Tendo City

Quote:An Open Letter to Fanboys



Since this is the last GameSpotting, I decided it was my last chance to convey my thoughts on a subject so near and dear to my heart: fanboys. Console and PC fanboys are an interesting breed, and they always bring a unique discourse to our forums. Their well-written and wonderfully articulated posts and emails give them a special place in my heart. I don't believe I've ever addressed them directly before, so this is my chance.

Dear Fanboys,

I have a few pieces of advice I want to pass onto you in this GameSpotting. I know that in an age of multiple platforms and a huge amount of games, it can be difficult to remain loyal to one platform or one company. It's a real challenge, and you are all noble and courageous for taking on this quest. I have a few pieces of advice that I hope you all take to heart. It will help guide you down the path of the fanboy.

GameSpot is the most reliable source for reviews. Except when another publication rates the game you're hyping higher than us. Then that publication is the most reliable source. Until next week, anyway.

A person who owns just one console is inherently less biased than editors at GameSpot who have access to all consoles.

The term "exclusive" is tricky. Its definition changes depending upon whether a hot game appears on your platform or not.

Innovation is what it's called when your console has a unique feature. Otherwise, it's called a gimmick.

Your specific needs are shaped around your platform's features. For instance, if your console doesn't feature HDTV support, then it really wasn't that necessary to have, anyway.

A game that is scored less than a 9.5 on any platform you don't own is called a flop. If it does achieve that score, it's called overrated. (According to the GameSpot rating system, a game rated 8 or above is "great," but we all know that it really means "flop.")

Sales numbers are everything, as long as the numbers are best for your favorite company or console. If that means you have to dig up numbers for sales in New Zealand stores from seven months ago to prove your point, so be it.

Likewise, it is up to you to monitor how companies are doing and report every dip in stock price of manufacturers of other consoles. You're all experts in the fields of economics and finance, so your analyses will always prove correct.

You must realize, that some companies are evil, and some are inherently good. Some companies do it for the money, others do it... so, well, you can brag about them.

Perhaps the most clever thing you as fanboys can do is to come up with derogatory names for competing consoles, such as Xbrick instead of Xbox or FlopStation 2 instead of PlayStation 2.

On message boards, the best way to convey your point is to write in all caps, ignore the rules of grammar, and include lots of "LMAO's" and "LOLs" in your post.

It makes perfect sense to insult a company's lineup one moment and at the same time hope that company will go third party and develop for your console the next.

Playing a game on a different console for ten minutes at a friend's house qualifies you as an expert on that game and console.

You are obviously the most knowledgeable person about hardware. So when you're talking about the difference between CISC and RISC processors, everyone should stop and listen.

A sequel on another console is a "rehash," while a sequel on your console is not; in fact, it's highly anticipated.

Your platform is the best one in existence. Any time you see what might be evidence to the contrary, it's clearly because others are blinded by their idiotic fanboyism.

So you see, dear readers, the best part about being a fanboy is that you can never be proven wrong. As long as you ignore the rules of logic and sensibility, you will never have to worry about whether or not you made a good investment. That sure helps all the insecurity go away, doesn't it?

In the meanwhile, the rest of us will have to go on using our brains to make decisions when it comes to videogames. We will have to actually think about whether or not it's worth it to buy a console based on our needs. We will have to consider forking over more money for a new machine if its games are excellent. We will have to play the best games instead of bash them if they're not on our consoles.

In other words, the rest of us non-fanboys are doomed to a life of playing the best games and enjoying our hobby, while you will have the luxury of being able to ignore the majority of games that come out, because they're not on your console. That is indeed very lucky for you all.

And with that, I must wrap up my letter today. I hope I was able to teach you all a thing or two.

Your Pal,
Adam

Amen.


From The Death of GameSpotting via Gaming-Age


The Gaming-Age thread is interesting as it seems this article hit a little too close to home for some. :)

I notice that rather than take that seriously (it pretty much sums up my opinion), they have resorted to accusing him of being a fanboy. Why is it that fanboys always have to label everyone else as closet fanboys? Is the idea of someone who just doesn't care about what company makes a game so long as it's good just SO damaging to their view of how the world works that they can't accept it?

I think that guy's crazy, my fanboy days were some of the greatest in my entire internet life.

