Gamers

So I was just IGN-surfing (preview for The Force Unleashed II, due end of this year, which means I will have all the time in the non-academic world to electrify the helmets of clone troopers), and I came across this article about gamers, written by one from the IGN community and not by the editors I might add.

So his point is that, gamers seem to be the only form of fanboys who absolutely dread one another. Of course, the gaming community is commonly known to be segregated into three very distinct camps. The Microsoft Xbox 360 gamers (yours truly), the Sony PS3-ers and the Nintendo Wii players. Or in the words of some very hyped-up MS fanboys, the "Nintendo Wiitards".

And that member of the IGN community questions, (paraphrased by myself) "So why do fanboys of science fiction and comics get along so well, and gamers make petty jokes about having sexual relations with someone else's mother simply because that person made a different purchase of a gaming console?" Essentially, why do we hate each other so much?

I, myself, attribute this to two points.

One, we, like any deranged female fan of 16-year old werewolves who tear off their top apparel for no valid reason, are very passionate individuals. We love games to a great extent and have no qualms about expressing that. Some people love music, some people love Facebook games involving capturing rodents with too much cash on them, and some people love glittery vampires who look like they should SK-II models even though they are the only known type of blood sucking undead who live in sunlight. We, on the other hand, love armor-clad Spartans who save humanity from intergalactic parasites intent on the extinction of all organic life in the galaxy.

However, franchises and mega electronic companies inadvertently separate us into different groups and offer us a platform to quarrel amongst ourselves. Speaking from personal experience, insults about the other camp somehow act as fuel for our own love for our individual systems. And these statements about the weight of the opposing group's mothers are really just manifestations of our own deep passion for our own consoles.

And call me crazy, but in this aspect, this internal conflict is a good reflection of the racial apartheid in the world.

If we were to look past all the "Sony" or "Microsoft" labels and just see that we are all, at heart, people who enjoy video games as entertaining mediums, I believe none of us would have this problem.

While this was merely a simple wondering for that very member of the IGN community, it served as somewhat of a lesson to a very guilty fanboy. It made me realise that instead of making jokes about the qualifications of the Sony PS3, I should really just embrace it as a being a major part of a world that I just love to be in. Sure, fueling my own passion with insults about the other camp was fun for a time, but I realised that if I were to get to know these people and share our gaming experience, it would certainly be a more fulfilling and gratifying experience.