Things Console Peasants Say Episode #4 - Couch gaming

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Today's topic is a few things that console peasants like to say about couch gaming

The argument being made by console peasants is that couch gaming is either not available on PCs, that is it harder to achieve on a PC or that it is better on consoles. So let's take a look at all three of these claims.

#1 Couch gaming isn't available on PCs.

This argument isn't as common these days as it used to be in the past so we will not spend much time on it. But basically it goes something along the lines that you need to play games sitting in a chair at a table, being hunched and wrecking your back.

And just the (while unsuccessful) Steam Machines prove that this simply isn't true. But you can also easily buy plenty of small form PCs with a similar or even higher performance then consoles have. And simply connecting a wireless controller (or even a wireless keyboard/mouse combo) is soo easy.

#2 Couch gaming is hard to achieve on a PC

This is only a combination of the part of the previous reason and the general claim that PCs are hard to maintain and get working. And we already debunked this argument in a previous episode.

But to shortly say it again, modern PCs, specially if you have them built for you by a professional company or you buy a pre-built system altogether (which is often the case for small-form PCs) are just plug-and-play devices just like consoles are. And as already mentioned, just use a wireless controller (you can even use the XBOX and PS ones if you like) is as easy as eating pie.

#3 Couch gaming is better on a console

This is probably the only argument that holds at least partially true. But the reason is slightly different then what you might expect. Yes, some game genres aren't really well playable while gaming from a couch. For example RTS or MOBA aren't really well suited for this, because they either require very precise controls in (MOBA) or big attention to details (RTS) and both of these are really hard to achieve when sitting a few meters from a screen.
A similar thing then happens for some shooter games that again rely on very precise control, specially the ones that are played as an e-sport.

But a lot of genres, usually the ones you can find both on PC and on consoles are playable just as well. Games like RPG games, Adventure games or most of the indie scene are easily accessible to be played from a distance.

A extension of this argument is the fact that the PC is hard to control when couch gaming. But since Steam introduces Big-Screen mode this is no longer an issue.