I play on my phone and I’m a more hardcore gamer than most PC gamers
An anxious defendant entered the courtroom. The wretch was shaking with fear, and seemed to find his only solace in turning a small, dark object in his hands. There were many plaintiffs here, and to the unhappiness of the defendant, they were court, jury and executioner all at the same time.
They behaved like a noisy mob, although they kept to their assigned benches against the walls of the room, leaving an empty space in the center of the room. It was in the center that the elevated position designated for the accused was located. The defendant, shaking with nerves, stood on the seat designated for him, and within seconds silence fell over the room. Suddenly, everyone with visible grimaces of anger began to stare at the defendant.
A man with a yellow complexion and white hair stood up from the crowd of plaintiffs.
– We have gathered today to confirm once and for all what we have all been well aware of for a long time! – he exclaimed.
– That’s right! – agreed with “yellow” the entire crowd.
– Speaking of the issue that united us here, despite the obvious differences between us!
After these words, the accused noted that the plaintiffs, dressed in blue and green, were seated on opposite sides of the room – presumably to prevent possible fights between them, but even they all nodded their heads in agreement with the “yellow” orator.
This last word was uttered with disgust, and the crowd in the hall flinched at the sound of it.
The defendant looked at the object he was holding in his hand. His screen suddenly lit up, displaying a set of icons of his favorite games, with which he had collectively spent hundreds of hours. “If they want to lynch me here,” he thought, “then I certainly won’t give up without a fight. I play on phone and I’m a more hardcore gamer than PC and console gamers“.
PC Master Race and consoles vs. mobiles
– As a representative of the PC Master Race,” said “yellow” with undisguised pride, “I open the trial with a crowning argument: mobile games are extremely simple and do not offer an artistic experience On the same level as PC and console games!
The defendant suddenly felt more confident and stopped shaking.
PC Master Race – hardcore online-only?
– It’s true that mobile games can’t offer worlds as expansive as The Witcher or Cyberpunk – he began – but that doesn’t at all mean inferior entertainment. Titles such as Call of Duty: Mobile or PUBG Mobile provide a lot of fantastic experiences and boast really good audiovisuals for the performance of cell phones. On top of that on mobile phones you can find a lot of items that require tactics and thinking, such as Clash Royale, Brawl Stars….
– Or Candy Crush Saga, ha, ha! – he was interrupted by someone in the room.
– And just so you know! At the higher levels you have to do a lot of thinking to figure out how to get to the next level!
The crowd was clearly annoyed by the audacity of the mobile player, but the player continued:
– Candy Crush Saga may have become a symbol of frivolous mobile gaming, but somehow none of you protested when the world was enthralled with such series as Bejeweled, Lumines and Plants vs. Zombies!
After these words, the crowd definitely calmed down.
– These types of puzzle and arcade games have always existed on PCs and consoles,” the accused continued, “but due to shorter sessions and simpler controls, it turned out that they simply work better on phones. Angry Birds and Cut The Rope are nothing more than a continuation of a genre that was once much more popular on your beloved PCs and consoles. And to make things funnier, one of the most popular mobile games is Pokemon GO, which could in no way reach its full potential on desktop devices! This alone proves that mobile gamers can be more hardcore than PC gamers!
After these words, silence fell. The mobile gamer realized that he had the upper hand in the discussion.
– Besides, don’t forget that there are many titles designed to offer the same experience as their PC or console counterparts. Games such as Hearthstone, World of Tanks and Among Us have not only been adapted for mobile devices, but also made available for free in many cases, even if their counterparts on other platforms are paid.
A few words about monetization practices
– Aha!” shouted the “yellow” representative of the PC Master Race triumphantly. – And here we come to another key point! The games may be free on mobile, but the game developers are shaving you of your cash with micropayments! At every turn you are stuffed with controversial mechanics designed to get you addicted to instant gratification. And once you fall for that hook, the rewards are gone – unless you reach for your credit card!
– Well, yes,” began the mobile player calmly. – I played such a game recently.
– Ha, ha! – laughed “yellow” with satisfaction. – I knew you were fooled by it too! What was the name of the game?
– Diablo 4!
There was a buzz in the room, and anxiety dawned on the face of “yellow”.
– Not only did I first pay crores for the basic console version of the game, but then I still had to purchase a subscription to play online! And then came the combat pass, virtual currency and time-limited challenges designed to make me Fear Of Missing Out! And the same thing happened to me in other PC, PlayStation and Xbox productions, with the Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed series in the lead!
A mobile gamer picked up his phone (to the disgust of everyone in the room) and began to tap out something on its screen.
– And guess what? As far as I can recall, the biggest fuss about controversial monetization has been on PCs lately. Check it out!
The defendant showed everyone the screen of his phone, on which the Steam mobile app was open, and in it were the latest overwhelmingly negative reviews of War Thunder.
