About
The Glorious PC Gaming Master Race is a facetious label used to attribute superiority to those who play video games on a personal computer (PC). It is commonly used as a retort in online debates where console gamers are referred to as “dirty console peasants.”
Origin
On January 23rd, 2008, online video game magazine The Escapist[2] published a review episode of the PC game The Witcher[1] as part of their review series “Zero Punctuation.”[3] In the video, the narrator quips how The Witcher’s complex structure makes the gaming experience optimized for PC users so that “those dirty console playing peasants don’t ruin it for the glorious PC gaming master race.” Within six years, the episode gathered over 400 comments and 650 Facebook likes on the Escapist website.
Spread
On February 23rd, 2010, a Facebook page[4] titled “Glorious PC Gaming Master Race” was created, which received more than 3,900 likes in the next three years. On April 30th, 2011, the r/pcmasterrace subreddit[5] was launched, in which Redditors submit posts related to the superiority of PC gaming. On July 21st, The Zero Punctuation review of The Witcher was uploaded to YouTube, receiving upwards of 200,000 views and 680 comments in the next two years. On June 14th, 2012, the video game blog VG 24/7[6] published an article about PC game modding, which referenced the glorious PC gaming master race. On November 25th, the gaming blog Kotaku[7] highlighted an artwork depicting the PC master race created by digital illustrator Saenji Oh (shown below), which accumulated over 60,000 views and 800 comments on Kotaku and nearly 1 million views on Imgur[8] in the next four months.
Additionally, threads discussing the glorious PC gaming master race have been submitted to Newgrounds,[9]IGN,[10] Rooster Teeth[11] and the Bodybuilding Forums.[12]
Notable Examples
Additional examples can also be found on Tumblr under the tags “#pc-gaming-master-race”[13] and “#master-race”.[14]
Search Interest
External References.
[1]The Escapist – Zero Punctuation: The Witcher
[2]Wikipedia – The Escapist
[3]Wikipedia – Zero Punctuation
[4]Facebook – Glorious PC Gaming Master Race
[5]Reddit – r/pcmasterrace
[6]VG 24/7 – Todd Howard wants console players to experience the glory of PC mods
[7]Kotaku – The Rise of the Glorious Master Race of PC Gamers
[8]Imgur – Master Race
[9]Newgrounds – Glorious Pc Gaming Master Race
[10]IGN– Why do they call it the PC gaming master race when all of the good games are on consoles?
[11]Rooster Teeth – Why does the PC master race exist?
[12]Bodybuilding Forums – What PC Master Race games have I missed in the last 14 years or so?
[13]Tumblr – #pc-gaming-master-race
[14]Tumblr – #master-race