In the olden days, PC gaming was rife with folklore and myths. Those of us who had to go through this rite of passage will be familiar with numerous PC gaming myths. Yet, can we tell which is true and which is false to this day?
We were also children at the time, and our imaginations were open to the more esoteric and fantastical aspects of PC gaming culture. While some of the things we used to think were ludicrous, others are rooted in fact. Please keep reading to learn about the main PC gaming myths and their origins.
The Crowned Jewel of All PC Gaming Myths: PC Gaming Costs a Lot of Money
The first fallacy about PC gaming is that it is too expensive.
Even though low-cost gaming PCs exist, we have to disagree with this misconception. Every new year brings the dread of replacing your graphic card and CPU. At least with a console, you know you can play a game by inserting a disc, ensuring that you have a solid memory like the rtx3090-24g-ek, and you’re good to go.
Running as an Administrator Equals Godhood
Most of us had to share a single computer in middle school. Think back to when HP and Dell were both off-white during the Cretaceous era.
Running a game as an administrator is supposed to provide you with god-tier hacks, which we also assumed: infinite health, infinite clip, infinite flying. Administrators will do just about anything.
This works for “most” games, according to rumors. It didn’t work all the time, but rather than acknowledge we were pursuing snake oil. We concluded that whatever we were playing didn’t fit into the category of “most” games whenever it didn’t work.
It was an exception to a rule that was just as illogical as we were as individuals.
Tapping Into the Power of Alt-F4
When we were kids in 2004, most of us spent a lot of time with friends, playing Halo: Combat Evolved online throughout the summer.
A time when four-hour CTF battles on strange servers were common and when text chat rooms were always filled with cruel people and confused teens.
Even if you were on a different server, you could always count on someone in chat to help you out. To switch weapons, press Alt+F4. “God mode is activated by pressing Alt+F4.”
Also, pressing Alt+F4 will allow you to participate in a conversation. This was definitely a myth.
Turn It off Then on Again
Most of us have been chastised for repeatedly shutting off and then restarting the household computer.
You intended to allow the capacitors to completely drain before reactivating a computer after shutting it down, according to the 30-second guideline. Of course, we were terrified as kids that if we turned it off and on too quickly, we’d break anything electrical or mechanical.
So, in the name of our own myth, we’ve been waiting a full five minutes or so after an outage or breakdown to hit the power button, and we’ve been telling others to do the same.
Exploring Myths From the Video Game Industry
There’s no denying that PC gaming myths were a substantial part of the video gaming industry, especially in the early aughts. Hopefully, our guide has triggered a trip down memory lane in the best ways.
And, if you’re hungry for more tips and tricks on your favorite games, you should head straight to our gaming section.