– War Thunder recently took a severe beating from the community for over a DECADE of aggressive monetization practices! And these mobile games that you think are so terrible and resort to psychological tricks to rip off players were mostly titles by Zynga, such as Farmville or Toon Blast. They currently don’t even catch the top 50 most popular mobile items, so maybe it’s high time you refreshed your knowledge on the subject.
– Anyway, let’s leave micropayments for a moment,” the mobile player continued. – How many of you have preordered any PC or console game lately?
Quite a few people raised their hands.
– And how many of you were satisfied with the quality of these games on the day of release?
Only a handful of hands remained up. There was a buzz in the hall.
– And on top of that, some of you probably still put up the cash for Star Citizen….
Ads the scourge of mobile games?
– Enough of this! – shouted someone from the far end of the room. A sizable gentleman in a T-shirt with Jim Ryan’s face came out to meet the accused.
– If you’re so smart, explain to me, how mobile games can be so wonderful when they are overloaded with ads? On my console I will never see an ad between stages of play!
The expression on the console donkey’s face betrayed that he did not expect such a reaction. It also betrayed that his gray cells were not expecting anything at all.
– In-game ads appear nonstop, including on PCs and consoles. Fortunately or unfortunately for you, they are camouflaged as collaborations, crossovers and partnerships. This is exactly how Call of Duty tries to sell you The Boys series. It’s along these lines that Balenciaga appears in Fortnite, and you have Volkswagen product placement in Rocket League. In mobile games, when they serve you advertising, they at least make it clear.
Besides, note that even if there are no collaborations directly in games of this type, instead your favorite streamer, youtuber or e-sports team will serve you some advertising – because sponsorships are what these people do for a living. By the way, it’s hypocritical to cling to ads when you accept them anyway on the social networks you use, after all.
Every platform is actually mobile?
– Let’s not forget one more thing! – this time someone from the crowd wearing green T-shirts spoke up. – Mobile hardware is objectively worse for gaming, because it is necessarily weaker. It must be small and handy, which precludes the presence of larger and more powerful graphics cards or processors. Even my theoretically weak Xbox Series S is able to fire up a lot of titles that are not right on mobile devices!
– Here we come to the definition of a mobile device,” the defendant replied. – It’s true that phones are not able to provide as much computing power as gaming PCs and consoles. But whether Nintendo Switch and Steam Deck are not mobile devices either, with the usual technological limitations of mobile?
Some in the room nodded their heads in agreement.
– And in fact, every major hardware platform is still trying its hand at mobile gaming, with varying results. After all, in addition to the Switch and Deck, we still have the PlayStation Backbone controller, which you plug a smartphone into. Both PlayStation and Xbox are getting bolder and bolder in introducing solutions for mobile gaming in the cloud. And remember the Vita and PSP? Somehow no one laughed at gamers on those platforms.
So yes, limitations exist, but with advances in technology, these barriers are gradually being removed. And maybe my phone won’t handle games hulking on Xbox, but if I hook it up to the cloud, the situation will change dramatically!
Hardcore experience vs. gamer persona?
– I still won’t change my mind – the “yellow” representative of the PC Master Race spoke up again. – Even if I play myself on my phone, it’s only as a springboard to a more serious gaming experience. No mobile game can provide me with what an exciting round in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive or League of Legends!
– That’s just your opinion,” replied the mobile player. – I, on the other hand I know several people for whom the fierce competition in Words With Friends provides a comparable experience. Besides, I am one of them myself! It’s a bit like playing one of the most noble games of our civilization: chess!
Silence fell in the room again. Everyone waited for the accused to finish his thought.
– Word and logic games in a clash with a live opponent require strategy and forethought. This is exactly the case in Words With Friends. And you relatively young console and PC gamers fail to recognize that the most hardcore fans of such items are your mothers and grandmothers!
– I give you my word,” he continued, “that whenever my opponent in Words With Friends has a picture of an old lady in his avatar, I know that a harsh beating from a tough opponent is in store. The range of vocabulary and knowledge of rules more mature players have as trained as e-sports champions aiming with AWP in CSGO. And at the end of the day, who are we to judge these older ladies and say they are not equally hardcore?
The verdict?
The day was about to end. A crowd of console and PC users spilled out of the room, not entirely satisfied with the trial.
The mobile gamer’s arguments made sense, but his adversaries deep inside didn’t feel quite convinced.
Each of them reflexively reached for a cell phone after leaving the room, so perhaps they shouldn’t be too critical of mobile gaming fans, who according to them have always stood on the other side of the platform – and perhaps imaginary – barricade?
The defendant walked slowly out of the courtroom last. He breathed a deep sigh of relief, knowing that he had done everything he could to defend his position. He may not have convinced anyone that, as a mobile gamer, he was more hardcore than PC and console gamers, but he was sure that this trial would have looked a lot worse a decade ago.
However, that is no longer relevant. He reached for his phone once again and, looking through the icons of the installed apps, began to wonder what (and how) he would play tonight.
Article created for Install Game PC
