I was in the process of researching and investigating for an op-ed I was preparing for, — FYI, still far away to start writing a draft — and I was hit with a problem much sooner than I thought. Gamers were using “game” as a term quite colloquially. The serious games, as they put it, didn’t have serious definitions. Many often called hyperrealistic AAA titles were serious games, and some called any games with competitive multiplayer with esports league attached to it.

As some of the game journalists have already pointed out, there are more practical and affordable means to play modern AAA titles. You do not need to invest $5k in a gaming PC. In my personal opinion, if developers made conscious choices to blur or leave out certain elements to meet bigger audience, then those elements are no longer missing. They are omitted. Few graphical elements are not going to radically change players’ experience. And demanding games, ones that may require beefier machine than a work laptop, may as well be playable on a current generation console. It is not a secret console audience usually receive more curated experience than the PC gamers.

But what about titles that run fine outside of the usual desktop gaming rig sphere? Steam Deck would be a good contender. Valve keeps the platform on a leash, and the hardware is well understood by the developers to take the most advantage of, should they choose to support it. If a new gamer only has a laptop and is in search of a new hardware, perhaps a handheld gaming device is a great starting point. However, the for sake of the platform argument, not many would consider Steam Deck to be a handheld PC; it resembles much closer to handheld console.

Then, of course, there’s the whole another side of the debate that is cloud gaming. After some subscription fees, users can access about average level of hardwares available offsite. It’s largely dependent on the network connection and the quality of overall configurations*, however, for anyone who is always on the move or simply cannot afford to have a desktop setup, the idea alone is quite enticing. It seems there are ways to join in on the bandwagon.

*Depending on the service providers, it may offer different configuration per region.