The logo used by the US and UK versions of PC Gamer

PC Gamer is a magazine founded in Britain in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future Publishing. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games magazines in their respective countries.^[1][2] The magazine features news on developments in the video game industry, previews of new games, and reviews of the latest popular PC games, along with other features relating to hardware, mods, "classic" games and various other topics.

Review system[link]

PC Gamer reviews are written by the magazine's editors and freelance writers, and rate games on a percent scale. In the US edition, no game has yet received a rating higher than 98% (Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Half-Life 2, and Crysis), while the UK edition has never awarded more than 96% (Civilization II, Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Minecraft and Quake II).

In the UK edition, the lowest numerical score was 2%, awarded to Big Brother 1. The sequel, Big Brother 2, was given an even lower score of N/A%, the review explaining that "[PC Gamer] put as much effort into reviewing it as they did in making the game". In the US edition, the lowest score awarded was 4%, given to Mad Dog McCree, unseating the previously lowest-rated game, Skydive!, given 5%.

Editions[link]

There are two main editions of PC Gamer, a British version and an American version, both are published by Future Publishing. Founded in the United Kingdom in November 1993, the American sister version was launched a year later in June 1994.^[1]

There are also numerous local editions that mainly use the materials of one of the two editions, typically the British one, including a Malaysian and Russian edition. The Swedish edition, though rooted in its UK counterpart, has grown to be more independent, largely due to the immense popularity of PC games compared to console games in Sweden, and now produces most of its own material. An Australian edition was published monthly by Perth-based Conspiracy Publishing since August 1998, but it appears to have been discontinued in mid-late 2004. A Spanish edition titled "PC Juegos y Jugadores" also exists.

Both American and British magazines are published thirteen times per year (twice in December),^[1] although there are sometimes variations.

[edit] PC Gamer UK

Magazine[link]

The British edition of PC Gamer has been in constant monthly publication since 1993. Subscribers get a special edition of the magazine with no headlines on the front cover (only the masthead and BBFC rating).

Almost exclusively devoted to PC games, the magazine has a reputation for giving in-depth reviews.^[9]

The magazine originally shipped with an accompanying 3.5-inch (89 mm) floppy disk. A CD demo disc (labelled CD Gamer) was released alongside the floppy disk edition from issue 11 onwards with the first CD Gamer containing all the content from the previous 10 issues' floppy disks. The single CD was later expanded to two CDs.

An edition with a 9 GB DVD known as DVD Gamer ran alongside the 2CD edition for a couple of years, until production of the CD Gamer edition ceased as of issue 162. The UK Edition then only came with a single double-sided DVD. In August 2011, the UK magazine announced it was to be discontinuing the disk as of issue 232, and replacing it with more pages of content within the magazine and exclusive free gifts. ^[10]

Regular features[link]

The magazine has many regular features which make up each edition of the magazine. These include sections called ´Eyewitness´, ´Previews´, ´Send´, where letters from the readers are spread over 2 two page spreads, at least one special feature, which reports on gaming related issues such as the effect of PC gaming on the environment, a review section which reviews the latest released PC games and re-reviews titles that have been released on budget and ´Extra Life´ which reports on modding games and gaming culture and revisiting old games. There is also a ´Systems´ section, which reviews and recommends hardware such as video cards and monitors. The back page of the magazine is entitled ´It's All Over´ and usually consists of game related artwork such as a version of Dalí's The Persistence of Memory featuring items from Portal.^[11] For a time, one of the magazine's features, ´Gamer Snap´, where amusing pictures sent in by readers were printed in the magazine, however the feature was discontinued and replaced with a ´Guess the game´ where readers sent in drawings of memorable scenes in video games drawn in Microsoft Paint.

Forum and blog[link]

The PC Gamer blog was started to coincide with the transfer of the PC Gamer UK site to become part of the Computer and Video Games network which incorporates all of Future Publishing's gaming magazines. The move brought some controversy, with many long standing members of the forum leaving due to the new forum's cramped spacing, advertising and slow loading times. The introduction of a blog was seen as one of the redeeming features of the switch. The blog has since been regularly updated with contributions from many of the magazine's staff. The topics discussed range from the controversy over violent video games, to the benefits of buying a PC over a console.

