People complaining about the name are up there with people who think the git branch master is racist. If someone doesn’t want to take a few seconds to understand context, and intends to be offended from the start, they are going to find a reason to be offended.
Yeah, it's so dumb.
They did the same in digital circuits (master-slave flip flops) and even in communication protocols.
Comparing critics of the PCMR name to people who think the word master is racist is pretty disingenuous. It's literally master race, a term that was coined to identify a group of humankind which is better than the rest, a term that is inseparable from Nazi's.
It's not about being offended. It's about being at odds with myself for wanting to be a part of a community because I agree with its values, while wanting to disassociate from the community because of a (seemingly) easy to change name that people don't want to change.
I knew an addict once.. he died.. do you think it's a joke? You should really consider changing your name
False equivalency. "Addict" has different meaning dependent on the volatility of what you're addicted to. "Master Race" has one meaning.
I mean, master race absolutely has a meaning. That meaning is independent of nazi use, just as the swastika is a symbol outside of nazi use.
It isn't about being offended. The change hurts no one. The name has a stupid history. It doesn't matter to me. I don't know why people are so attached to this name. The stubborn stupidity about keeping it when it affects no one, proves that it should change. I haven't seen a single substantive reason for keeping a name with a Nazi origin. The vast majority of people do not know or care about an article from 2013. I have not read the article, or played the game. It was 10 years ago. There is no broad consciousness of this origin when a random person encounters the name of this community. Most people associate this name with Nazism and try to give the benefit of the doubt about it being satire. Non native English speakers are far less likely to understand the satire. People showing attachment to this name is a primary reason it should change.
Just to add to your point, here is a comment about German users commenting that they would not feel comfortable wearing PCMR gear in Germany, and that was in 2015, the reaction would probably be even stronger today: https://libreddit.domain.glass/r/pcmasterrace/comments/2sehgh/pc_gamer_stop_calling_ourselves_the_pc_master/cnopv2a/
Racist pieces of shit have already stolen swastikas (meh), viking stuff, white polo shirts, red hats, and the OK hand gesture among many other things that we can no longer in good conscience use. Stop letting these assholes have our words, symbols and clothing items. Take them back, make them our own again.
No one is seriously mistaking the PC Master Race joke with an honest attempt to genocide our way to a "pure race" or some evil shit. Suggesting that the name be changed is cutting the nose off of a community solely in order to spite it's face, and doesn't 'protect' anyone.
I would like to concur, namely because we know the exact context and exact intent of the actual, exact place the popularization of the term stemmed from: Yatzhee from Zero Punctuation. And the author did not in any way whatsoever expected it to be taken seriously, or with any derogatory connotation for those within or without (in thay the introductory joke was highlighting a better positioning of PC on a matter while also lampshading the PC's community fragile ego).
To change the name would be to say none of the context matters. It would be to willfully ignore the way it was made and the way it was used. No, that doesn't matter, "only that other meaning, and interpretation matters".
And you know what.
No it doesn't.
Nazis don't matter. Nazis should have zero cultural influence. Zero tokenism.
Let's treat them the way they deserve to be treated. They don't matter, and they have no say and no power. Fuck off, we're keeping it. It's our now. You get NOTHING.
Exactly. To add, what do people expect that it would be "changed" to? If you drop "master" and "race", all you have left is "PC"... and there are already enough PC gaming communities across the various Lemmy instances.
In "changing" it, the community would simply no longer exist. Those who are of the opinion that the community should no longer exist should probably just move along.
What about PCElitism? That would summarise the community quite well
I think if you're taking it that seriously, you're not in on the joke.
I'm not taking it that seriously, and that's why I don't think the name matters that much. Other people mentioned that the whole "race" part of the name could be an issue in some environments or contexts.
What is PCMR core concept, after all? That PC gaming is better than consoles. That's mostly it, and if we can find a name that summarises that without the race part, I don't see the issue.
As always, happy to disagree.
Yeah I understand what you're saying, but by dumbing / watering it down you would then be stating, unironically, what the joke is making fun of. In my mind, the "PC Master Race" ethos both states that yes, "PC is best", but also makes fun of ourselves explicitly so that we don't take it too seriously.
I see, indeed the humorous part should be preserved. As I'm a bit lazy, I asked ChatGPT for suggestions with "Glorious" in it, here are its answers:
Glorious Gaming Guild would be G³, and kind of have the same vibe as PCMR, what do you think?
It’s a joke they are even considering it, imo
Just ignore the trolls and their fucked up world view
This whole thing is an exercise in futility. You're going to change the name, someone else will take it and nobody will use the new community because nobody's ever heard of it and pcmr will be there anyway.
If the mods want to switch their name to something else, do it, but don't hold the current community hostage. Go make a new community and hand this one over to someone who wants it.
Part of the joke is the fact that it's so over-the-top. All the suggestions I've seen for possible replacements have been terrible.
I think too many people forgot the satire in the original name.
I voted not to change it. I think it would be a dumb move. Like pulling API access...
I personally think if you can't handle the joke, go elsewhere. Stop trying to force everyone else to appease your personal whatever's.
