Edited by: Kavya Mittal
Gaming on a Lightning McQueen car bed is one of my fondest childhood memories. With three brothers around me who didn’t trust me with the controller, I fell in love with Assassin’s Creed II, the very first game I ever played on the console. It was the summer of 2012, and while my eldest cousin switched between the Playstation2 (existing solely to play a pixelated, low graphic wrestling game) and the PS3, the rest of us sat excitedly waiting for our turn, until our moms came to the room and religiously delivered the untiring (dad) joke, “play FIFA in the backyard, not on TV.” Two years later, my brother and I were gifted our own PS3, and having sworn to our parents to be responsible with it, we waited for the holidays or weekends to load our favourite Need for Speed game (Most Wanted is an unparalleled top), or in my case, any of the Assassin’s Creeds.
These were simpler times.
PC vs Console
Gaming, currently one of the most profitable among the entertainment industry, has never fallen short of dividing the community. The Console War that arguably ended in the 2010s was followed swiftly by the warring between PC gamers and console gamers. Both communities constantly diss on the other, calling out the inadequate gaming experience, quality or flexibility of the other. As lighthearted as the rivalry (mostly) is, it is also quite stupid, since the choice is almost always a personal one. One take within the community is — PC gamers are just mad that they can’t afford a console, and console gamers are just mad that they can’t afford a decent PC setup. As convincing and partially right as this is, the accessibility of either is a conflicted topic, depending largely on what the user wants. In an age of top-of-the-line GPUs and the ease of building your own PC, the question of quality graphics is almost out of the running. The contest of affordability also has no simple answer, breaking between desired hardware and software. It then further narrows down to what your priorities are as a gamer — seamless gaming on the highest settings? Portability? Upgradability? Backwards compatibility? The list goes on.
In my personal experience, while I have received some snarky remarks for my preference for console gaming, for the most part people just don’t care. And gosh I have never before preferred indifference over provocation to such an extent.
Bro-Gaming
With the rise and success of the gaming industry, pro-gaming is becoming increasingly relevant with more people earning decent revenues through it. The industry, however, has infamously been sexist and struggles to shake such attitudes. To generalize, there are two sources of sexism in gaming —
- The games itself
- The community
These are both consequences and instigators to the other, forming a vicious cycle of perpetuating sexist sentiments within the community.
The creation of games with female characters “that don’t look like they stepped out of Victoria’s Secret catalogue,” is scarce, but has seen a slow, teasing rise in the past decade. In the case of RPG games, for instance, it’s not enough to have playable female protagonists; it’s about having relatable, lifelike female characters. Horizon Zero Dawn, The Last of Us (Parts I and II) and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (the last two get personal bonus points for unabashed queerness) are laudable examples of games that do not need to denigrate women to have a successful market.
Second, is the sexism within the gaming community itself? Female gamers are often relentlessly bullied during multiplayer gaming, to such an extent that some refuse to speak while gaming in a group. However, the attitude within the industry has slowly begun to change, and more and more female streamers (and those of other gender minorities) have found solid footing from streaming sites like Twitch.
Gaming at Ashoka
In the one online semester, I have been at Ashoka, forming a sense of fraternity with the gaming community at Ashoka has been virtually (hehe) impossible. It’s harder to play online with friends on a console (at least compared to PC), and Discord only recently made it possible for users to connect Playstation accounts to their Discord. So, albeit unfortunate, it’s not surprising that PC gaming is seemingly more popular. I am hoping, however, to find more gamers (of whatever preference) on campus, simply to bond over parents who blame every bad thing that happens to you on gaming.
Indigestion? It’s because of your gaming.
Painful periods? Gaming.
Depression? Gaming.
Unwanted pregnancy? It’s your bloody games I’m telling you.