2y ago

The Steam Deck is changing how normies think of gaming PCs.

Just thought I'd share something I thought was pretty interesting. I have a mother in law who is... well let's just say she's a stereotypical older mom who doesn't own a computer, just an iPad. During the pandemic, she started getting into Nintendo games and bought herself a Switch. Fast forward a few years later and she's interested in getting a Steam Deck, since one of her "mom groups" told her about some pandemic inspired games, similar to Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing that are only available on Steam.

When it comes down to it, she doesn't care about her computer, she just wants to play computer games in a way that's easy and accessible for her. We'll be getting her a Steam Deck for her birthday, which in my opinion is just super neat. Even PC gaming is becoming extremely accessible, and it's a fantastic time to be a gamer.

137 comments

I don't love the pejorative "normies".
- It’s cringe af and totally reinforces the “gamer” stereotype. We can do better.
  
  IMO it’s up there with calling people npcs
  
  "We can do better" or worse "X do better" is more cringe.
  It's just everyone judging everyone like they are worthless. Maybe people want to be part of the group maybe they have an identity with hardcore gamers. They don't need to do better that's their right.
  
  Referring to any hobby group as "we" is cringe.
  
  We can do better.
  I'm guessing "wrong-sider" would be a step in the wrong direction?
- it's definitely a weird term but in more than a few contexts (mostly very online contexts) i've found it to be the only suitable terminology because there's just nothing else which most of the people i talk to will "get" otherwise--it'd be nice to have something a little bit less embarrassing to work with, to be honest lol
  
  I feel like 'layman' would be the perfect word here
  
  there's just nothing else which most of the people i talk to will "get"
  The group here may be different from most of the people you talk to.
  Try:
  "the average person"
  Or (mostly joking) "allistic"?
  
  Wow.
- I downright hate it.
- Me either. I’m a “normie,” I guess, and it feels unwelcoming and condescending.
Maybe don't call them normies.
- Would you prefer 'filthy casuals'?
  
  "Peasants."
  but you have to spit the 'p'.
  
  In my day we called 'em n00bs.
  
  "gooeys"
Post: Uses the word normies in a positive sense and literally says it's great that gaming is more accessible
Fediverse: Is this a neckbeard?
It's amazing that a non-slur single word can get y'all so fucking bent out of shape. It was worth a double take, but not shitting on the entire post. It's literally a post about a non-traditional gamer / not-power-user / etc person finding a sense of community and fun because of the rise of handhelds. Is shutting down that discussion over one word worth more than seeing the good in recent trends?
I hope we continue to see more good handhelds get made - I'd personally love a Steam Deck, but seeing Valve get some good competition would be good for the technology (not you, Apple / Meta). Maybe I'm just too old, but I'd love to see slide-out keyboards again...
- I'm glad that somebody said it. Lemmy is becoming quite a shit show in this regard. These FOSS enthusiasts and Linux master race people are really starting to deter me from the platform.
  I love FOSS software! I love Linux! I hate people telling other people how to think or what to spend their time with. Most of the people in this thread can fuck right off.
- Post: Uses the word normies in a positive sense and literally says it's great that gaming is more accessible
  Fediverse: Is this a neckbeard?
  The reaction is a bit more like
  "B-B-B-BUT THE CONNOTATIONS!!! Bro you just LITERALLY used a word that has PROBLEMATIC CONNOTATIONS because it's ALSO USED by PEOPLE I DON'T LIKE, and that makes you GUILTY BY ASSOCIATION!!! I am PROUD of how I combine purity testing and code switching into a DEFINITELY accurate litmus test, because I think I'm a character from Dune!! I don't know what the FUCK 'context' is but it SOUNDS like something the ALT-RIGHT would care about!!!!"
  If I ever caught myself taking an obvious self-effacing remark seriously, I would be so ashamed. Anyone coming into this thread with hurt feelings about the word "normies" is a huge dork and needs go outside.
  
