Topic: Why are video gaming fanboys the worst?

This is not meant to start anything but a thought occurred to me today when I read an article about Microsoft's Phil Spencer saying the worst thing about gaming are the fanboys.

I mean fanboys aren't just a video game thing you have them in everything from clothing to store to even drinks yet you don't see the animosity between those products like you do video games. I mean I don't see on the Internet where people are insulted or called out for liking Pepsi over Coke or Nike over Converse or Snickers over 3 Musketeers, but for some reason people do when it comes to Nintendo/Playstation/Xbox. Why is that?

The only theory I can think of is it goes back to the 16 bit gen back with the old Sega does what Nintendon't adds where it seemed cool to be a fanboy and insult the other group. Maybe I am wrong but it just seems odd that gamers in general are that way anyone else have an idea?

Let's try to keep this positive.

"Let's try to keep this positive."
reads title The irony...

I feel like I can answer this. A lot of our society today is obsessed with entertainment, and escapism. That's the reason video games, especially open-world games like MGS V, Skyrim, GTA are so popular. People want to escape their boring lives and live in a fun game world where they can actually be whoever they want to be and play God in that world. They want to live out the scenes you see in movies and come out on top as the one true hero (or maybe even villain).
Of course they can't make the real world like that, so they want that video game world to be as perfect as possible for when they're playing in it. Not actually perfect though, just perfect enough so that they would have fun, and not necessarily anyone else. It's not selfish, just naive. That's your typical gamer that reads and participates in forums and complains to game devs about all the little things in their game.
Not everyone's like that. People who are smarter are less naive and more optimistic. Aware that the game probably won't change to suit them, but hopeful and maybe even have the initiative to go out there and do something about it. Those people are less toxic and significantly more tolerable, even pleasant to talk to online.
I used the word, "They" though really, "We" would be more appropriate as this applies to every person on that planet due to our inherent selfishness and desire for happiness.

TL;DR - Our society is made up of idealists. Blame the young generations.

it does not only happen on video games Trek vs. Star Wars or Rock vs. Rap is as heated as Xbox vs. Playstation

@DualWielding: I can't help but feel it's the same people arguing for all those.
I could be wrong, but that was just my perspective.

@tasuki I read the same article and read your comment in the article (lately everytime I read the comments on NL and PX I seem to find a comment of you XD)

I was shocked to find out that the PX readers think the PS community is the worst of the 3.

It isn't just gaming at all really. Music, film, football, any community that is attractive and made accessible to the lowest common denominator will have this kind of problem. Some people just suck.

@darkswabber:
Doesn't surprise me. People are p*ssed that PS4 is succeeding and there is the idiotic notion going around right now that because some people are satisfied with their PS4, that they're 'arrogant.' It's typical stupidity and people need to grow the f**k up, but it is what it is.

@Gamer83: It's a £300 toy. People need to sort their lives out.

@kyleforrester87:
I agree, enjoy what you enjoy let others enjoy what they enjoy without saying stupid sh*t. But in the society we live in today unfortunately that's not the way things work.

@gamer83 @kyleforrester87 I meant Purexbox community thinks the pushsquare community is the worst, not the playstation community. sorry for the confusion

@darkswabber: Well I think they are the worst! A line has been drawn, Gentlemen! Pick a side, raise the banner high - today we stand and fight!

@darkswabber: That really surprises me - generally I'd say the PS community is probably the most laid back, friendly bunch I've seen on any gaming related site! Never visited PX myself, but I've seen some comment threads on NL get absolutely daft with insults and fanboyism. I think I've seen that happen once here, when everybody was agitated because the network was down and a few trolls cropped up to do a little stirring, but outside of that I'd say we're all pretty chilled.

Oh and to answer @Tasuki's original reason for the thread, I think it all comes down to money. Most people can only afford to buy one main console, and subsequently being unable to afford another they feel the need to convince themselves that all the competitors are trash, and they resort to fanboyism online in an attempt to proliferate this view to make them feel more vindicated in their choice of one over the other. Maybe I'm wrong, but to me it seems like quite a big factor. Quite often people who own multiple consoles will still point out the flaws with one or the other, but they are rarely so vehement and borderline abusive about it. So yeah, I think it's probably pretty common that fanboyism as we witness it stems less out of brand loyalty and more out of a need to convince themselves that the grass definitely isn't greener on the other side!

I think part of it's that we're more involved in gaming, so we get it more. It does exist every where, and worse can soemtimes be a matter of perspective. Example, ignorant anti-rap fanboys claim it isn't music; at least game fanboys admit the rival console makes games lol. Sports fanboys are probably at least as bad too, but society has accepted it more. The worst fanboys though, are soccer fanboys. While it doesn't happen in NA, actual violence arises from it. I've heard stories of people charging each other with flares because they were fans of opposing teams. The story was from Europe too I believe.

It's more annoying for me to see some people write as if they are better than these "fanboy's" like they are looking down their nose at them that right there is the real problem here and in modern society. The majority of people here are guilty of Fanboyism i've seen it in the forum's we are no better than the because we are them ;p (only including video game's here obv we are not hooligan's etc lol).

@darkswabber: Yeah I frequent all three site throughout the day so it's no surprise. As for Pure Xbox community goes they are great community I will admit. Usually the one that has a problem with Pushsquare it's because he came over here and tried to start that fanboy stuff attacking Sammy and such and I got after him so yeah he's going to be jaded but whatever. All in all they are a great bunch of people.

@Jaz007 Yeah someone also said that over at NL but they used sports as the example instead of music, but yeah I clearly see the point.

@Gamer83: Yep couldn't agree more as long as your not hurting others what does it matter?

I love the community here, its awesome. I havnt visited pure xbox but if they want a fight.....

Nintendo life is a click away.

Seriously though the internet has exploded at the same time as a few things - mobile phones, professional sports and Video games. I'm gonna be honest I used to frequent a footy (soccer) forum and it was pathetic the bile in almost every sentence. The same as the eurogamer comments. Its a troll fest. Maybe its too easy to enroll and write terrible or unfair things without fear of retribution.

I don't think the down voting option at Eurogamer is a good thing, it leads to a psudeo competition for the most popular comment,.......and some insults being slinged around.

@SteveButler2210:
Pure Xbox is easily the most laid back video game website out there. Really no fanboyism at all, but I also attribute that to having a very small community, which is a double-edged sword. On the one hand it's nice because I know there's a safe haven from the venomous bs at other places, on the other hand, I feel bad for the people who run the website because they work hard but it's not finding the audience it deserves to.

Yeah, I think the main reason NL gets so bad at times is because it's community is so huge compared to Push Square & especially Pure Xbox. When you're well known you're going to attract more users, and that includes more fanboys/trolls. In fact, when I originally joined NL back in 2011, it wasn't nearly as bad as it is today.

I guess I'm just fortunate to have grown up with easy access to consoles from a wide variety of brands, so while I have a slight nostalgic bias towards Nintendo, I never had the fanboy mentality.

@RR529:
Back when Nintendo Life was 'VC-reviews' it was a great website to visit. It was also the only one that seemed to have a semi idea of what was going on with weekly Virtual Console releases and what games we'd get.