One can say that fanboism has always been around. Although one can also say that fanboism has changed over the many years video games consoles havehit our homes.

Back in the days where Nintendo and Sega dominated the gaming market is when I remember my first fanboy encounter. I, myself owned a Sega Megadrive, and the rest of my friends had the Super Nintendo. Now I know that the console wars started much earlier than that but it would not be fair on me to comment on something I did not experience.

My friends and I used to pick on each other for the quality of games, the amount of games, the amount of colours our console could produce, and so on so forth. In a way, very much the same way that people are bashing into each other nowadays. If you ask me, looking back at this type of debates makes me smile, as it has always been good fun and in good terms with my friends, we even went as far as swapping consoles or even do a get together to play those games the other did not have, something that regrettably is not happening anymore.

Over the years, and with access to the internet becoming ever so popular, the relationship between game console owners shifted violently. In my opinion, the fact that people do not know each other yet communicate together on a subject dear to their hearts is the fuel to this fire. Things would be so different if the people fighting each other with opinions knew each other, things would be so different if they actuallyspent time together, but no, I feelthe internet has taken that away.

I found it difficult to cope with people with sole purpose being to defend their "brand", in my mind, I always wondered what it is that makes them so proud, what is it that makes them so defensive. Having had the Megadrive, the Playstation, the Dreamcast, the NeoGeo Pocket, I decided to try out the other consoles and their flagship titles, I was fortunate enough to being able to rent some of them at the time.

I guess I could have called this my "awakening". I was playing on completely different platforms, completely different games. I actually enjoyed the whole experience. The first console I tried out from that day was the Nintendo 64, the games I picked were Mario 64 and Zelda. It rocked my world. The only regret I had was that I could not afford to buy those other systems, so at the time, I never got to finish either games.

It soon became my sole purpose to "try" ALL consoles from that day forth. I actually went as far as saving money to buy those systems I had not played and that day became the day I played for the games and not the consoles anymore.

This is where I have a profound grudge against the so called "Fanboys", the people calling each other names such as Fonys, Xbots, and so on. Whilst I understand that some of them only make pesky attacks to defend their pride, I strongly despise the fact they openly talk about what they do not know, what they have not experienced.

By knowledge and experience, I do not mean going to a friend's house and tried a game for a couple of hours, I mean live and breath in enemy territory long enough to understand why it is people chose a brand over another, what it is that makes a game greater than another, why one's opinions is so firmly set in the ground. Until then, I will always feel like stepping into one of the so popular "fanboy" discussion and fight back.

Call me whatever you wish, to me, if you have the balls to attack someone else because of their preferences not knowing why they actually have these preferences, you are nothing less than an arrogant sellfish idiot.

Thank you for reading

Consoles owned:

Sony (Playstation one, PS3, PSP), Sega (Megadrive, Game Gear, Dreamcast), Neo Geo (Neo Geo Pocket Colour), Nintendo (Gamecube, DS, DS Lite, Wii) and Microsoft (Xbox, Xbox 360)

Consoles tried:

Sony PS2, Sega (Mastersystem, Saturn, Nomad), Nintendo (Gameboy, NES, SNES, N64)