  I would really appreciate if we stopped doing the “if you disagree with my opinion you’re an [insult] and also must be out of touch with reality so I will say you need to go outside” thing. It’s really exhausting. This is Beehaw, the be(e) nice server and I’m kind of getting sick of seeing this kind of snark on a server where the expectation is people being nice to each other.
  I was skeptical at “normies” but the overall tone of the post is inclusive, so I’m not the target of your rant because I figured it out. I was able to figure it out because I’m terminally online and have the experience with online posts to know that some people use it as a pejorative and some people use it as a self-deprecating catch-all for people who aren’t too into their hobby.
  I also have autism and some people with the condition aren’t as good as me at putting together the connotations of words AND the overall post to figure out the poster’s intentions. And some people aren’t terminally online and have less exposure to seeing this word used. They’ve likely overwhelmingly seen it used as a pejorative, and end up very skeptical of this post. I don’t like the idea that people like me, or that people who might have reasonably arrived at a different conclusion about this, are being told that they’re huge dorks who need to go outside.
  Really starting to feel like Beehaw is just like any other online space. I see the same amount of snark and negative assumptions of people who didn’t see something the commenter’s/poster’s way. Sure, it’s free of bigotry, but all the spaces I occupied were already bigotry-free. Even back when I was on Reddit, because in the small subreddits I looked at the few bigots were downvoted to hell and had their comments hidden. (I’m aware that not everyone was lucky enough to only be interested in topics that had easily accessible bigotry-free areas so Beehaw still serves a useful purpose for them.)
  
  Hi, please remember to Be(e) nice. I also think it's a little silly to get in a huge flap about the headline of this article, but I'd ask that you also remember to be kind to other users.
It's also changing how normies think of Linux.
Also it basically doubled the % of linux users at Steam.
- Normies don't think about Linux. You don't even need to see Linux if you use a Steam Deck.
  
  Still, casual gamers did think Linux couldn't game. It's changing this opinion in the best way possible and that's really important since Linux is the best OS. I personally think we still live in medieval PC times as long as Windows is the main OS used.
  
  I was going to say I slightly disagree, but then I thought about it some more and realized they probably just see it as SteamOS in the same way Android doesn't make people think about Linux either.
  
  Normies¹ don't even really think about Windows or OS in general, most people just think it's just what a computer is like regardless.
  ¹ : Normie as in person who is not experienced with computers and PC gaming
  
  Even so it made it significantly harder for people to make the dated throwaway comment that you'll lose access to a majority of your games by switching to Linux.
  With that I feel like people will see it's just as usable as MacOS and Windows in a majority of circumstances.
  
  When some Microsoft simp makes unfounded claims about how you can't game on Linux, we now only need to point at the Steam Deck.
- that's like saying apple is changing how normies think of Unix
- Thats because its linux only in a technical sense
  
  We're talking about software, what other senses are there? :D
  
  Most people probably won't explore the desktop mode, but SteamOS is basically a full-on Linux distro.
  
  Most improvements on the Deck translate to all Linux distros. That's pretty good.
  
  How is it not Linux?
- No, this is incorrect, OP thought steam deck is ok because the games are exclusively only in steam. OP never try to consider her mother-in-law. Giving someone linux and just assuming they understand is not going to help make them like the game or machine.
First off: normies?
Second, you're absolutely right. Steam did a great job with the whole Steam Deck Verified thing. It ensures that the game "just works", which is someone that can't always be said of PC games. It makes sense, given the near uniform hardware of the Deck, of course, but it's still important for reaching the console and/or casual gamer markets.
And let's face it, the Deck is just convenient as hell. It's the mobile gaming solution I've wanted for decades.
- …but I totally get what he means. Some people just aren't excited about fiddling with settings, hardware, software or otherwise. It's just a pain. Even myself, I've noticed I've lost most of my appetite for twiddling with drivers and such so I get it. When I play a game, I want to play the game, not set up the game, tweak the game, etc.
  This has always been one of the key advantages of consoles over PC gaming. You can go to Gamestop, buy the game, plug it into your console, and then play. Or at least you used to.
  Consoles have gotten more fiddly over the years, and the Steam Deck meets them halfway. If you are okay with online game stores, managing storage space for your games, you are already good to go with your Steam Deck. If you want to, you can tweak your settings for more battery life or performance, or venture outside the Steam Deck Verified games.
- Eh, it's not always great, Baldurs Gate 3 is "Varifed", but it took some fiddling with the settings to get it toba stable 30 with decent lod on my deck.
normies is cringe. reminds me of way back when it started to become more socially acceptable to be nerdy and people got mad about it
- This guy normies!
Since when is "normies" a problem?
- It’s really bizarre; either I’m incredibly out of touch or this thread was raided. I use it in real life and nobody has ever questioned it…
Putting the connotation aside for a moment, is it even accurate to call people who are interested on niche secondary gaming devices as "normies"? Whatever may be their backgrounds, seems to me like they are dedicated gaming enthusiasts.
- I'm pretty obsessed with gaming to the point it's probably unhealthy and I still refuse to call people normies. It's so cringe to me.
  
