They’ve also been using those names since forever but importantly since a time before “gamers” existed. It’s kinda comparing the brandname Lenovo Legion to Microsoft Windows or Intel’s Pentium. They just come from an entirely different time when “gamers” were not really a specific self identified group. At some point in, early 2000s I recall, that changed and you started seeing the beginning and continuing into today of stuff like SUPER 1337 GAMING FUELED RGB LIGHTNING STRIKE PWNAGE that didn’t really exist before. It was just like nerds but traditional less frat-boyish nerds. Dudes in their 30s who could actually afford a pc in 1995 and a shitty dial up connection wearing thick-ass glasses and slightly balding. You know, the dude’s who went pushes glasses up “ah yes! Windows is a fine name!” (Seriously what a ridiculous name if you just think purely of the naming. Or Apple (haha Macintosh apples VERY CLEVER so many clever mfers in earlyish tech. Even the name Microsoft. Micro software. Software for microchips? Whatever the fuck. It’s boring and just totally different naming conventions from a different generation.)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

You're close, just a couple of years off.

It became increasingly more and more of a thing since Doom. That game brought a lot to the forefront, including 3D, PC gaming and online play.

The push on all three fronts started from there, and idsoft really rode the wave with the releases of Quake 1-3. Especially around the release of Quake 1 and the eSports competitions surrounding that game, there was a lot of what is now standard in conventional PC gaming culture.

GPU marketing was every bit as edgy as the games that hardware was made to run. You had 3dfx's Voodoo, ATIs Rage, Nvidia RIVA TNT, the GeForce series, and that's not even considering the artwork on these marketing boxes.