I've always found the "master race" moniker on Reddit subs really offputting/distrubing. Why repeat that here? It could just as easily be called "PC Enthusiast" or something totally normal.
It's a part of the history. The original PCMR started back when the mods of the original /r/gaming banned posts about PCs, saying "There's nothing inherently gaming about PC. You could just be using it as a tax machine for all we know". This understandably created friction between the 2 cliques of gaming, with the console clique calling the PC clique a "master race" as a form of insult. At some point, everyone got fed up with arguing about it. /r/pcmasterrace was made, and leaned fully into the "master race" out of spite, and was spurred on by PC hardware at the time being way more cost effective than consoles. Over the years things mellowed out and it became less and less about console peasants "individuals who at the time insisted that console was superior, not individuals who later could only afford console after PC hardware went up in price. Important difference" and more about becoming one of the master race "owning your first gaming centric rig".
If you wanted the tried and true down to earth gaming forum equivalent for PC, you're looking for the PCGaming magazine. PCMR will always be an enthusiast forum, that was based separating themselves from the console ecosystem.
I always wondered where that awful name came from, and why it gained so much traction. Thank you for this helpful internet history lesson.
However, since this name was born from discord (not the app obviously) and we're regrouping on another network, why not give it a new name and leave the stale history behind?
I think part of the issue is probably that when making a platform jump, keeping the same name and branding is important to make sure members can find their way back. I don't know how federation handles the closing / renaming of magazines, but once everyone's established it could certainly be something to vote on.
The term has always been somewhat tongue in cheek, in part because it goes against the principles of PCMR to actually be elitist about liking PC. But also because it's a lightly mocking response to outside claims of superiority over PC that were rampant in the past (usually while lacking objective reasons for said superiority).
In my opinion, the term has grandfathered in to such a degree that it's relation to how Nazis used the word is kind of disingenuous to attach to PCMR at this point, since it's obvious the two uses aren't the same.
I also don't really blame the fact the name was kept, because that's what people migrating will be looking for. If they can't find it easily, someone else is just going to make it and the community will split. Who knows though, if people agree, maybe Lemmy will provide an option to rename the community - once it's grown large enough or something.
I just now found the community on my first try searcing for "PC master race". If it hadn't shown up I would have just assumed it didn't exist, rather than that it just had a different name.
...It's just a popular fad/joke. Nobody is forcing you to "eat it up" tho -- just make an alternative community with "a least disturbing name" and move on.
I appreciate all the information here. This is like the 6th piece of history from the old place that I never knew the context too. Is there some kind of a lore page or doc for all of this information? It'd be cool if there were a few pages or a timeline that encapsulates all the different major sub squabbles and rifts that happened over the years. I was there for so many, but I clearly missed so much. Maybe askhistorians@kbin.social or a like minded instance could do something along those lines one of these days.
Nazi's don't get to own anything. They got their asses handed to them both physically and ideologically during WW2. And it's not being used as a way of indirectly targeting marginalized communities in this context.
Just going to tell the story that I broke one of the cardinal rules of PCMR by drunkenly pointing out the origin of "master race" when someone in a PCMR thread was going on about some other group being offensive and how PCMR was so much better.
It's always been tongue in cheek; it's meant to be a statement that PCs are superior to consoles. At a certain point it seems like PCMR just turned into talking about PCs. And that's fine. The sticky thing about it is, if it's not about jokingly talking about PCs being superior, does it need to be PCMR? On the other hand it's dang near a brand at this point. Can you move a PCMR audience over to something else entirely?
Tbh I wouldn't be against a name change. But keeping it the same definitely helps for discoverability during this transition period when we have a ton of people coming from Reddit.
I'm sure the community is perfectly fine, but the name is gross and awful. It's the reason I never went there on Reddit and probably won't here either, and I don't imagine I'm the only one. It's not welcoming at all. It seems normal if you're used to it, I guess, but having a Nazi reference in your name is not a good look. You'd be better off ditching it now you have the opportunity imo.