I read that issue of Gamespotting, sad that they're killing it... :(

Your fanboy days? You actually literally take up the viewpoint that ignorance is bliss? You prefer the days when you were in denial to now, when you realize the truth? You aren't like, that guy from The Matrix that prefered the lie to reality are you?

Simple lies are so much easier for people to deal with, you know, compared to complex truths...

True, but GR knows the truth now. Odd that he'd prefer the old days, considering the reality he now knows.

Because it was fun, regardless of how true it was, I'm sure...

Oh sure, playing all the new games on all the new systems is fun, but there was just something...I'm gonna go ahead and say "magical", about all the times when I fought in the trenches against the unwashed hordes [that being all the Xbox fanboys and suchlike]. Fun times, indeed.

Also if you had paid close attention to what I wrote, I specifically said "internet" life, as opposed to "real" life, which is something else entirely.

P.S. You take things way to seriously, DJ. *takes away DJ's Gold Star for Seeing the Humor in all Things Award for Excellence.*

Eh, same diff, except here I'm invincible! I AM EENVEENCEEBLEE! *izza expoded*

I did that all for the gold star... oh well, I stil have that blue one...

Sorry, but that was a blatant attempt to gain favor, so no gold star.

But I admitted it, that's funny in it's own right, right?

Hmm...sorry, no. *takes away DJ's blue star as well*

Hey, HEY! Get back heeere! .... This is worse than that time I locked myself inside the car...

Fanboyism is a trait of the immature. You either grow up and get over it or you end up like some of the 20 something year old fanboys on message boards: absolutly pathetic.

Indeed... You know, I think we all had a phase like that at some point. Basically, your parents buy you one, ONE game system for Christmas and won't get you a new one for many years to come, so you better pick wisely! Once you make that choice and can't go back, well, you defend it in the most childish way possible, by assigning the designation of "evil" to the other company, delighting in every single bad thing you can see and just pretending the good stuff doesn't exist. You completely forget the fact that BEFORE Christmas rolled around you were in termoil over the decision because it really was close at the time :D. Of course, the fanboy wars start the second you find someone who picked the "other one". I think this is unique to game consoles, because of the oddity of the market. Namely, whatever company's system you buy from, that limits what extra entertainment you can get. There are similar things, but only stuff regarding gadgets. You won't find people doing that with books. You want a book by another author, just buy it. No need to buy the special interpreter. You want a movie by some other movie producer, you just get it, that's standardized so one player plays it all until a new standardized format comes out. Same with music and TV and all the rest, EXCEPT GAMES! For all the problems the game companies say may be happening to the game market, the only one they refuse to acknowledge is the possibility that this sort of segregation MAY be preventing a large number of potential consumers from joining in. Thing is, it's hard to really standardize the gaming market. Perhaps all the companies could gather together and form a little group to decide exactly what the next gen should be able to do and agree that all the systems they make, which may look different or have extra features on top of that, not graphics related but like ipod support or something, fit those basic hardware standards so all games are playable on all systems. From there it's just a matter of trying to sell on extra features, and we as gamers just have to buy one system. We may end up buying a lot of special controllers though :D.

But no, that'll never happen.

it seems to me that most nintendo fanboys have gotten over their fanboy phase (though i'll agree with GR in saying that that was an amazingly fun time in my life as well) but it seems like PS2 and XBOX fans still cling to the fanboy mentality by and large. especially XBOX fans who all seem to think that the PS2 has shitty graphics and the GC is just for kids.

just what i've noticed.

and i don't know. i gave up fanboyism long ago and it completely died in me when i decided that World of Warcraft is the only game i ever want to play ever again.

:P

Right now I'm playing PSX games more than anything else.

Heya bg, so WOW is that amazing eh? Haven't played it in a long while, but it seems pretty addivtive for the sort of game it is. It's just that that game breaks down the redundant nature of RPGs to it's most basic TRUTH, and I can't handle the reality of it! At least in a normal single player RPG all the quests are different enough from each other I can convince myself I'm not just doing random fetch and kill quests!

You haven't played Guild Wars then, big guy... ;)

There is something to be said for a world where strange people are running around in ALL places and not just towns.

