Gaming today is more significant than ever before.
No matter how you choose to play, there are plenty of gaming opportunities. Gaming holds more value than the film and music industries combined. PC is the king in this regard, with a library dating back to the 1970s, aided by emulation bringing console games to the platform.
As impressive as this choice is, it also comes with some frustrations in how games are offered, played, and accessed.
While PC gamers can expect a more streamlined future, for today at least, gaming can come with some annoying little frustrations.
This article takes a look at the double-edged sword of the growing PC gaming choice. With an impressive library of games available, PC gaming is an increasingly popular option for gamers. However, this increased choice also brings its own set of issues, such as having to manage multiple logins and passwords, controller compatibility issues, and difficulty in adjusting mouse sensitivity.
Let’s kick off with a look at the downloadable game platform battle.
The Platform Battle
Steam, the big gaming platform, has been the market leader since its launch in September 2003.
As measured by BlackLinko, Steam today experiences around 120 million active users. It was the first big name in the downloadable game space, and while it got an early lead, competitors like the Epic Game Store and the GOG have arrived to compete. This competition has dramatically lowered prices but also introduces the frustration of balancing multiple logins.
Having to log in once is acceptable, but as ExpressVPN notes, remembering the many different passwords used by online systems introduces the need for password resets.
Plus, having multiple login details and and passwords for each digital game marketplace increases the chance of one or more of your accounts being hacked.
In the United States, more than half of online users are forced to reset their passwords at least once a month, which can be incredibly annoying and time-consuming.
Despite the availability of services such as GOG Galaxy that can help to centralize and manage passwords on PC, this is not a perfect solution. As the number of passwords that the average user needs to manage continues to grow each year, this problem becomes increasingly apparent and difficult to overcome.
It is not unusual for people to find themselves stuck in a loop of constantly forgetting their passwords or having to reset them in order to access their accounts. This can be an incredibly frustrating experience and one that requires a more effective solution.
The increasing number of gaming platforms available to PC gamers is a double-edged sword; while variety is great, it introduces the need to manage multiple logins, passwords and platforms. This can be time consuming and inconvenient, and can increase the chance of accounts being hacked. Although services like GOG Galaxy can help to centralize passwords, it is not a perfect solution and users are often left stuck in a loop of forgetting and resetting passwords.
Plug and Not Play
PC gamers usually play with a keyboard and mouse, but controllers are also a common part of the desktop gaming experience.
When controllers work, they offer an immersive and enjoyable experience.
However, the varying levels of compatibility across different games can be a major source of frustration for gamers. This means that some titles may not respond correctly to inputs or may lack certain features that are available on other platforms.
Additionally, many controllers lack the necessary customization options to make them suitable for different PC games and playing styles. This can be especially true for the more complex titles that are found on PC. These games often require multiple keyboard and mouse button presses simultaneously. This can be hard to replicate on a controller. As a result, players may find that they are limited in their choice of game that they can use with their controller and may not be able to get the most out of their gaming experience.
Players who use a keyboard and mouse for gaming may find it incredibly frustrating when they come across a different control setup. When the keys for certain commands, such as “use” and “crouch,” have been switched around to different keys, it can cause a lot of confusion and can result in mistakes that can have a detrimental effect on the player’s in-game performance. This can be especially true for seasoned players who rely heavily on muscle memory and have a hard time adapting to the new layout. In addition to making mistakes and feeling confused, it can also lead to a decrease in overall performance, which can be a major setback, especially in competitive gaming.
Though mouse sensitivity can be adjusted to personal preference in each game, there is no standardization across all games for what ‘mouse sensitivity’ means, making it difficult for gamers to adjust their settings from one game to another. As a result, it is important to measure mouse sensitivity in all games in pixels per inch. This would provide gamers with a standard unit of measurement across all games, allowing them to accurately set sensitivity to their exact preference every time, no matter what game they are playing.
This is especially beneficial for competitive gamers who need to be able to quickly and easily switch between different games with the same mouse settings in order to maintain optimal performance. It would also provide a more consistent gaming experience for all gamers, regardless of the game they are playing.
For controller players, a lack of support is still a common issue. Though Xbox controllers can be standardized through Microsoft’s XInput, not all games work well with this feature, and PlayStation controller users face even more difficulty. What’s worse is that Nintendo, Sony, and Xbox controllers all have different layouts, so button prompts from other systems can lead to mistakes like jumping to one’s death. And don’t even get us started on the games that prompt the user to “Press button 2 to shoot”!
Too much variety and choice is, at its core, a fantastic problem to have.
Though these complaints very much fall into the ‘first-world-problems’ category of issues, they’re still points that don’t need to exist. Since major developers seem reticent to take the steps themselves, the players often step up and do the hard work. Whether inventing password managers, control sensitivity apps, and controller emulators, gamers are solving gaming’s problems; it’s just a matter of keeping up with the curve.
Conclusion
The increasing range of gaming options on PC is a double-edged sword. While the variety of games available is undeniably great, it introduces a number of frustrations, such as having to manage multiple logins and passwords, compatibility issues with controllers, and difficulty in adjusting mouse sensitivity.
PC gamers can expect a more streamlined future, but until then, the players often have to step up and do the hard work to overcome these frustrations. With the help of technology, gamers can continue to enjoy their favorite titles and get the most out of their gaming experience.
- The range of gaming options available on PC is a double-edged sword: while it is great to have a variety of games, it also introduces frustrations like having to manage multiple logins and passwords, controller compatibility issues, and difficulty in adjusting mouse sensitivity.
- Services such as GOG Galaxy can help to centralize passwords, but it is not a perfect solution.
- Xbox controllers can be standardized through Microsoft’s XInput, but not all games work well with this feature, and PlayStation controller users face even more difficulty.
- Players who use a keyboard and mouse for gaming may find it incredibly frustrating when they come across a different control setup.
- It is important to measure mouse sensitivity in all games in pixels per inch in order to provide a standard unit of measurement across all games and allow gamers to accurately set sensitivity to their exact preference.
- Gamers have to step up and do the hard work to overcome these frustrations, but with the help of technology, they can continue to enjoy their favorite titles and get the most out of their gaming experience.