In 2010, PC Gamer re-launched their website and blog by bringing together the online communities of both the US and UK magazines into one website.^[12] As a result, the PC Gamer blog now has contributions from both the US and UK magazines, all hosted at the new website along with the forums for both magazines.

Podcast[link]

The PC Gamer UK podcast was started on the 4 May 2007. It is currently hosted by Tim Edwards with regulars Tom Francis and Craig Pearson contributing. There is a fourth spot filled by one of John Walker, Kieron Gillen, Graham Smith, Jon Hicks or Jim Rossignol. The podcast was formerly hosted by Ross Atherton until his departure in June 2009. It is normally released a week before the release of the magazine each month, and can usually be found on the magazine's DVD in the "resources" section. The podcast starts with the PC game charts and goes on to discuss features in the current issue and gaming news.

[edit] PC Gamer US

Magazine[link]

The American edition of PC Gamer launched in 1994.

In 1999, Future Publishing, then known as Imagine media, purchased rival magazine PC Games and merged its staff into the magazine.^[13]

According to a 2005 study, subscribers to the magazine are overwhelmingly male (97%), and make up over two thirds of the magazine's readership.^[2]

Demo disk[link]

Similarly to the British edition, the magazine ships with a demo disk, though diskless versions are available. The CDs are replaced by DVDs in the American edition on a month-to-month basis.

When PC games with full motion video (FMV) sequences were popular in the mid-to-late 1990s, PC Gamer's CD-ROM included elaborate FMV sequences featuring one of their editors. To access the features of the CD, including the demos, patches and reviews, the user had to navigate a 'basement', which played very much like classic PC games such as Myst. It was in this game sequence that the magazine's mascot, Coconut Monkey, was introduced just as the editor was leaving the magazine, marking the transition from the FMV demo CDs to the more contemporary menu driven demo CDs that they use today.

In the September 2011 edition of PC Gamer, it was announced that they would be dropping the demo disk altogether and concentrating on improving the quality of the magazine instead with a promise of a larger magazine printed on heavier paper stock. The usual demo disk content would be made available online. ^[14]

Coconut Monkey[link]

Coconut Monkey is the mascot for the US edition. He was created by founding editor Matt Firme, and modelled on a Bermudan tourist trinket. Coconut Monkey appears in the pages of the magazine, and has occasionally provided commentary on demo discs included with the magazine. The Coconut Monkey appears in a number of game mods.

The Coconut Monkey is often used to parody vaporware by advertising the unreleased game Gravy Trader, which has been given a 101% score on some of the review disks. The character would often cite that he would do "something" (dependent on the train of thought), but use the excuse "but I have no hands" as a reason for not doing it. As a side note, he claimed he was the product of a coconut (his mother) and a Sri Lankan rat basher (his father).

Podcast[link]

The PC Gamer US podcast started in August 2005, and is hosted and produced by various PC Gamer editors. Regular contributors include Logan Decker, Dan Stapleton, and Evan Lahti. Former contributors include Dan Morris, Jeremy Williams, Greg Vederman, Chuck Osborn, Kristen Salvatore, Gary Whitta, and Norman Chan. It is generally released weekly on Thursdays, but is subject to change when the group is too busy or forgets. The podcast celebrated its 100th episode on 20 September 2007, and was hosted by Dan Morris, who had not appeared since he left the position of EIC of PC Gamer in 2006 to become the magazine's publisher. For its 200th episode released on Nov 12, 2009, the podcast featured two former editors in chief: Gary Whitta and Kristen Salvatore.

A video podcast is also produced and features game developers discussing their newly or soon to be released games, as well as other notable figures in the gaming world. It is produced on a semi-regular basis.

Several notable guests that have appeared on the podcasts include Richard Garriot, Sid Meier, Chris Taylor, the Frag Dolls, Jens Pulver, Chris Sigaty, and Jonathan "Fatal1ty" Wendel.

