept.

@Vegetable_Side_Dish:

Nah, just a bit vain, probably ;)

@Jimbo said:

The latter implies that each of the tools is better at something than the other, which doesn't apply here.

Actually, I imagine some games are better on the PC than on consoles, and vice versa. FPSeses work better on the PC, while fighting games work better on consoles (or at least with a controller).

I think the answer here is children.

The adults I know generally don't give two shits about the fact the PC is vastly superior in every way

;)

For me it's just a matter of diversity Vs convenience.

On the PC you get more diversity as the console market is more curated.

Your more likely to find extremely niche titles on the PC or even niche hardware setups like the full simulated cockpit people.

Consoles rose, gaming got larger, businesses want simpler, more market appealing games, complexity goes down, advantages of PC neglected, and many 13 year olds introduced into the system.

Console wars are pretty stupid, but It's hard not to think that they're largely responsible for "ruining my party"

I'd assume it's because a good gaming PC costs more, while us consolers hold PC gaming back sometimes haha

@Video_Game_King said:

@Jimbo said:

The latter implies that each of the tools is better at something than the other, which doesn't apply here.

Actually, I imagine some games are better on the PC than on consoles, and vice versa. FPSeses work better on the PC, while fighting games work better on consoles (or at least with a controller).

Given you can plug a controller into a PC as easily as you can into a console, why would some games be better on console? Seems like a leap of logic to me, albeit a very common one.

Hmm. Well I think there's always backlash whenever someone labels themselves anything. I can't groan loud enough whenever someone identifies that they are a Maggot or a Juggalo. I guess it's kind of the idea that they are choosing to belong to one group, and that's closing them off from other things, and people fight back because they wish they could be more open minded? Hard to judge from the outside looking in I suppose. I don't have a good PC because I can't afford it, not because I have any animosity to the platform. (Also because I'm stupid and I've never built one before. Hopefully when I get some money this community can help me.)

@Video_Game_King said:

@Jimbo said:

The latter implies that each of the tools is better at something than the other, which doesn't apply here.

Actually, I imagine some games are better on the PC than on consoles, and vice versa. FPSeses work better on the PC, while fighting games work better on consoles (or at least with a controller).

Given you can plug a controller into a PC as easily as you can into a console, why would some games be better on console? Seems like a leap of logic to me, albeit a very common one.

@Morrow said:

@Zenogiasu said:

I've never understood the extent to which some people identify with one and outright despise the other.

I think the root of this attitude is the inner desire to belong to a certain group. To feel that you belong somewhere can give you a lot of confidence, as well as a place in our world. And to mark you affiliation with that group, you put the opposite group down.

I'm probably reading way too much into this, lol :D

I get what you're saying, and I agree. I keep hoping it's just immature people that feel that way, but damn... There's so many of them, no matter the age.

@Jimbo said:

@Video_Game_King said:

@Jimbo said:

The latter implies that each of the tools is better at something than the other, which doesn't apply here.

Actually, I imagine some games are better on the PC than on consoles, and vice versa. FPSeses work better on the PC, while fighting games work better on consoles (or at least with a controller).

Given you can plug a controller into a PC as easily as you can into a console, why would some games be better on console? Seems like a leap of logic to me, albeit a very common one.

Saints Row 2 sucks on a PC. At least on this one with Windows 7 but my 360 and PS3 can handle it just fine. so no need to downgrade to Windows XP just to play a game that I enjoy. I like to have tha freedom by owning lots of things to play games on. 

@Jimbo:

....Consistency, perhaps? At least in terms of builds of the machines (and disregardig maintenance), consoles tend to be a more known quantity, making it more likely that they will run more efficiently than on your PC. Or something like that. Just a thought.

@ZeForgotten said:

@Jimbo said:

@Video_Game_King said:

@Jimbo said:

The latter implies that each of the tools is better at something than the other, which doesn't apply here.

Actually, I imagine some games are better on the PC than on consoles, and vice versa. FPSeses work better on the PC, while fighting games work better on consoles (or at least with a controller).

Given you can plug a controller into a PC as easily as you can into a console, why would some games be better on console? Seems like a leap of logic to me, albeit a very common one.

