PixlBit

*Sigh*

Fanboys—that strange breed of gamer blindly devoted to the very titles, consoles, or companies that often betray them. These poor souls, of course, are afflicted by a disease that stretches beyond the limits of mere gamedom. Trekkies vs. Trekkers. DC vs. Marvel. Coke vs. Pepsi—any potentially divisive dichotomy (or greater) can summon the phenomenon. Indeed, fanboyism seems as intrinsic to human nature as greed, lust and self-preservation.

My initial brush with the phenomenon goes back to my early high school days. The big question at the time was whether the Super Nintendo trumped the Sega Genesis, or vice versa. To me, the winner was clear—thanks to its wonderful Mode 7 abilities, the SNES was giving me 3-D (like) experiences long before the term “polygon” was an everyday word in the gamer’s lexicon. Pilotwings was a revelation. F-Zero was miraculous. But some of my friends didn’t agree.

“Sonic is cooler.”

“We gots da sports games.”

“It’s all about blast processing.”

And such was their endless refrain. But as I contemplated their often empty-headed arguments, I had an epiphany—no matter how well-formed and logical my opinion, someone, somewhere, would always surface to disagree. And usually a lot more than just a single person.

I accepted this truism slowly. I obviously had experienced dissenting viewpoints before, but what I wasn’t prepared for were obstinate points-of-views—beliefs held both stubbornly and vehemently, even desperately, like those of a religious zealot watching the world pass him by. You see, to my friends, it didn’t matter that “my” console could display more colors, provide richer sound, offer greater graphical effects, or even sported a superior controller. You see, the Genesis was better simply because they said so, and no amount of opposing evidence was going to change that reality. (To be fair, Sega’s console did have the faster core processor, but I digress.)

Funny thing, though, is that I thought this form of ignorance would subside as I got older. But it didn’t. A few years later, gamers picked sides again in the PSone/N64 era. And while controversy seemed to abate, slightly, during the PS2 generation, arguments reached an all-time high once the Wii and PS3 emerged to combat the Xbox 360.

Why do gamers argue over these silly things? Why do we become so emotionally invested in these soulless companies and their stools of plastic that sit like shrines in front of our TVs? Why can’t we simply look at the facts regarding each console and its respective games, and draw the appropriate conclusions? Which system actually “wins” or is the “best” shouldn’t matter as long as we are all better informed. Right?

Fanboyism: The experts are still searching for a cure.

Take the Wii. Its on-line play was relatively poor, and its graphics lacked the HD advantage of the competition. This doesn’t mean it was a bad system, but these are still facts that cannot be denied. And yet many do deny them, or at least downplay the truth as if it doesn’t matter.

Same story with the 360. Its Kinect add-on never really worked as promised and was essentially a sophisticated Eye Toy (a device Sony designed years earlier). Doesn’t mean it still couldn’t be fun under the right circumstances, but facts are facts—it was a laggy, oftentimes finicky piece of tech.

And then there’s Sony. Although the company has earned some cred lately due to its popular anti-DRM stance, Sony hasn’t been without its own share of controversy. Security vulnerabilities aside, remember something called “PS2 backwards compatibility?” Sony quickly stripped the feature from its PS3 line years ago—probably to sell more HD rereleases later—and gamers were right to resent the action. Dropping the “Other OS” feature didn’t win the company any fans among the hardcore, either. Funny thing, though, was how few Sony fans actually did complain considering how lauded the features were at the console's initial release.

Furthermore, what happens to those who do raise a ruckus over these and other would-be disappointments?  They’re labeled as haters, trolls, flamers, or worse—often within seconds. Doesn’t matter whether their criticism is based on facts and sound research—dare you speak negatively of a fanboy’s favorite company or system, and you will feel his wrath.

Indeed, as we enter the next generation of consoles, the bickering among these groups of fanatics will only increase. Microsoft fanboys, who were already defending the company’s draconian DRM measures, are now defending the company’s reactionary about-face regarding the matter. Nintendophiles will continue to believe their beloved Mario and Pokemon Factory still makes the groundbreaking, relevant titles it did twenty years ago. Sony followers, currently high off the company’s successful E3 showing this year, have already accepted without complaint that they will now be paying for on-line play on the PS4.

As a grown man, I sigh resignedly at all of this, and remain amazed at how closely these petty disputes, hypocrisies, and lapses in sound thinking resemble the political infighting and social controversies dominating the world stage. Political Activism. Religious Militarism. National Zealotry. In a sense, these practices and philosophies are not unlike fanboyism, albeit in much more extreme forms. In short, if we can curse and fight each other so easily over silly games and hunks of plastic, it’s no wonder we are also in constant disagreement over the issues that really matter, be they the environment, war, abortion, or even video game violence.

PS4 vs. Xbox One vs. Wii U? Each has its pros and cons, but let’s put the vitriol aside and instead just have some fun, intelligent conversation. We are talking about games here, after all.

 

Thanks to www.ign.com for the image.