Several episodes have included a gaming-themed quiz show. Introduced in episode 81 by Logan Decker, the segment is named Catfantastic after the book series of the same name. Logan, however, announced on Catfantastic II that the quiz show would be discontinued because "after two good things, it gets boring." However, Logan hinted in later episodes that Catfantasic could return some day. It did in episode 133, episode 200, episode 250 and episode 300. Episodes 250 and 300 were called LazerDeathCatFantastic and ELECTROCATFANTASTIC respectively.

As of episode 119, Andy Bauman has taken over as producer from Jeremy Williams, who accepted a job at Future US in South San Francisco. (While Jeremy will be working in the same office with the PC Gamer crew, his new responsibilities left him no time to continue on as podcast producer. He has hinted he may return as a contributor.) Andy lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. Andy's last podcast was episode 258.

Anthony Valva, PC Gamer's intern at the time, took over producing the podcast up to episode 274. After his internship ended, podcast production was handed over to former PCG Intern Erik Belsaas.

See also[link]

• List of game magazines

References[link]

External links[link]

• PC Gamer website
• PC Gamer UK Podcast
• PC Gamer US Podcast

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Historically, the term "gamer" usually referred to someone who played role-playing games and wargames. Since they became very popular, the term has included players of video games. While the term nominally includes those who do not necessarily consider themselves to be gamers (i.e., casual gamers),^[1] it is commonly used to identify those who spend much of their leisure time playing or learning about games.

There are many gamer communities around the world. Many of these take the form of discussion forums and other virtual communities, as well as college or university social clubs. Stores specializing in games often serve as a meeting place to organize groups of players^{[citation needed]}. Prior to the emergence of the Internet, many play-by-mail games developed communities resembling those surrounding today's online games^{[citation needed]}.

In October 2006, the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA) was established as the first non-profit membership organization formed to represent American computer and video game consumers. The ECA was formed, in part, in response to the seemingly imbalanced representation of the games industry (e.g., the ESA, IGDA and others) in comparison to game consumers in the United States Congress.^[1]

Types of gamers[link]

In the United States, the average video game player is 35 and has been playing video games for over 12 years.^[2] In the UK, the average video game player is over 23 years old, has played video games for over 10 years, and spends around 12.6 hours a week playing video games.^[3] The term "gamer" is composed of several subgroups.

Casual gamer[link]

A casual gamer is a player whose time or interest in playing games is limited. Casual gamers tend to play games designed for ease of gameplay and don't spend much time playing more involved games. The genres that casual gamers play vary, and they might not own a specific video game console to play their games.^[4][5] Casual gaming demographics vary greatly from those of traditional video games, as the typical casual gamer is older and more predominantly female.^[6] One casual gamer subset is the "fitness gamer", who plays motion-based exercise games.^[7]

The term casual gamer can also be used to distinguish between play styles of level-based character advance in nonlinear games with respect to the amount of dedicated hours of play. MMORPGs may require many hours of grinding to develop a character to maximum level and reach the endgame. Other games like Eve Online and The Lord of the Rings Online try to balance leveling so that casual gamers can play along with those dedicating more hours to the game. ^[8]

Mid-core gamer[link]

A core or mid-core gamer is a player with a wide range of interests and enthusiast toward creative and diverse games,^[9] but without the amount of time spent and sense of competition of a hardcore gamer. The mid-core gamer enjoys complex games but won't buy every novel release, doesn't have time for long games,^[10] and is a target consumer ^[11] that needs features not found in games for the other types. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata stated that they designed the Wii U to cater to a core gamer who is between the casual and hard-core categories.^[12]

Hardcore gamer[link]

Hardcore gamers prefer to take significant time and practice on games, and tend to play more involved games that require larger amounts of time to complete or master. Hardcore gamers may take part in video game culture.^{[further explanation needed]} Competition is another defining characteristic of hardcore gamers, who often compete in organized tournaments, leagues, or ranked play integrated into the game proper, an example of this is Major League Gaming, an Electronic sports organization that often holds events for hardcore First-person shooter games such as Quake. There are many subtypes of hardcore gamers based on the style of game, gameplay preference, hardware platform, and other preferences.

