So I have notice this tendency between Console and PC users..

First and foremost this is not a generalization, I'm talking about a personal perception a notion it might be close to your experience or chances are I'm out of my fucking mind.

Disclaimer aside I own the 3 main current consoles 360, PS3 and PC I manage to put some decent time to each when a good exclusive lands or I play whatever I feel like playing at the moment, after a while I notice PC players focus their gameplay time in few if not a game, while console users play many games.

Let me elaborate:

PC: of 54 steam friends 44 of them have most of their time in one single game among the following some battlefield, a source game or a call of duty, and when I say time - I mean fucking serious time: 5 dudes have +1000hours in left 4 dead 2, 7 dudes have +1000 hours in cs:s and 1 dude have mind blowing +3k hours into day of the defeat source. I can relate this to a personal experience my most "prolific" time as a pc gamer I spent it in WoW, I didn't play games I played WoW and that seems to be the case for a huge bunch of the PC community regardless if their game of choice is Sc2, LoL, CoD, CIV whatever... and don't even get me starting with the TF2 group.

Console: Console players in the other hand (at least in my ps3 with +60 friends on list) are usually season birds sure there are a few who stick to their multiplayer of choice but then most of them are playing the "seasons hot release" - Again this is not a generalization there is indeed people who own a 360 to play nothing but Halo 4 (yeah they won't even bother with reach) but they seems to be fewer than their PC counterparts.

What do you guys think about this, have you notice something similar? due the case this being an accurate tendency and set aside moral/value perceptions on who is best/worst to avoid silly platforms wars - Why is this the tendency? what drives a guy to spend +2k dollars to play just a single game? is multiplayer the only way to succeed in PC? do socialization drives a huge appeal for pc gaming?

I would really like to play some Left 4 Dead 3. But in all seriousness, none of the guys I hang out with only play one game, console or PC.

A lot of PC gamers stick to one, or a few games. I know just as many people that do this on console, though.

Having said that, I do think PC games maintain a player base over time better than console games seem to.

@DonPixel said:

what drives a guy to spend +2k dollars to play just a single game? is multiplayer the only way to succeed in PC? do socialization drives a huge appeal for pc gaming?

You can build a PC that'll outdo a console for 1/4 of that price, and I don't know why people assume that buying a good PC means you are only gaming on it.

My PC was expensive, but I use it for far more than just gaming, I don't consider it a gaming machine and if a PC could only play games then I'd reconsider having bought one in the first place. It's the flexibility of the platform that makes me enjoy having a good computer, I'm not limited to just gaming or basic multimedia playback like a console.

Really? In my experience, it's the other way. PC players have a shit ton of games ( I have 80 on steam, and that's from august of last year to now), and console gamers have a few games. Certainly not 80.

Also, there are probably just as many if not more people that play nothing but CoD and maybe some halo on consoles as just play WoW. Multiplayer games all have those communities. PC gamers have easy access to more games, and tend to own and play a lot more games. Good Multiplayer games just last a lot longer and so people play it longer and it becomes a regular thing, but they still play plenty of other stuff, mostly.

Regardless if you meant it or not, this is still considered a generalization to some degree. It's not an offensive one or anything (and I won't point it out any more than I just did), but I certainly have some friends that buy games every few months on PC just like I do on console. It's just one of those things that seems a certain way for the group of people you surround yourself with.

I would disagree with you in a sense that all I see people play is CoD/Halo/Battlefield on 360. Maybe some other random game as well. But I agree with you that a lot of pc gamers tend to play the same games as well. TF2, CS:S, SC2, WoW, etc. I play games on PC most of the time besides games like Gears or Uncharted of course. I find myself switching up games CONSTANTLY. I rarely ever stick with a game for more than a week. It's actually quite annoying to be honest. lol. It might be that I'm just crazy picky on what I feel like playing though.. Cause I might feel like playing a strategy game, but it has to be in a specific setting like sci fi, but also have mechanics close to x game and I wont be happy till I find that game and get to play it. lol.

one dude on my xbox friend list has been playing FFXI or some shit for months without stopping, it's literally the only shit he ever plays.

@MordeaniisChaos said:

Really? In my experience, it's the other way. PC players have a shit ton of games ( I have 80 on steam, and that's from august of last year to now), and console gamers have a few games. Certainly not 80.

That's because there's rarely any sales on Xbox Live, PSN, or any major retailer. Another reason why some publishers wants to leave Steam. They don't like playing by Valve's rules and want to continue being greedy.

@ch13696 said:

@MordeaniisChaos said:

Really? In my experience, it's the other way. PC players have a shit ton of games ( I have 80 on steam, and that's from august of last year to now), and console gamers have a few games. Certainly not 80.

