Gamer Politics – Fanboy Peace Talks

Two parties debate over high costs and big spending, fiscal incomes and underhanded practices, CEO’s and PR stunts.  No this isn’t about the Republicans vs. the Democrats or the economic decline but about the Fan boys vs. Fan boys and the plague of hatred infesting the gaming industry.  

Once upon a time gaming was about the pure fun and challenge of it. Every new generation brought in advances to bring more depth to the digital medium.  Competition has always been a part of it, from beating high scores to friends trying to defeat each other to companies fighting for the consumers.  Fast forward to today a lot of the same rules apply but now we have gamer at each other’s throats over a hobby which started out for fun.  Did we take a wrong turn??? 

In the heat of the Sega Genesis against Super Nintendo advertisement wars I never met a person who hated either console. In 2009 we have so called gamers who hate consoles because of their very existence and not much other reason.  In a generation where gaming is more mainstream than ever and with the integration of the internet in consoles, gamers should feel interconnected as a gaming community.  The reality is we have gamers rating games poorly because it isn’t on their console of choice, countless message boards filled with gamers bashing top tier games and console features, even so called game analysts who are supposed to give unbiased analytical observations pick sides to support.  With so many people on the outside of the gaming industry trying their best to slow the growth of gaming as a fully respected entertainment medium, why help them?  Those who claim to love movies, music, books or art do not have this much of a self-destructing community. 

Preference and Bias, they are very similar and very different. Much like ideas and beliefs one is hard to change, which leads people to believe only their train of thought can be right. In gaming, bias is running rampant. There are numbers of people who thinks”FPS-A” is better than “FPS-B” without ever playing FPS-B. As a gamer how could you come to that conclusion? Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but take the time to form an opinion.  As a gamer I will play any game on any console to experience it then offer my thoughts like any gamer should in my opinion. Bias has run rampant in this current generation to the point you can get on any internet site and see the “fan boys” spewing nonsense. If you prefer Playstation 3  Xbox 360, PC, or Wii that is fine, but don’t think your platform of choice is the “be all…..end all” of gaming. We all need to put that energy toward getting companies in the industry to listen to our thought on their product. 

This doesn’t pertain to the true gamers out there but to the recent fan boy uprising with a superiority complex. Instead of bashing everything that doesn’t in your little circle, think outside of your box and try more than your normal. No one is saying buy every console or every game, but instead play games then come to a logical conclusion and not one clouded by bias.