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Convincing someone to be a PC gamer.

I have a friend from college who currently only plays mobile games. Today I found out that he used to be a console gamer but quit because he lost interest. I also found out that he never gave the PC a fair shot and mostly just played on the PS3.

Of course, I explained many of the advantages that the PC provides over consoles. Anti-aliasing, 60FPS, mods, cheaper games etc. He knows these terms but kind of dismissed them in a way, saying that he doesn't think that they're enough to bring him back to his old gaming habits. I suspected that even though he knows what those terms meant, he never actually experienced them first hand. So I decided to invite him some time this week and show him what he had been missing out on.

The problem is, I'm not quite sure how to proceed with it. I have a fairly expensive build and I don't want to show him games on ridiculous settings then later mention that what he witnessed was only possible on high end machines. I want a realistic portrayal of PC gaming.

So, GAF, what's your advice, what would you do in my situation?
 
PC builds scale to any set of needs, so if he doesn't want both 60fps AND high end graphics a build won't cost him that much. Also, DX12 is coming and should reduce the power needed somewhat going forward. Hell, if he's a mobile gamer he might not care about graphics. Isn't it fairly easy to beat a PS4 at a similar price?

Don't mislead him too much though, a lot of my first installs late last year (new PC) were accompanied by redistributables that didn't work (x86 and x64 version differences, ugh) so it's not quite as pick up and play as he might think. That said, that crops up more the further you go back. If he sticks to new stuff, it should be less of a problem.
 
He has to get back to it himself. Otherwise he's just gonna keep away from it even more. I know, cuz I was like that.
 
Dude it's video games. You don't have to force someone into something they don't have an interest in returning to.
 
If he's not interested, he's not interested. Seems like he's not into core games at the moment and being on the PC isn't going to change that. You don't need to convince him, if he wants to get back into games I'm sure he'll tell you.
 
if he know about anti-aliasing or 60FPS, he probably knows what playing games on pc must be like.

What annoys you so much about him playing mobile games ? If he likes it more than another platform why not let him ?
 
Dude it's video games. You don't have to force someone into something they don't have an interest in returning to.

Why the need to convince him into PC gaming? Looks like he's fine with whatever he's playing right now.

If he's not interested, he's not interested. Seems like he's not into core games at the moment and being on the PC isn't going to change that. You don't need to convince him, if he wants to get back into games I'm sure he'll tell you.

Stop pressing your game ideals on others...

Why does this bother you so much? Just let him be.

He is interested. That's why he agreed to come over. I just want give him an honest portrayal of PC gaming. That's what the thread is about.
 
Sounds like console gaming doesn't suit his lifestyle if he's preferring mobile gaming. PC is the step beyond console gaming and he's going in the opposite direction. You've probably got a better shot showing him handheld stuff.

He is interested. That's why he agreed to come over. I just want give him an honest portrayal of PC gaming. That's what the thread is about.

Show him LoL and DotA then? Sounds like the graphical improvements aren't of that much interest to him.
 
He lost interest in a PS3 - you didn't say he stopped playing due to lack of AA, sub 60fps etc. so I don't see how technical improvements will necessarily make him interested again. And any PC solution is going to be way more expensive than him just picking up another PS3
 
He is interested. That's why he agreed to come over. I just want give him an honest portrayal of PC gaming. That's what the thread is about.

Then "honest portrayal of PC gaming" is playing games with whatever the budget of your PC is. To people who's not really into gaming, the anti-aliasing, 60FPS, 1080p thingy has no meaning. You might as well convince me that I need to buy a smart car with automatic navigation/state of the art braking system/etc when I'm content with riding a bus.
 
People who want PCs already know that they want one.
Just not true. I didn't know I wanted a PC til I gave it a proper look. I'd always just dismissed it for the various bullshit reasons that a lot of people do and it took me digging a bit more before getting over that and of course after owning a gaming PC for a while, I realized just what I was missing before. There's many things in life that we don't specifically know we want beforehand, but are super happy to have once we do.

That said, if the guy has lost interest in 'traditional' gaming, I don't think its worth spending much effort trying to convince him back in.
 
Tell him it's a condescending elitist club and see how that goes over. Maybe ask what his interests are and why does it matter to you how he spends his time?
 