That's because there's rarely any sales on Xbox Live, PSN, or any major retailer. Another reason why some publishers wants to leave Steam. They don't like playing by Valve's rules and want to continue being greedy.

Valve can't force a sale on you, unless they are cutting into their own profits. Sales are pre-coordinated with the publishers.

I have a lot of games, both on Steam, Impulse , and on my consoles.

Your PC friends have genuine taste in good games, and have invested their time wisely. Console garbage is nothing but a guilty pleasure.

@Vinny_Says said:

one dude on my xbox friend list has been playing FFXI or some shit for months without stopping, it's literally the only shit he ever plays.

haha I have a dude doing the same with Mass Effect 1 in XboxLive - I'm genuinely intrigued where he lives? what he does for a living? how does his room looks like?, More important why did he sent me a friend request!?

@allworkandlowpay said:

I have a lot of games, both on Steam, Impulse , and on my consoles.

I'm on the same boat but my non scientific small data pool "name steam friends" show that perhaps they own a lot of games but they mostly play a game or a few games.. and I mean who doesn't own a zillion games on steam you can get like 10 games with $100 bucks in a sale, now owning them and playing them is a different story.

Have the PC nerds come in here and jerk off on each others faces yet? Try not to get it in each others eye this time.

Seems the opposite for me, people spread around the love more on PC, while console folk mostly just play Call Of Duty.

From my experience PC gamers tend to have a couple of go-to games in the dry parts of the year. A lot of people on my steam list tend to play the current releases and indi-games but once those are finished they go back to one or two specific games. For me thats TF2 and BC2 at the moment.

I also think that the "clan culture" is bigger on PC and dedicated servers make you play a game just to play with specific people. I clocked in about 800 hours on TF2 and 99% of those were on one specific server. Every once in a while I see a bunch of my friends are playing there I join just for the fun of it.

That's because there's a new Call of Duty game every year, but there isn't a new CS or Battlefield or World of Warcraft every year.

@ch13696: Yeah, but doesn't change the fact.

@DonPixel: Define "playing." You seem to be measuring the different platforms differently. You said yourself that your console friends play the seasonal titles, whatever is new and big. But do they keep playing them all? I doubt they are still playing Dark Sector after all these years. But CoD? You betchya. Halo? Sure!

I don't think many steam folks really actually buy games and don't play them. They aren't free, just often cheap. They play them through once or twice, and keep up with a couple games for a really long time, like TF2 or L4D, or whatever multiplayer game they happen to pick. Console gamers are usually the same. But you don't really get a lot of sales on recent games, and you rarely see a 5 dollar game on XBLA, so it takes a bit more if you want to pick up that many retail titles. The price piles up quickly.

This is true to me and a lot of my steam friends as well. Although we all have crap load of games on steam due to sale, most of them are unplayed and we go through them at a snail pace while still spending time on our go to multiplayer game. I have 550 hrs on css ( and they only start counting hrs for css last year and a half or so) and 182 games on steam ( majority of them are unplayed or have 1 or 2 hrs in)

So I notice this strange thing about DonPixel where he tries to separate PC and Console gamers without realising that many people do both and in fact some even arcade game too while even more unusual is the fact that others even board game along with the rest. I guess what I'm saying is stop being such a fucking arsehole. You too LiquidPoos.

Putting aside the notion that PC and Console don't overlap and focus more personally, I've always had less games that I spent more time on with the PC than Consoles. Consoles have been the place where I am always playing the latest game of whatever genre I enjoy and if it's multiplayer, I always switch to the next and that's usually more often. While on the PC the games I have liked have been so far in between that I've spent more time on those that I did get that were multiplayer focused. I probably have more hours in Battlefield 2 than all of Call of Duty since Modern Warfare put together. Maybe that's an overestimate but even so, I think there are some reasons why that is the case for some people. Though it certainly doesn't have to be that way for all and, again, people need to get off the notion that a specific platform has a specific and exclusive player base that don't overlap with another platform.

First of all, I don't know if I would call a PC a console. Second, Some people like to get the best quality graphics possible, with the best sound, best image etc. Pretty much the best of every aspect. The console is technically limited. You get what comes in the box and nothing more. Whereas the PC you can customize to your hearts' content. Furthermore, you can do so much more on the PC than on the console.

@Vinny_Says said:

one dude on my xbox friend list has been playing FFXI or some shit for months without stopping, it's literally the only shit he ever plays.

For some reason I just started laughing when I read this lol...

In all honesty, as much as I hate Square Enix, XI is a pretty good MMO, but damn...who the fuck is still playing it on 360?! The 360, PC, and PS2 versions all share the same server and everything but my previous exclamation still stands...who is still playing this on 360?!

