This has been a long time coming, so I'm just going to throw it out there: My interest in PC gaming has waned.
There are a number of contributing factors. I'll list a few.
DRM. I'm not willing to risk invasive DRM like SecuROM or Ubisoft's new anti-piracy measures just to play the latest games, no matter how popular they may be. I won't re-hash the SecuROM topic as I know people have tired of reading my opinions on the matter. I include it on the last only to help explain my perspective.
Shoddy console-to-PC ports. It's no wonder PC gamers feel as though developers and publishers have abandoned them to focus more time, effort, and resources on console releases.
Bobby Kotick and Activision. No, I'm not being sarcastic. Every time I read an article about Bobby Kotick and Activision, it makes me want to never buy another title published Activision game for the remainder of my life. (No offense intended, Blizzard.)
The larger (non-Christian) gaming community. Many gamers are polite, socially well-adjusted, level-headed people. The very vocal minority of rude, hostile, obnoxious, facepalm-inducing trolls, unfortunately, often ruin it for the rest of us. I learned early on as President of Tribe of Judah: DNFTT--Do Not Feed The Trolls. It's why I don't return to a recruiting thread on outside forums after the initial post--I've seen enough inane and venomous replies that staying tuned to the thread isn't going to offer anything new.
This point actually has less impact than you might think, since I spend most of my time playing games with other Christian gamers. (One of my primary reasons in founding Tribe of Judah over a decade ago was to create a haven for Christian gamers where they didn't have to tolerate juvenile behavior.) But, sometimes, when I play Quake Live or read comments on sites like Joystiq or Kotaku, it hurts my brain.
My gaming hardware. I play games on a Dell Studio 1737. It is entirely possible that the audio hardware and software (drivers) built into my system is among the worst currently available. Furthermore, my ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 is starting to get a bit long in the tooth. I can run Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and Unreal Tournament 3 at a decent framerate with all three titles looking rather good. Based on what I've read, StarCraft II should run just fine on Medium graphics settings on my PC. Other, more graphically intensive games like Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Dawn of War II don't fare so well.
I'm currently unemployed, so building a new gaming rig is out of the question right now and likely will remain out of reach for a while yet.
Not much of interest (to me) on the horizon. Yes, StarCraft II, Natural Selection 2, and World of WarCraft Cataclysm may all be released this year. I'm looking forward to all three. But beyond that, there aren't any upcoming titles that grab my attention.
And that may not be a problem. In a given week, I participate in four different regular events spanning four different games.
Player bases scattered and spread thin. Back in The Day(TM), I could reasonably expect to hop online and put together a StarCraft match with a few players on short notice. Later, I could find Tribe of Judah's Counter-Strike server hoppin' most nights of the week, drop in to play for 30 minutes, get pwned, and drop. There were few enough popular games and enough players actively playing those games to drop in, play, and drop out with minimal effort.
Today, the market is saturated (perhaps oversaturated?) with a slew of high-profile releases, all vying for gamers' money and time. Games like Borderlands are very popular for a very short time, flare up, and fade away. Downloadable content may renew interest for a short while, but it seems that "gaming ADD" is now an epidemic.
This segues neatly into my next point:
My backlog is already packed. I recently read an editorial where the writer asks the games industry to stop making new games for a year. It was a fun read and I definitely sympathize with the author.
There are still so many games that I want to finish. I have enough to play without buying new games (though it seems I still have the strength of will to resist the more appealing Steam sales). I don't need any more games on my checklist.
Consoles just work. No, I'm not trying to derail this into a "console vs. PC" thread. Both platforms have their merit.
But as I'm getting older, I have less and less of an appetite for fixing hardware and software issues to play games. I just want things to work.
When I turn on my DS, my Wii, or my Playstation 2, I can reasonably expect games to load and play at full framerate (with the notable exception of certain sections of Odin Sphere). I can't say the same for PC games.
The most grievous offender in recent memory is Left 4 Dead 2. The client/server code in L4D2 is broken. It shouldn't take at least two tries and 5-10 minutes to launch the game and connect to the server Tribe of Judah members spend $16 a month to rent nearly every time we get together to play a campaign or Versus match.
Lack of new gameplay experiences. Most new games are just a fresh coat of paint on the same ol' thing. The MMO genre is flooded with World of WarCraft wannabes, favoring a conservative business strategy over innovation.
The list could go on, but you get the idea.
But please don't misunderstand: I still enjoy the games I play with Christian gamers. I'm planning to buy StarCraft II at release and plan to play it regularly with Tribe of Judah members.
When I voice my concerns about the PC games industry, it's not to say I'm throwing on the breaks. I'm just shifting into neutral.