Pro-gamer[link]

Professional gamers play video games for money.^[13] Whether a professional gamer is a subtype of the hardcore gamer largely depends on the degree to which a professional gamer is financially dependent upon the income derived from gaming. So far as a professional gamer is financially dependent upon gaming, the time spent playing is no longer "leisure" time. In countries of Asia, particularly South Korea and Japan, professional gamers are sponsored by large companies and can earn more than $100,000USD a year, in addition to the following that some obtain.^[14] In the United States, Major League Gaming has contracted Electronic Sports Gamers with $250,000USD yearly deals.^[15]

Also, many progamers are earning significant amounts of money testing these games for the various companies who are more then happy to pay for this service. Once the tester is done reviewing the game they usually get to keep the game. Allowing the testers to keep the game is no small thing as most new video games for consoles like Xbox 360 are priced at $59.99.

Newbie[link]

"Newbie" is a slang term for a novice or newcomer to a certain game, or to gaming in general.^[16][17] It can have derogatory connotations, but is also often used for descriptive purposes only, without a value judgment. Two derived terms are "newb", a beginner who is willing to learn; and "noob", a derogatory name (an alternate spelling for n00b), though "newb" and "n00b" have become opposites of each other, meaning "newb" is plainly someone who is new to the game (thus having the potential to get better) and "n00b" is a player who both lacks skill and mainly fools around (not wanting to become better).

Retrogamer[link]

A retrogamer is a gamer preferring playing and collecting retro games - older video games and arcade games. The term retrogamer is used mostly in the United Kingdom and Europe, while the terms classic gamer, or old-school gamer are more prevalent in the United States. The games are played either on the original hardware, on modern hardware via console emulation, or on modern hardware via ports or compilations.^[18] Some retrogamers are in the business of refurbishing old games, particularly arcade cabinets. Some even make their own arcade cabinets.

Girl gamer/Gamer Girl[link]

A girl gamer/Gamer Girl is any woman who regularly engages in playing video games. According to a study conducted by the Entertainment Software Association in 2009, 40% of the game playing population is female, and women 18 or older now comprise 34% of all gamers. Also, the percentage of women now playing online has risen to 43%, up 4% from 2004. The same study shows that 48% of game purchasers are female.^[19][20]

Gaymer[link]

Gaymer, or Gay Gamer, is a term used to refer to the group of people who identify themselves as LGBT (gay, bisexual, lesbian, or transgendered) and have an active interest in the video game community (gamers).^[21]

This demographic has been the subject of two large surveys: by Jason Rockwood in 2006,^[22] who noted the level of prejudice that gaymers endure,^[23] and by Paul Nowak in 2009, focusing in what contents gaymers expect in videogames.^[24][25]

Avatar[link]

An avatar, username, game name, alias, gamer tag, screen name, or handle is a name (usually a pseudonym) adopted by a video gamer, used as a main preferred identification to the gaming community. Usage of user names is most prevalent in games with online multiplayer support, or at electronic sport conventions.^{[citation needed]}

Similarly, a clan tag is a prefix or suffix added to a name to identify that the gamer is in a clan. Clans are generally a group of gamers who play together as a team against other clans. They are most commonly found in online multi-player games in which one team can face off against another. Clans can also be formed to create loosely based affiliations perhaps by all being fans of the same game or merely gamers who have close personal ties to each other. A team tag is a prefix or suffix added to a name to identify that the gamer is in a team. Teams are generally sub-divisions within the same clan and are regarded within gaming circuits as being a purely competitive affiliation. These gamers are usually in an online league such as the Cyberathlete Amateur League (C.A.L.) and their parent company the Cyberathlete Professional League (C.P.L.) where all grouped players were labeled as teams and not clans.

See also[link]

• Consumer
• Entertainment Consumers Association
• Gamers Outreach Foundation
• Going Cardboard (Documentary)
• List of gaming topics
• Player (game)
• Video game addiction

References[link]