THE EVIL WITHIN

The first upgrade: PC gaming’s most perilous rite of passage

- Phil Iwaniuk

There are two sides to PC gaming, more or less. One of them involves sitting somewhere comfy and playing games on a PC. The other, less clearly defined in the pastime’s name, is about taking stewardship of the machine that makes the games happen. This side of the coin is far less logical than the other, which by contrast is fairly simple intrinsic enjoyment. The knowledge that we could delve inside our PCs and have some agency over the performance they contain is inherently corrupting, like the sacred insights within an Elder Scroll or an uncomfortable Adam Curtis documentary. Things are never the same afterwards.

Upgrading one’s personal computer, then, is a natural rite of passage for the subculture. We’re making the machine ours by dictating the exact specification of components within it, hewing its form from a Scan basket and watching its proverbial newborn eyes blink up at us with parental adoration when we hit the power button. It’s just a shame it’s such a dreadful and convoluted ordeal, isn’t it?

TRIAL BY FIREWALL