PC MASTER RACE

¡ɹǝpun uʍop ǝɹɐ sǝɔᴉɹd ǝsǝɥʇ
Are you ready for this Attack on Your Wallet?

PC Master Race is a meme that's been around since a Zero Punctuation review of The Witcher in 2008. Yahtzee used the phrase in his review to mock elitist PC gaming attitudes about "dirty console playing peasants." A recent article by Tyler Wilde on gaming website PC Gamer takes issue with the phrase, citing a lack of understanding by those who use the meme of the context of the phrase "master race":

The phrase is still everywhere, said without any consideration (or perhaps understanding) of the historical context, without any consideration of the original context, and without any of the original self-mockery. It worked as a hyperbolic joke when it was first said as a hyperbolic joke, and I did think it was a little funny to embrace the criticism ironically—for a moment. Now it's just moldy cardboard that a lot of PC gamers hold up as their identity, and it's getting uncomfortable.

The article goes on to say that it isn't calling for political correctness, but instead asserts that "not associating oneself with Nazi pastiches is just good living." Some critics of Wilde's article argue that it's Wilde who doesn't understand the historical context of the phrase; it was philosopher Nietzsche who coined the phrase "Übermensch" (or Superman in English), and the Nazi's who co-opted it into the idea of a master race. But is the Übermensch origin of "master race" enough to unseat the overwhelming association our culture holds between that phrase and Nazism? Is the idea of a "PC Master Race" so far removed from the Nazi master race that the association isn't relevant anyway, or is Wilde right in thinking we shouldn't associate ourselves with something that references Nazis?

What do you think, is "PC Master Race" offensive, and should we stop using it?

Steam recently passed 65 million active accounts (Xbox Live has 48 million), and the Fall sale has pushed their concurrent user count over 7 million. DOTA 2 is still holding out as the most popular game on Steam, with over 500,000 concurrent players. The PC Master Race is going strong!