I’m going to buy a new prebuilt PC next week. I’m almost certain I’ll buy a Windows PC and making a PC is not my thing. I haven’t been a gamer since the late 1970s so I’m a bit behind the curve.
What peripherals should I buy?
I know that’s vague but I sincerely don’t know what kind of games I’ll end up liking.
How much should I budget for it?
~$300? I have no idea. For the short term - I want the basic core stuff I need and maybe a bell and whistle or two.
I want to avoid going crazy and buying specialized stuff like a wheel and pedals set. If I decide that driving games are my thing - I can always buy that later.
Should I buy a headset right off the bat?
Do you use a headset? My mental image is that I don’t want to talk to anybody or listen to anybody because there are a lot of trolls out there. But am I wrong? Are there games where a headset is worth it? I’ll let you define “worth it”.
Also - how much does a good headset cost?
-–
Edit
I thought I needed to budget more for peripherals. It seems I don’t. And - I don’t need to buy everything next week anyway. There’s no rush and my gaming needs might turn out to be (very) modest anyway. Current plan
- Keyboard. My current keyboard is beyond crap anyway.
- Gaming mouse?
- Microphone headset?
- Speakers? Maybe not. For reasons I don’t want to explain - no speakers might be better.
You only need a mouse and a keyboard. A game controller is nice to have for many games. And then I would reccomend.a headset if you like coop multiplayer games. I’m a social butterfly and i like talking to people I play with. And from a gameplay syandpoint being able to communicate, ie “there’s a dragon on our left!” Or “the healer just exploded try to stay alive while I rez them” can make games much more fun and smoother to play.
If you’re just starting out the biggest thing with a “gaming mouse” is comfort. Find a mouse that feels good in your hand. I think almost all mice are 5-button these days - left click, right click, middle click, and forward/backward and that’s more buttons than most games need
Same with keyboards, whatever feels comfortable
If you decide to get a controller there are lots of options and I’d say either go to a physical store and hold some to get a feel for what suits you, or order then return them on amazon until you find one you like.
Re: headsets - the cost, features, and comfort of headsets are all over the place. I’d suggest checking reviews on reddit then doing the amazon order - return thing until you find something that fits comfortably. Wired vs wireless is a personal choice. Wired is usually a bit lighter while wireless gives you more freedom to move. I much prefer headsets to speakers as many modern games make very good use of 3d positional audio and you can hear where things are around you in a detailed way.
Re: trolls; it really depends on what games you end up playing and some social stuff: if you’ve got a deep masc voice it’s much less lilely anyone will give you shit, for instance.
Niche games and low stakes coop games tend to have more chill players whereas competitive ranked multiplayer is full of horrid shitgibbons.
Really big games, Call of Duty for instance, have started using automated voice recognition systems that listen for slurs and auto-ban people that use gamer words, which is nice.
Some modern games have a one-button mute option. Press the mute button and it’ll mute the person who is currently talking.
And many people like to join a friendly discord community and chat with folks even if they’re not playing the same game together.