Just show the guy some games that he can only play on PC. That's pretty much the only reason I have a gaming PC.

EDIT: That, and mods for Skyrim.
 
If he's not swayed by the hardware advantages, cheap digital stores, or modding, show him the exclussive games.

I mean when you get down to it, that's what really matters isn't it? The games themselves?
 
Tell him it's a condescending elitist club and see how that goes over. Maybe ask what his interests are and why does it matter to you how he spends his time?

We're not strangers to each other. We share our interests. Part of sharing our interests is being able to show them to each other.

Jesus Christ people, some of you are taking this too personally for some reason.
 
Maybe he doesn't actually care that much about games and is moving on to other things?
Not sure why you feel compelled to proselytise unless you have a vested interest in the industry.
 
Maybe he doesn't actually care that much about games and is moving on to other things?
Not sure why you feel compelled to proselytise unless you have a vested interest in the industry.

You can't say that, it sounds too much like you have a chip on your shoulder.
 
I play my PS4 much more than my PC these days. PC gaming whilst rewarding is a complete pain in the ass I found myself spending hours tinkering to get games running right or at all in some cases over the years and those hours I simply haven't got anymore.

There are also some hardcore fucks on-line in the pc space who run everything on low with million dpi mice along with the nerds running hax as well.

Sorry, it's no where near the gaming utopia some here make it out to be.
 
We're not strangers to each other. We share our interests. Part of sharing our interests is being able to show them to each other.

Jesus Christ people, some of you are taking this too personally for some reason.

It's probably the "I need to enlighten this poor fool of the god-king standard of gaming"-style of OP you made.
 
Don't bother. He went from consoles to mobile gaming, why would he be interested in the advantages of pc gaming if he already dismissed the advantages of consoles over mobile?
 
I play my PS4 much more than my PC these days. PC gaming whilst rewarding is a complete pain in the ass I found myself spending hours tinkering to get games running right or at all in some cases over the years and those hours I simply haven't got anymore.

There are also some hardcore fucks on-line in the pc space who run everything on low with million dpi mice along with the nerds running hax as well.


Sorry, it's no where near the gaming utopia some here make it out to be.

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None of this has been true for most people in the last 5+ years, you might just be unlucky. The mouse and hax thingy makes me think you either have no idea what you are talking about or you don't know how to express yourself.
 
If he lost interest in consoles and just plays mobile games I can't imagine why he'd want to jump into PC gaming arbitrarily.
 
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None of this has been true for most people in the last 5+ years, you might just be unlucky. The mouse and hax thingy makes me think you either have no idea what you are talking about or you don't know how to express yourself.

It has, Jesus the delusion around PC gaming sometimes astounds me. I've run and maintained high spec rig since the early Doom days. It's always been a pain especially on new titles.
 
I didn't realise pointing out the pros of having a PC is offensive and degrading.

It's how you say it. Like anything else is lesser and that if anyone else happens to partake in that style of enjoyment (consoles/mobile) then they are "wrong" too.
 
It has, Jesus the delusion around PC gaming sometimes astounds me. I've run and maintained high spec rig since the early Doom days. It's always been a pain especially on new titles.
You don't even need to be a gamer just using a PC is bad enough sometimes
 
It's how you say it. Like anything else is lesser and that if anyone else happens to partake in that style of enjoyment (consoles/mobile) then they are "wrong" too.

I have no idea how you got that. I never mentioned that it's wrong to enjoy console or mobile gaming. I definitely think games look and play better on PC, but I wouldn't take it personally if you found that mobile/console gaming to be more enjoyable.
 
He is interested. That's why he agreed to come over. I just want give him an honest portrayal of PC gaming. That's what the thread is about.

The PC screenshot thread is pretty good at demonstrating visual side of the platform and longevity of its games. There are also plenty of different type of games/genres shown there, so it shows that it's not all just Minecraft and Mobas.
 
There are also some hardcore fucks on-line in the pc space who run everything on low with million dpi mice along with the nerds running hax as well.

Sorry, it's no where near the gaming utopia some here make it out to be.



O_o
Not really that big of a deal... Play on the right servers.
 
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