Even if you're just playing a game without any resources at hand, what if you're waiting for someone to pop online?  Alt tabbing out every time someone logs in is a pain in the ass, especially if the game hangs up on alt-tab.  With your lists on a second screen, in plain sight, you don't have that problem.

A lot of people in stuff like MMO's will keep info up on a second screen, crafting recipes, drop lists, etc, hardcore strategy game players can be running spreadsheets for stuff like rations and fuel supplies.

psychoak

reply 13

I had dual monitors 10-15 years ago too, it's hard to get anything done with just one.   I had this sweet 1600x1200 native resolution NEC for a primary, it was beautiful, and 80 pounds.  People that don't have them just haven't learned yet, it would be impossible for me to function efficiently on a single display even if I were just using my system to play around and didn't make a living on it.  If I ever get around to setting up my shelving so I can get rid of this damned printer, I'll be running three 27 inch displays and using every bit of them when I'm working.

Yea, there were people  who  did back then but it was more extreme due to size/cost/etc and support was not as good. I have two monitors at home (like a 15-17ish & 19-21ish) and 4 26 inch at work

I'd love to see galciv3 do something like showing planet/shipyard/diplo/etc screens with the main monitor keeping on the galaxy scape interface as a quick (?) multi monitor interface enhancrment.  If the optional split allows for serious improvements beyond that once it's  broken in, great.. but that small step would be huge

I play in one monitor and surf the web/take notes/debug (for modding)/other things on the other monitor.

6 core/64 GB for my system.  I know, I know.  But I had the chance to get a long term PC last year, and I decided I wanted to future proof it for a while.

The dual monitors setup comes quite naturally. Most computers people buy today tend to be laptops. Using just the laptop screen gives a miserable game-experience and because about all modern televisions have HDMI inputs as standard the natural solution is to hook up your laptop to your high-def TV to get a big screen for enjoying the games. This frees up your laptop screen so why not use it as a second screen? Presto, you have a dual monitor setup.

Having web browser, teamspeak, steam, etc. open on the second is the main reason. Of course this also requires that games support fullwindow/borderless mode, to be able to swap without minimizing.

It makes a much bigger difference for productivity than games, though. I run 4 monitors (if you include the laptop itself) at work, which lets me have outlook, multiple instances of visual studio, documents, etc., all on screen at once.

The OS stats are absolutely irrelevant.

For example, I am a heavy linux and FreeBSD user (I do my work on Linux and FreeBSD), but I dual-boot to Windows for gaming. So any gaming survey will see me as a Windows user, which is not true, the games that exist for Linux and are performing adequately, I will play under Linux. 

1280x800 ftw! (that said.. i don't play galciv3)

Not really a surprise seeing relatively high ram systems, etc. Pc s today are not half as expensive to build or put together as some seem to think. In fact it`s easy and cheaper for a person of modest means to build a decent gaming rig way more powerful than any say, console and able to do lots of other things than just gaming. My pc is not only a gaming rig but also a work rig.

I'm a MacOS user myself, dual boot to Win 8.1 for GalCiv3. 

Good question.

I have one, so... that's 1 person... <crickets>