Many of us have probably already heard the phrase "real gamer" often used by one segment of the gamer population to reject another party. And with the proliferation of video games as they reach more and more devices and the number of retailers increases, the question of who is called a "real gamer" will persist.
The problem is that the real players are of all kinds. The Entertainment Software Association has discovered a high percentage of the gaming population, including baby boomers in the United States. And this range ranges from young players who play online poker to battle royale games to older players who play poker only on their computer.
With this in mind, we wanted to show that the PC game is full of players who are not always what we think of when the words "PC gamer" appear. Not all belligerent teens sit at desks with a PC under € 2,000 and 2 liters of Mountain Dew on top.
Here are some examples of real PC players that show just how vast the culture is.
Shirley Curry, the "Skyrim grandmother".
(Image credit: Shirley Curry)
Shirley's famous curry
Shirley Curry, perhaps better known as "Skyrim Grandma", is one of the most colorful proof that any gamer is a gamer. She is a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother and lives in Virginia, United States. She loves to play Skyrim.
She is a YouTube celebrity with over 748,000 subscribers and over 14 million views at the time of writing. She is so legit that she has YouTube Checked Check. (Something I don't have and do for a living!) Curry regularly shares his adventures in the video game, often in the nearly endless world of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. She packs enough of an impact that Bethesda will even include an NPC Curry in The Elder Scrolls 6.
So you know she's the real one, Curry even includes her system specs in the description of her videos:
«My operating system: DogHouse Systems Model: Armor TL980 Hero Processor: Intel® Core ™ i7-4790K [email protected] 4.00GHz Graphics card: GTX980 Installed memory (RAM): 16.00 GB (j & # 39; I bought two more) System type: 64-bit operating system "
To top it off, it also lists the Skyrim game mods that you have installed. Every now and then, you can see Curry watching other games, like Call of Cthulu and Deliver Us the Moon.
Although she is the best example of a grandmother, she is not the only one. We saw another grandmother embark on a virtual reality adventure and Japanese gamer Gamer Grandma locked it all up.
Jack Black, or called "Jablinski" today.
(Image credit: YouTube)
Celebrities also have recreational games
A few years ago, the whole world could see the much loved Terry Crews join the PC gaming fray when he publicly announced that he was building a gaming computer. Crews has a long career spanning between his stint in the National Football League as a defender and linebacker in the 90s and his acting career.
Beyond his celebrity, Crews still has a family life and decided to build a gaming computer to share this hobby with his son. Took an X99 motherboard on an Intel Core i7-6800K and 32GB of RAM. He didn't include the graphics card in his live stream, but he bought an HTC Vive to immerse himself in virtual reality with his rig. He then confirmed that he had installed the platform.
The crews are not alone either. Jack Black also praised the world of gambling by announcing in late 2018 that he would start a gambling channel on YouTube. Over the next year, his channel did little to produce game content - one focused more on old arcade games and the other pretended to stream, but admitted he hadn't discovered the El Gato game capture device. Finally, Black uploaded a video of Lego Star Wars, as well as a broadcast with PewdiePie playing Minecraft.
Whether they play in public or not, many celebrities can be counted among PC gamers.
Farming Simulator 2019 in action.
(Image credit: Google)
Players relive reality
Skyrim Grandma and Terry Crews may be best known for the kinds of people you wouldn't expect to be PC gamers, but there are still others who quietly enjoy PC gaming. We are talking about simulation players.
You can think more about players who play in intense shooters where mindless reaction speed is required. But many PC gamers enjoy a calmer experience that allows them to experience a small part of reality that they would not otherwise have access to. Think Flight Simulator, Train Simulator, or Farming Simulator. All of these elements put players in a unique position to immerse themselves in realistic experiences that still pull them out of their daily lives.
Games like SimCity or Cities: Skylines allow players to design their own universe and simulate the reality of a bird. And, since many of these simulation franchises release new games every year, it's safe to say that a lot of PC gamers are taking advantage of it. And don't forget how many people are still building their dream homes and living in the Sims.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in action.
(Image credit: Bethesda)
The faithful modders
Shirley Curry is actually a great example of another type of gamer - the long-term loyal gamer who sticks to a game for a long time, using mods to keep it fresh. Some games have a deep note for gamers and offer enough goodies to keep them going for years. Massive open worlds, like Skyrim, often handle this level of retention.
However, even a game with hundreds of hours of content cannot keep players' hearts in their vanilla form. This is where players who really like their game are turning to mods. Players using mods can add new worlds to their games, new weapons and new equipment and change the way the game world works to open up new gameplay possibilities.
Some mods even allow players to add everything from new missions to full stages. There are also mods that can change the sound and graphics of almost every asset in the game, giving it a new lease of life, even as the vanilla version ages. The use of mods allows these players to stick to a game, thus avoiding the latest fads, as they simply occupy the game world they like or wait a long time for the next one to arrive. (as many do for The Elder Scrolls 6).
FarmVille 2 is one of the most popular browser games to date.
(Image credit: Zynga)
Players ignored by the browser
One thing that most people would think is essential for PC gaming is a gaming PC, but there are so many games available to gamers that they require a little more than a modest internet connection and hardware. Browser games make the pastime accessible to many gamers, and may even attract users who would otherwise have little to do with the games.
It doesn't take much work to see how popular browser games are with us. We take a quick look at Armorgames and Newgrounds, sites we visited over 10 years ago and can see that they are still alive. Games like Sonny 2 are among the best browser games, with long stories and engaging gameplay. Armorgames mentions that Sonny 2 has played over 25 million games since its release in 2009 (personally I've probably spent as many hours on this game as I have on any turn-based RPG in the last ten years). And, new games still get millions of games. Some browser games even serve as a starting point for franchises, such as Meat Boy and N.
Children can play a bit online at Agar.io while adults enjoy card games in the browser. (The writer's father didn't have much to do with video games since he was a Dig Dug player in the arcades, but recently started a browser golf game.) And, these PC players are so easy to forget, that they can play quietly in the library or on a laptop while waiting for their flight to the airport.
Finally, let's not forget that there is even a selection of PC gamers who prefer to have Motion Blur enabled in their games. If not, why would game developers continue to offer this feature and enable it by default? Phew.
Welcome to LaComparacion 2019 Computer Gaming Week. We celebrate the world's most powerful gaming platform with in-depth articles, exclusive interviews, and essential buying guides that showcase all of those PC games you can offer. Visit our Computer Game Week 2019 page to see all of our coverage in one place.