We have all met them. They are the loudest, most obnoxious, most outspoken, most driven and usually, unemployed members of the gaming community. Why do they exist? What purpose do they serve and more importantly, what situations breed these spawns of Satan himself?
I will attempt to answer these questions, and more in this little blog which I have titled;
Choice
It sounds good. A word used frequently to describe the best of the best. “USDA Choice.” “This is an especially choice piece of filet mignon.” Yet this small seemingly harmless word can cause undue strife in the life of a young adolescent.
Since the early days of videogames, choice made our electronic hobby exceedingly difficult. “Boy, I sure like all those titles to choose from on the Atari but those blazingly advanced graphics on my friend’s ColecoVision look rad!”
Sometimes it’s easier to justify a bad choice by pointing out the deficiencies of the competitor than to realize and accept the fact that there is rarely a clearly “better” console.
Parents usually force children to make choices when they receive expensive gifts. “What do you want for your birthday?” they ask. “A Wii, a PS3, an XBox 360, a PSP and a DS-Lite thank you very much.”
If the world was perfect and we would get all three then the fanboy ne’er would exist. As it stands however, getting all these systems would push nearly $2,000 not including any additional controllers, games or HDMI cables (thanks Sony.)
Children quickly learn to “justify” whichever purchase they choose to either make the decision less painful or to sell the idea to their parents. If you’ve ever been to an electronics store during Christmas you know what I’m talking about. “Oh but maw, Saint’s Row is nothing like that Grand Theft Auto game I promise! Look it’s not made by Rockstar SEEE!?!”
Children learn to lie to their parents quickly and eventually they start lying to themselves.
Nintendo tells them “People don’t want online play.” They believe it.
Sony tells them “What you’re buying is potential.” They believe it.
Microsoft tells them “20 GB is more than enough space for HD video.” They believe it.
Can we blame the big 3’s marketing departments for the fact that these brainwashed automatons regurgitate their marketing spins as a way of life?
As time goes on and these kids grow up they start saving money for their hobby. The choice becomes more difficult since it is their hard saved cash that they are investing. They better be damn sure they are making the right choice. So instead of actually incorporating the pro’s AND con’s of any console they simply ignore all of the con’s of their system of choice and the pro’s of the competitor’s. It makes the decision that much easier.
So don’t get angry at the little numbskulls. Eventually, when they get good paying jobs, they will see the error of their ways. Once they realize that “Hey, I could totally buy all the system’s if I wanted to.” they will laugh at themselves and how moronic they used to be.