Let me explain why I think of it that way. When I was a teenager (forget how old I was), I lived two hours North of where the rest of my family lived. During that time, I was a HUGE Nintendo fanboy. My stepbro, however, was a Sega one. We both though our team's system was the better one (I loved my SNES, while he couldn't get enough Genesis). The fun is during car rides to and from the relatives, we had this thing where I would be laying in the very back seat of the van my folks had, and he would be in the mid seat. We had this notebook where we'd actually WRITE our arguments for and against the two companies and systems. It started out serious-like, but it soon got into plain silliness. Not the silliness in which the arguments were pure BS, but rather that we would write completely random stuff that had nothing to do with what we started out on, such as we suddenly wrote some round robin story about some thing that my stepbro did one time to entertain his younger bro. The laughter was without a rival.
The reason why I belabor this is because while we were fanboys, we would always know that the other system had things to offer. Sonic and Ecco continue to be my favorite Genesis games because of their innovative gameplay (and I really do wish Sega would revive the Ecco franchise at some point). The SNES version of MK2 was one my stepbro could not get enough of (it is, in my opinion, the best MK2 port out there, after the pure arcade one, of course), and I think he enjoyed the sights of Super Metroid, which became one of the best games of all time. Of course, we're older now, and the fanboy craze we used to have has subsided. I'm the only one that owns the 360, but we both have Wiis and PS3s. He now has a wife and a kid who will be one year young on the 30th of this month.
Here's where my question comes in: during that time, we didn't have the tools we have now on N4G. We didn't have the internet, no 24/7 news cycle, no blogs, nothing of that kind. AOL was still THE way, and dial-up was the only option. We understood that fanboyism had its limits. We weren't afraid of being labeled as such.
However, now, we do. People are so afraid of being labeled as a fanboy. Not because they are or are not, but because of what the label has been twisted to meant. We don't see anymore that there are different types of fanboys, but rather that all fanboys act as though they want to send death threats to those that don't agree with them. My family never did this to each other, and that Sega vs. Ninty war was just as vicious as the MS vs. Sony one is now. We want to defend our console of choice, which you should be able to choose for any reason, but we want to always emphasize that we own and like all the consoles. Not because we want to, but because we feel we HAVE to. We don't want to be called a fanboy because we don't want to get grouped with the types of people that go onto XBL, PSN, or Steam and talk about blowing up someone's house or something, for lack of a better example.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that we're afraid that the littlest defense of any system, regardless of WHICH it is, will bring the flames, the popping of bubbles, and whatnot. I think it has become like that, because when I see how bloody the N4G defense has been, I believe that what I did more than ten years ago is tame. The people that just blindly follow a company, whether it would be MS, Sony, or Nintendo, cannot be called a fanboy. They are a complete farce, and should never be grouped with those that like one console over the other because it has better games, online service, better hardware, or whatnot. They aren't either gamers or fanboys.
My ultimate issue is, though, is where the civility is in these debates anymore. Because we have the trolls who just act like they're fanboys, that those that ARE fanboys get grouped with them, and thus, you can't just agree to disagree with anyone. It can't just be post your disagreement and move on. It has to also be "report this guy" or "pop that guy's bubbles" or "defend our kind" when you know you might need that guy to defend your stance on another issue later on. Yes, we can have gamesmanship, and yes, we can have some fun and poke fun at someone's expense, as long as it's not going into insulting someone, which we need to make sure we know what they difference is, while still having a serious debate (it's good to lighten the mood). But we can't really have a serious debate, be too smart (don't use the big words or write a long narrative), or say that one system might be better in a certain area without the above happening.
It is rather sad that ten plus years after those joyous car rides, I would actually be wishing that I could still just be doing that to express my opinions rather than trying to say that I have neutrality to someone who is never going to listen to it. I do have it, though I do like Sony more at the moment because they have made some of the smarter decisions, and I don't like the way Microsoft has conducted themselves this gen. But I'm not going to let that blind my judgment. Why should anyone think that it automatically does?
I think, to close this, it's best to quote Kevin Butler's E3 speech. More importantly, the final line: "Though we may pledge fanboy allegiances to different flags, deep down inside, we all serve one master. One king. And his name, is gaming! Forever may he reign!"