There are a number of contributing factors. I'll list a few.
DRM. I'm not willing to risk invasive DRM like SecuROM or Ubisoft's new anti-piracy measures just to play the latest games, no matter how popular they may be. I won't re-hash the SecuROM topic as I know people have tired of reading my opinions on the matter. I include it on the last only to help explain my perspective.
Shoddy console-to-PC ports. It's no wonder PC gamers feel as though developers and publishers have abandoned them to focus more time, effort, and resources on console releases.
Bobby Kotick and Activision. No, I'm not being sarcastic. Every time I read an article about Bobby Kotick and Activision, it makes me want to never buy another title published Activision game for the remainder of my life. (No offense intended, Blizzard.)
The larger (non-Christian) gaming community. Many gamers are polite, socially well-adjusted, level-headed people. The very vocal minority of rude, hostile, obnoxious, facepalm-inducing trolls, unfortunately, often ruin it for the rest of us. I learned early on as President of Tribe of Judah: DNFTT--Do Not Feed The Trolls. It's why I don't return to a recruiting thread on outside forums after the initial post--I've seen enough inane and venomous replies that staying tuned to the thread isn't going to offer anything new.
This point actually has less impact than you might think, since I spend most of my time playing games with other Christian gamers. (One of my primary reasons in founding Tribe of Judah over a decade ago was to create a haven for Christian gamers where they didn't have to tolerate juvenile behavior.) But, sometimes, when I play Quake Live or read comments on sites like Joystiq or Kotaku, it hurts my brain.
My gaming hardware. I play games on a Dell Studio 1737. It is entirely possible that the audio hardware and software (drivers) built into my system is among the worst currently available. Furthermore, my ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 is starting to get a bit long in the tooth. I can run Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and Unreal Tournament 3 at a decent framerate with all three titles looking rather good. Based on what I've read, StarCraft II should run just fine on Medium graphics settings on my PC. Other, more graphically intensive games like Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Dawn of War II don't fare so well.
I'm currently unemployed, so building a new gaming rig is out of the question right now and likely will remain out of reach for a while yet.
Not much of interest (to me) on the horizon. Yes, StarCraft II, Natural Selection 2, and World of WarCraft Cataclysm may all be released this year. I'm looking forward to all three. But beyond that, there aren't any upcoming titles that grab my attention.
And that may not be a problem. In a given week, I participate in four different regular events spanning four different games.
Player bases scattered and spread thin. Back in The Day(TM), I could reasonably expect to hop online and put together a StarCraft match with a few players on short notice. Later, I could find Tribe of Judah's Counter-Strike server hoppin' most nights of the week, drop in to play for 30 minutes, get pwned, and drop. There were few enough popular games and enough players actively playing those games to drop in, play, and drop out with minimal effort.
Today, the market is saturated (perhaps oversaturated?) with a slew of high-profile releases, all vying for gamers' money and time. Games like Borderlands are very popular for a very short time, flare up, and fade away. Downloadable content may renew interest for a short while, but it seems that "gaming ADD" is now an epidemic.
This segues neatly into my next point:
My backlog is already packed. I recently read an editorial where the writer asks the games industry to stop making new games for a year. It was a fun read and I definitely sympathize with the author.
There are still so many games that I want to finish. I have enough to play without buying new games (though it seems I still have the strength of will to resist the more appealing Steam sales). I don't need any more games on my checklist.
Consoles just work. No, I'm not trying to derail this into a "console vs. PC" thread. Both platforms have their merit.
But as I'm getting older, I have less and less of an appetite for fixing hardware and software issues to play games. I just want things to work.
When I turn on my DS, my Wii, or my Playstation 2, I can reasonably expect games to load and play at full framerate (with the notable exception of certain sections of Odin Sphere). I can't say the same for PC games.
The most grievous offender in recent memory is Left 4 Dead 2. The client/server code in L4D2 is broken. It shouldn't take at least two tries and 5-10 minutes to launch the game and connect to the server Tribe of Judah members spend $16 a month to rent nearly every time we get together to play a campaign or Versus match.
Lack of new gameplay experiences. Most new games are just a fresh coat of paint on the same ol' thing. The MMO genre is flooded with World of WarCraft wannabes, favoring a conservative business strategy over innovation.
The list could go on, but you get the idea.
But please don't misunderstand: I still enjoy the games I play with Christian gamers. I'm planning to buy StarCraft II at release and plan to play it regularly with Tribe of Judah members.
When I voice my concerns about the PC games industry, it's not to say I'm throwing on the breaks. I'm just shifting into neutral.
). 