Saints Row 2 sucks on a PC. At least on this one with Windows 7 but my 360 and PS3 can handle it just fine. so no need to downgrade to Windows XP just to play a game that I enjoy. I like to have tha freedom by owning lots of things to play games on. 

Works fine for me on PC with a controller and runs smoothly too.

I just find the experience of playing on a 360 better than a computer. Just pop in the disc and play, friends to play with, party chat and im already heavily invested in the achievment eco system.

I have a alright PC with a 5850 but graphics dont do much for me.

@ZeForgotten said:

@Jimbo said:

@Video_Game_King said:

@Jimbo said:

The latter implies that each of the tools is better at something than the other, which doesn't apply here.

Actually, I imagine some games are better on the PC than on consoles, and vice versa. FPSeses work better on the PC, while fighting games work better on consoles (or at least with a controller).

Given you can plug a controller into a PC as easily as you can into a console, why would some games be better on console? Seems like a leap of logic to me, albeit a very common one.

Saints Row 2 sucks on a PC. At least on this one with Windows 7 but my 360 and PS3 can handle it just fine. so no need to downgrade to Windows XP just to play a game that I enjoy. I like to have tha freedom by owning lots of things to play games on.

I'm not suggesting that your PC can do anything a console can do, and inept programming can be inept anywhere. For every outlier example where the PC has the shitty version, there will be dozens where the PC version is -in the right PC -as good as or (as in the vast majority of cases) significantly superior to the console versions.

Consoles are popular because they're cheap and idiot-proof (and there's nothing wrong with that), not because there's some specific job they're better at than PCs. Effectively all they are is cheap, low/mid spec PCs anyway. There's no magic behind it. The idea that consoles are 'better at fighting games and driving games etc!' is just nonsense perpetuated by console gamers and a media pandering to the console-gaming majority of their audience.

@Zenogiasu said:

Can someone please explain this dichotomy to me? Because I've never fully understood it. Rather, I've never understood the extent to which some people identify with one and outright despise the other. Why does it seem so much more intense than the contention of fanboyism between the Big Three in the console business?

Am I missing something? I use a keyboard and mouse for one and a controller for the other. Why are some people seemingly willing to kill over this?

Where have you been for the entirety of this business? I mean, if I had to dig into this I'd have to go into history books just to find the roots back in the days when Europe was on this diet of 8 bit computers while the US had a NES boom, probably. Then would come the PC taking over computer games and the bad ports turning PC gamers from demanding console games being ported to hypocritically deriding them as "crappy console ports" (which, come on, how stupid is that?). And then this generation happened and everybody who was stupid got exponentially stupider somehow. I don't have a proper answer for that part.

But yeah, this has always been the case. Why do people seem so baffled by it now? Even before the Genesis vs SNES thing PCs vs Consoles was already a thing.

Mainly ignorance and fanboyism (if that is a word)...or because of memes like this:

See? Totally ignorant...

@ZeForgotten said:

@Jimbo said:

@Video_Game_King said:

@Jimbo said:

The latter implies that each of the tools is better at something than the other, which doesn't apply here.

Actually, I imagine some games are better on the PC than on consoles, and vice versa. FPSeses work better on the PC, while fighting games work better on consoles (or at least with a controller).

Given you can plug a controller into a PC as easily as you can into a console, why would some games be better on console? Seems like a leap of logic to me, albeit a very common one.

Saints Row 2 sucks on a PC. At least on this one with Windows 7 but my 360 and PS3 can handle it just fine. so no need to downgrade to Windows XP just to play a game that I enjoy. I like to have tha freedom by owning lots of things to play games on.

I'm not suggesting that your PC can do anything a console can do, and inept programming can be inept anywhere. For every outlier example where the PC has the shitty version, there will be dozens where the PC version is -in the right PC -as good as or (as in the vast majority of cases) significantly superior to the console versions.

Consoles are popular because they're cheap and idiot-proof (and there's nothing wrong with that), not because there's some specific job they're better at than PCs. Effectively all they are is cheap, low/mid spec PCs anyway. There's no magic behind it. The idea that consoles are 'better at fighting games and driving games etc!' is just nonsense perpetuated by console gamers and a media pandering to the console-gaming majority of their audience.

A lot of lonely people, with a lot of free time on their hands.