"This is not a generalisation" ... *Proceeds to make generalisations*

But in my own experience I've encountered exactly the opposite. Everyone on my steam list seems to have a list of games that's in the triple digits, all with at least a few hours put into them and they generally switch between them a lot, and then I have plenty of friends on console who do nothing but play Call of Duty 24/7.

I play lots of different video games on PC.

I know fellow 360 gamers that only play military FPS and they play them for HOURS. If I still played games with a PC I'd be a RTS guy primarily.

@Buzzkill said:

Your PC friends have genuine taste in good games, and have invested their time wisely. Console garbage is nothing but a guilty pleasure.

Have you ever known the touch of a woman?

@DonPixel said:

@Vinny_Says said:

one dude on my xbox friend list has been playing FFXI or some shit for months without stopping, it's literally the only shit he ever plays.

haha I have a dude doing the same with Mass Effect 1 in XboxLive - I'm genuinely intrigued where he lives? what he does for a living? how does his room looks like?, More important why did he sent me a friend request!?

@allworkandlowpay said:

I have a lot of games, both on Steam, Impulse , and on my consoles.

I'm on the same boat but my non scientific small data pool "name steam friends" show that perhaps they own a lot of games but they mostly play a game or a few games.. and I mean who doesn't own a zillion games on steam you can get like 10 games with $100 bucks in a sale, now owning them and playing them is a different story.

If you're only getting 10 games out of $100 from a steam sale, you're doing something VERY wrong. It should be at least 10 times that amount, if not 20.

Really? In my experience, it's the other way. PC players have a shit ton of games ( I have 80 on steam, and that's from august of last year to now), and console gamers have a few games. Certainly not 80.

Also, there are probably just as many if not more people that play nothing but CoD and maybe some halo on consoles as just play WoW. Multiplayer games all have those communities. PC gamers have easy access to more games, and tend to own and play a lot more games. Good Multiplayer games just last a lot longer and so people play it longer and it becomes a regular thing, but they still play plenty of other stuff, mostly.

@DonPixel said:

Disclaimer aside I own the 3 main current consoles 360, PS3 and PC ...

PC isn't a console.

and that's not true at all.

Most of my Steam friends have 1000+ hours clocked in a single game but are more than happy to jump into whatever big new game had released this week. Lately Minecraft has been sucking up most of our TF2 time.

@Hitchenson said:

I play lots of different video games on PC.

Video games.

@kingzetta: Ok? I never said it was impossible. Just that the majority of people don't own 80+ games, at least not contemporary titles.

@MordeaniisChaos said:

@kingzetta: Ok? I never said it was impossible. Just that the majority of people don't own 80+ games, at least not contemporary titles.

Exactly, I have ~55 PS3 games and 150 games in Steam.

i think it's because pc games have great experience of being good. console games seem to not be that great. my console friends seem to jump from game to game. pc gamers seem to enjoy their older games or play something different every once in a while. 
 
pc games are great, the community is good also. people don't usually call everyone faggots, niggers, they barely talk sometimes.

Text chat does wonders for creating communities which makes people stick to their multiplayer games. It's in my experience the biggest issue by far when it comes to online gaming on consoles. It's almost impossible to make friends through console-gaming. The people that actually do play in parties etc are almost always RL friends, or they have met through a forum community.

I used to be a PC gamer and can understand the amount of time some would put into a specific game. With the Modding community you can increase the lifespan of a game easily for years where as on a console you are limited to what official DLC is put out there (usually for cash). I stopped PC gaming after my last system bit the dust and for a couple of reasons I've not been back since. Although you dont NEED to spend a ton of cash to get a PC that can competently run most games I think you would be hard pressed to find one for $200. I also enjoy the hastle free patching and updating after years of irritation. I think its just an each to his own thing. I nowerdays dont have the time or money to spend on gaming to a console suits me fine just now. Perhaps if things change again ill go back to PC. Who knows.

This is definitely true. For myself, too. I played one game mostly during my PC time, sometimes for years. Since I play more on console my bond with a certain game ends after a few months, if it has a really good multiplayer. Much earlier if it hasn't.

There's a guy on my Steam list who constantly seems to play 'Duke Nukem Forever Demo'. Yes, the demo.

@Protome said:

"This is not a generalisation" ... *Proceeds to make generalisations*

Well it was a theory I formulated with the limited data I have access to, I'm not claiming is true I just wanted to hear opinions and it's been interesting to read people perception about the different behavior in each platform.

@Ares42 said:

Text chat does wonders for creating communities which makes people stick to their multiplayer games. It's in my experience the biggest issue by far when it comes to online gaming on consoles. It's almost impossible to make friends through console-gaming. The people that actually do play in parties etc are almost always RL friends, or they have met through a forum community.

Now that you mention it text chat (or the lack of it) do drag console multiplayers if you looking for socialization, I think a lot of this +2000 hours dude also use their game of choice as a chat room or social hub.