Fanboyism (Part One)

Fanboyism

Part One

You step through the door with a harden stare and your eyes narrow to the glitz and glamour of your surroundings. Your palms are sweaty and you cannot keep your glasses from falling off your face. The insides of your left pocket feel like a ten pound bag of lead and you can no longer bear the burden. The electricity of the sounds of a nearby TV/VCR combo spouting out the latest releases, various demo stations and chatty patrons bat against your ear drums and you're met with a "Hello, how can I help you today?" You shoot back that you're just looking, but you know what you came here for and it is your own little secret.

You walk towards the demo station of your chief rival and catch the ending converse of two idiots who don't know any better. One holds the empty box of a metallic encrusted man with its glaze focused on the background of lit rubble and a crimson skyline. You think to yourself, "Enjoy your crappy spinoff of the Marathon series, Killzone 2 will be much better anyway." The other is playing the demo of what should have remained exclusive to your machine of choice. The guy playing the demo invites you to play a round but you turn around and say "It's better on the PS3" as you walk away. Your destination sits directly across from what you believe is last-gen tech disguise as revolutionary ware. Although that area is buzzing with mothers, children and a few guys, they don't count. "Who cares about GameCube 1.5 and its bird flipping technology? It's only a fad." You whisper under your breath. "Our Sixaxis controllers are way better and just wait until they release the DualShock 3. I won't go into our technology and how great our Cell processor is." You turn your attention to the Sony Playstation 3 rack and all its superior software. You pick up the UT3 box for the PS3 and carry it over to the checkout counter. "I would like to get this and I want to pre-order LittleBigPlanet and Metal Gear Solid 4." You say with a smile. The store associate gives you a bewildered look and then asks "Do you want to pre-order Devil May Cry 4? It is coming out soon and it is going to rock." You stare directly into his eyes. Your muscles tighten and you're about to shout, but quickly you settle down. "This guy is probably an X-bot." You say in your head. "No, I don't support traitors." You spit out. "Uh, whatever dude." The associate muddles. The associate gives you the total and you hand him the money hesitatingly. After the associate hands you the bag with your game and receipts, you unzip your hoodie. The custom T-shirt underneath says it all. "Playstation Forever. RIP X-Bots and Nintendon't". You walk out smiling from ear to ear.

You may think the above sequence is far-fetched, but if you have ever talked to a Sony fanboy (or fangirl); you should know I am not far off with my assumption. Outside of Nintendo loyalists, Sony fans are the most dedicated and hardcore devotees of any console maker. They are quick to remind Xbox 360 users of the 3 Flashing Rings of Death and how Microsoft has to pay to get developers to bring titles to their console. They relish in their fact that the Nintendo Wii is a fad and has no "hardcore games". They denounce any and everything that goes against the Sony Playstation brand and their bite is filled with venom.

You could ask a Sony Fanboy about the PS2's Dirty Disc Errors (DDE) and they will simply reply that they still own and use the first edition of the Playstation 2, completely dodging your question. Of course, they will too remind you of the original Xbox overheating problems and how it could explode. The rivalry between Sony fanboys and Xbox fanboys runs deep (Note: I will get into that rivalry in a different blog post).

I stumble when I think of a simple reason of why fanboys defend their platform of choice; especially Sony fanboys. Could it be that Sony fans are angry that a much larger corporation got into the hardware business and they see Microsoft as a threat to Sony's domination of the console war? I look at the time when the hype of the Sony Playstation 2 destroyed what was actually a great console in the Sega Dreamcast. Do I see a repeat when the PS4/PS5 comes down the road and the hype of the next Xbox console kills a great console? No, I do not. I believe Sony realizes now they are not invincible and they won't sell consoles on name alone. So what makes a Sony fanboy defend their brand so zealously? Like all fans of gaming platforms, it is 25% loyalty and 75% finance.

If you could afford all the systems that are on the market, along with their Triple-A titles, would you buy them? I bet most of you would say yes, although secretly. Most fans cannot afford every system, so the one they do purchase; they defend not only the console, but their purchase choice. You as a buyer want your purchase to give you the maximum of what was promised and for consoles, you want the maximum enjoyment and lifetime out of that product. When you purchase a console for 400 to 600 dollars, you don't want the lifespan truncated because there isn't a large enough user base.

Granted, being unable to afford all consoles is only one factor out of many that contribute to the Fanboyism that plague most gamers. Gamers are a naturally aggressive and competitive people that rarely show camaraderie feelings to their fellow players. The perception that is shared among avid fanboys is if their competition is destroyed, they were right about their choices. That is why you often see dogmatic comments posted throughout the web from fanboys about their favorite console and/or console maker.

Fanboys are a special kind of consumer, blind to fact that console makers truly only care about the bottom line and not them. They are the kind that believes that an online petition signed by five thousand anonymous signees will overturn the calculated business decision of a company like Capcom to take a huge loss in revenue to keep a game exclusive to a console with a small user base. So what can be done to defuse the crazed fanatics that exist on the internet? That I will get into in part two of Fanboyism.

To Be Continued...

Frank