  The more someone devotes themselves to a hobby the less socially approachable they tend to become. At least in my experience
- I'd say they are. "Mom groups who want to play Animal Crossing-esque games" certainly aren't what I'd think of when I'd think "dedicated gaming enthusiasts," at least not what most people are thinking of.
  Steam Deck lacks publicity relative to Nintendo Switch or even traditional PC gaming, but the product itself is absolutely more accessible than traditional PC gaming, even if not as accessible as consoles.
  
  I mean, why not? Women play games and gamers do in fact sometimes breed or even adopt.
  
  Mom groups that play animal crossing or SDV are gamers just like anyone else. I see this sentiment a lot and it reads like sexist gatekeeping every time.
I would also like to bitch at you for talking in terms of "normies". Gross.
- All sorts of hobbies use the term to describe people who aren't fully into something but have a passing interest, it's a pretty standard phrase.
- How is it gross?
  
  The implied derision.
did you say.. normies?
- I mean, what’s another way of easily conveying the same idea. “Those people who you might not typically consider to be X”?
  I feel like I’ve seen and heard normies used in a variety of contexts, to refer to people outside of a particular group. Not to say they can’t be in the group, or that there’s anything wrong with them.
  But then again, what do I know.
  
  "casual gamers" for example. "average users", "non-geeks" are others
I love my Steam Deck.
You're probably too young to remember when computers were a huge pia to use. Your MIL probably knows more about PCs than you do if she worked in an office in the 80s and 90s.
- It is odd being in the gen X and millenial cohorts and being two generations trapped between ones that either had little to no experience with computers or have only used smart tech that simplified everything down.
  
  I'm 18, so also Gen Z I guess. But growing up all I did was try to bypass WiFi and device time limits & content filters. Later I got more into programming (due to mental health I've been letting that slip unfortunately), and currently I'm looking to study AI and CompSci.
  And I constantly wonder why other people aren't as interested in this stuff. And are completely helpless in troubleshooting. I kind of want to buy a PC for my siblings to get them interested too, but I don't have high hopes of it working...
  I don't know if I was trying to make a point here but I'll post anyways, enjoy
  
  With the risk of being tagged as a car analogy, its similar to the experience with internal combustion engine cars, shifted by two generations. My parents (boomers) and the Silent gen often knew cars backwards and forwards because it was the only way to get them to work reliably, not unlike computers of the (60s) 70s and 80s. Those older were pretty resistant/baffled, and those after tend to just see them as appliances - being regularly ridiculed by boomers for things like not knowing how to change the transmission fluid (no longer necessary in many CVTs), drive a stick shift (rare on modern US vehicles), or brake "properly" (aka pumping brakes, which in an ABS enabled system is not recommended).
- Remembers fondly back to my first PC which was a Tandy Sensation and had a custom UI on top of Windows 3.1 because Windows 3.1 was so infuriating,
  Ah WinMate; how I loved thee.
Putting the connotation aside for a moment, is it even accurate to call people who are interested on niche secondary gaming devices as "normies"? Whatever may be their backgrounds, seems to me like they are dedicated gaming enthusiasts.
Have her check out Dinkum and Disney Dreamlight Valley when she gets the steam deck.
This is cute. I hope she enjoys the gift.
I'm a long time pc gamer and linux gamer. I do not care to play games unless it is in a handheld mode. I have been playing my switch a lot more recently, but am really looking forward to the steamdeck.
did you say.. normies?
It's really sad that Steam deck is not officially sell in my country, and the ones available are all have $200-$300 mark up price.

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