Experts in digital media interactions have warned that the level of smugness tested amongst PC gamers, which has been rising for the past five years, is reaching dangerously high levels.
“We’ve not seen levels this high before – not even when Valve do a conference” said Ken Goodman, head of the analytics firm behind the warning. “We think it probably has something to do with the rising speculation around the “next generation” of consoles. Lacklustre Wii U sales coupled with the next Xbox’s rumoured specs and the PS4’s announced specs being outpaced by today’s mid-range gaming computers have left the entire PC gaming community feeling dangerously self-satisfied. We’ve reported outbreaks of back-patting, flattery, and even in some rare and bizarre cases, non-ironic usage of the phrase “gg”.”
It is possible that the smugness uptick seen in the last week may have resulted from the release of Steam on Linux – Linux users being well-known for being particularly smug individuals, granting them the same status as “true gamers” (because no matter how hard they try and justify it, Gnometris, Battle for Wesnoth and Tux Racer are never going to enter competitive gaming circles). What this means is that while total smugness has risen significantly, the average PC gamer with a Windows install is only slightly smugger than last year, still within the acceptable yearly inflation of smugness.
“I think that the real fear amongst the PC gaming community is that it may become its own worst enemy” concluded Goodman. “If they get too smug, they’ll remove themselves from the system and just go buy a Mac.”
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