I'm entirely against changing the name because I think that the whole conversation about why is fucking asanine.
But...
If we do change it, can we change it to "Politically Correct Master Race" for a laugh? The acronym would still work... :)
Assuming this post stays up, guess I'll start.
(Edit: first off, the question is easy to misread, and I voted the opposite of my intent. So I voted twice in my intended intent to offset it)
I voted yes because I fully recognize it's a joke, but I also fully recognize it's a joke in poor taste.
I watched Yahtzee religiously back in the day, laughed at this specific joke, and thought it was odd a community adopted the name.
I'd also like to point people to this community without awkward introductions.
What would you be pointing them to if it's not called c/pcmasterrace? "Hey, go check out c/pc"? There are already multiple PC gaming communities across the various Lemmy instances.
Either this community exists, or it doesn't. Those who are of the opinion that it shouldn't exist should probably just move along.
I'm bad at coming up with names, but anything that evokes "is best" that isn't "master race" would work.
Here are some probably bad examples:
But the joke is "we're part of the Glorious PC Master Race", not "PC is best". That's some 5 year old bibble-babble bullshit.
The reality is that this community will either exist as c/pcmasterrace, or it simply won't exist.
My point though is that the implications of both phrases is the same.
"We are part of the glorious PC Master Race" = "We are part of a group of humans who understand PCs are better than any alternative"
One's more extreme with a stained past (regardless of how subjectively cringey it may sound), the other is not.
And calling ourselves a “master race”, no matter how much in jest isn’t funny. It screams edgelord gamer and has a ton of racist dog whistles.
Personally I’d rather the community not exist at all. It’s downright cringe and hasn’t been funny ever.
I am voting for PC Glorious Overlords!
Ooh, I kinda like PC Overlords. If they do change the name, that’s the one I want.
Okay, let's use this so the community can discuss further.
Housekeeping note:
I wanted to comment this on the why-google thread, but that was locked, so I'll post it here:
"What you should be doing is converting this light complaint into an hard feature request: Let Lemmy posts include polls. I don't doubt more would feel polls are a useful thing to have, and Lemmy is already very big on making things optional per instance and per community, so there's an answer to those who may dislike them.
Also, give those polls some control, like, allow only users who subbed for X time, who belong to the local instance, and stuff like that."
@CatZoomies@lemmy.world is just a mod, a user like you who also moderates a community. They have no control over the things you're talking about, which would require the Lemmy developers to implement.
It's a response to the OP of the locked thread, which I doubt was locked by said user. I want my comment to be public, specially since it pertains the whole community in that local polls would service everyone, so the placement of my response (as well as me sending it in a dm to the OP) is fitting.
And respectfully, that's also wrong. Every single user has the power to make a feature request. There is zero technical knowledge required to do it, and also, moderators are actually in a better position to do so, as, if they do one, they get to represent the community they manage.
Fair enough.
Just a small question, as I thought that the survey was going to July 20 (which seemed long enough). Isn't 20 of August too far in the future?
I’ll add my 2 cents
LinusTechTips came out with a line of PCMR merch and the first thing I thought was that I wouldn't be caught dead wearing something that says master race, especially not in one of the major liberal cities on the west coast.
Joke or not it comes across as very insensitive and has imo hasn’t been funny since I was like 12.
Definitely, as someone mentioned in a 2015 thread (https://libreddit.domain.glass/r/pcmasterrace/comments/2sehgh/pc_gamer_stop_calling_ourselves_the_pc_master/cnopv2a/),
You obviously have not even looked at the LTT merch or you would know it doesn't say master race. It is just PCMR. https://www.lttstore.com/collections/pcmr
And if anyone asks I’m not going to be able to explain it. PCMR means the same damn thing.
Y’all don’t have to agree, but there’s still no way in hell I’d be caught dead wearing it.
I always thought the name was cringe.
voted yes
Just wanted to say thank you to the mods to start this discussion. It will definitely be a heated one, but it was probably needed.
I'm not personally offended by the name but I understand why it is problematic. If the name stays I won't be upset I get it's not meant in harm, but if people are offended enough by it and want it changed I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. It's not about the name it's about the comradare and community around PC gaming and hardware enthusiasm that we all share. And of course superiority over console plebs (even this mentality seems to have changed, which isn't really a bad thing, although PC is superior to console)
I don't have any real meta discussion. I just have a random name suggestion.
PC Master Class
It's kind of a joke on the idea of a master class in some subject.
Curious to see the results of that poll
RE: "What happens if the name of this community is changed? Lock this existing community and redirect users to the new one (this approach is similar to the Android community on Lemmy World)."
See: https://lemmy.world/post/1661949
I don't think you will be able to cybersquat on c/PCMasterRace, @CatZoomies@lemmy.world. If the community votes to change the name, c/PCMasterRace will be taken over by another set of mods.
PC Master Race is a joke, people. It haves nothing to do with racist stuff. PC gamers/users are not a race. So I don't get people's problem.
A community for PC Master Race.
Rules:
Notes: