Remember making boot disks just to get the ram and drivers setup just right so you could play a game? I had several, as one didn't work for all my games. Remember how autoexec.bat and config.sys became your only gateway to gaming? I used to know how to set those things up by heart. Remember setting up your modem and network files to play a game with one other person? I remember needing to call over the phone to get the setting right, then, hanging up and dialing up to connect several times in one night.

Once upon a time PC gaming was hard. You had to know things about PCs that most PC owners just didn't know. This made the people who played PC games a small and knowledgeable group. They were almost elite, in a sense.

Eventually, things got simpler. And soon, it became incredibly easy to play games as well as connect with each other to play them. So, the small circle of PC gamers grew into a massive force. But, in the process, PC gamers lost the closeness that bonded them. The talks about high level ram among gamers at PC hardware shows gradually turned into post on publisher's FAQ pages. The verbal discussions about DOS configurations faded into chat room quips about being a noob. The night long calls between multiplayer gamers withered into forum posts demanding a new patch.

PC gamers used to get to know one another well because of the difficulties of gaming. Now, it's like there's only a pseudo bond between gamers. We don't really know each other, we just share similar gamer news events and bugs. This still makes for interesting conversations, but, it's really not the same level of interaction as the old days of PC gaming.