The more I see how the fanboy word has been twisted into something it was never supposed to be, the more I think those words had to be said. Truer words, were never spoken. Amen!
Do you know that one game you unexpectedly discovered and accidentally played for twelve hours straight? That is pretty much my experience with Fabledom. It's a blast and unexpected gem.
Capes is a good enough game, but lacks the necessary distinction to go up, up and away.
The first game in this series, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice was one of my favourite games that I had on the PS4. It wasn’t a game that I would say was ever really that popular and I remember finding it on sale long after launch and giving it a go because the graphics looked nice. The game was probably one of the few in that generation that surprised me
i've become a game fanboy again, not a console one. i picked up a 360 again a week or so ago after not owning one for almost a year. i've been catching up on stuff i had missed like alan wake, splinter cell, metro 2033, etc. the games are blanking good, man. i'm glad i got to play them. my innate gamer senses re-emerged after being in a "sony only" state of mind.
i used to own all the consoles each gen. that sort of changed this gen and it took me the longest time to figure out what changed, why i didn't seem to enjoy gaming as much as i used to. and one day the answer hit me: i started giving a sh*t about other peoples opinions and giving too much credence to the bs that spewed from their mouths/keyboards. instead of just sitting with my games and happily paging through egm like i had done in previous gens, i started giving too much weight to the opinions of biased crackpots.
it bothers me that you can't just have a normal or critical opinion anymore. just because i think kinect is retarded doesn't make me a sony fanboy. not liking a ps3 game doesn't mean i'm hanging from ms' jock. it's infuriating that i have to play politics with friggin video games. they're my opinions, if you don't like them too damn bad. this is a discussion forum, not a political rally. i'm not trying to win friends and influence people.
i've had it said to me that i just didn't see how bad the 360 fans were back in the day. so what if they were? grow the F up. just because some people were assholes doesn't mean you have to hold a grudge like a little girl. because some asshat said something mean about the ps3 means i can't express my enjoyment of alan wake? go fornicate yourself.
sorry i'm all over the map. good blog.
It certainly is a sad state of affairs. Foul mouthed idiots who insult others over a piece of hardware.
That's all that it has come down to now, a piece of hardware. Now we have vicious arguments over the damn thing. It's gone from defending your purchase with a light hearted manner (as you described above) to some kind of animalistic dire need to label anyone who has anything negative to say about another console as a fanboy and viciously attack them.
The gaming industry has truly progressed from the likes of the SNES and the PlayStation 1, but the way we view games and our consoles isn't progressing at all in some ways. I would argue that it is regressing into some kind of silly war.
Great blog and I agree. At least we know there are people out there who can look at things rationally and see that someone who is defending their console isn't always a fanboy. It's just someone who obviously feels that the other console doesn't offer them what they want and I think it is always a nice touch when they highlight some of the positives of the other console.
Good read.
There are the fanboys who write comments jokingly but on a serious note realize the stupidity and ignorance of stating as "fact", and not personal opinion, that one console is better than the other. Who's perspectives aren't totally clouded and who at the end of the day can take a step back and laugh at the "debate".
Then there are the fanboys who are seemingly unable to see that all consoles have their pros and cons, kind of like nazis denying the existence of the holocaust.
This was a good read, and i could just say that Fanboy is more.. well to ME, there just stubborn and while i accept that the Xbox360 is amazing in every aspect. I still prefer the Ps3 because of the past and just personal reasons. So i would say in my terms Fanboys cant say that the other Console is good, all they can do is say how much better theres is, and the other is dust.
You are very right Soda but I feel that much like the Nazi's denying the holocaust these fanboys know about the pro's but knowingly choose to deny their existence. Ab willful delusion much like religion clouding their judgement and forcing the inability to apply logic into their meagre prejudice.
With that said there are fanboys (although the word is tainted for many of the reasons outlined in this blog) who are merely avid fans of a console and whom wish it success. People who enjoy a healthy debate on "mine vs yours", and don't wish that it should impose on anyone else's preference but as this article points out those people are few and far between. But I do hope for a day where people realise the faults in this detrimental attitude and it benefits the next generation console gamers.