Oh, WoW is a fine game, but GW is fantastic and one of the best games I've played in years... I played beta probably 150 hours and now I'm 80+ hours into the release version (after having it for a month; they reset characters before launch.) and definitely still loving it... sure, I might not play it every day for the next fifteen years, but without a monthly fee I don't have to... I just have to play it and have a huge amount of fun doing it, which I do.

And besides, it's a fantastic, fantastic game. As for running around and running into people, sure, there's something to be said for that... but there is also something to be said for doing quests which actually feel like single-player RPG quests ("kill fifteen enemies of type X (which continually respawn) and return" is not an example of that, for instance... in GW they don't respawn unless you leave the zone. And most of the quests are more interesting than that (they do often involve getting to locations and talking to people, but because of the game structure this is a challenging thing... you can't just run forward, wait for other people to clear the path, and beat the area without fighting anything, as you could in a WoW (which means such games cannot do "get to location X" quests much)... and that's just one example.), and something to be said for easy, very fun PvP arenas, and for being able to go where you want quickly (via maptravel), and having a deep, well-balanced skill system, etc, etc... if you really wanted to press me for flaws, all I can think of is that the story has some logic flaws in it. But it's still pretty good so I can easily look past that. It's awesome. :)

I'm not really pressing you for flaws or anything, but I'll say that you actually couldn't just "wait for other players to clear the area" in WOW. I didn't play it for long, but I did play it long enough to find out that after a certain level, you just can't count on it unless you plan on waiting around for days on end. No, generally the areas later on are designed specifically so that you do have to deal with it yourself. If you are having trouble, get a party. If a party is having trouble, form a raiding group to charge the place.

But ya know, in general I do tire of repetitive quests of that sort. I like single player RPGs because they can come up with some pretty weird quests that take some genuine thinking. Puzzles can happen both in and out of battle. Not a single MMORPG I've played involves any amount of intelligence outside of some clever prebattle setup.

Quote:But ya know, in general I do tire of repetitive quests of that sort. I like single player RPGs because they can come up with some pretty weird quests that take some genuine thinking. Puzzles can happen both in and out of battle. Not a single MMORPG I've played involves any amount of intelligence outside of some clever prebattle setup.

GW doesn't have many puzzles either, not like you'd find in a Baldur's Gate or a Torment... if you want a single-player RPG, that's why those games exist. There are some small "puzzle" elements on a few of the missions, though, and 'figuring out where to go' can be an issue sometimes... but the biggest amount of skill in the game is choosing your skillset. Remember, you may have 200 skills available on your character, but you can only ever take eight into battle, so choose wisely... :)

Quote:I didn't play it for long, but I did play it long enough to find out that after a certain level, you just can't count on it unless you plan on waiting around for days on end. No, generally the areas later on are designed specifically so that you do have to deal with it yourself. If you are having trouble, get a party. If a party is having trouble, form a raiding group to charge the place.

True, but since you're all in the same world, that is always an issue. Can't you admit that it hurts the immersion significantly to have not just you killing those goblins, but fifteen people standing around waiting for them to spawn and taking turns killing them one at a time? In GW that'd be a much more fun battle, that's for sure (and that's leaving out GW's more active (and perhaps more fun) battle system, too...)...

True, WoW does have instanced dungeons. Because they know that the only way to really do a dungeon is to instance it. Have it not instanced and it allows you to do what I did in some early caves in WoW... wait around and have other people clear out some of the path, so you can progress on your mission. And it also allows you to set a static number of non-respawning monsters, laid out in a specific pattern, which is a far, far better style than standard MMORPG respawning stuff.

And remember, that lack of a "open overworld" is the single biggest factor keeping away the monthly fees, so think of that if you find something else annoying about it... myself, I think it's fine, because I didn't exactly find myself interacting with others much anyway from my limited experiences in WoW and Ryzom. In GW, between the random-teams arenas and the missions (remember, there are quests and missions, and they are different. Quests are things you get in the 'main world' that involve doing stuff in the overworld areas, usually solo. You respawn when your party dies, but with a death penalty. Missions are one-shot missions (that is, your party dies and you start over from the lobby), that follow the story of the game. They are mostly linear, but each has an optional sidequest to attempt that adds replay value and challenge to the mission. They are usually done with a (human) party you gather together in the mission lobby. The third gametype, of course, is the PvP...), I did far, far more (interaction with other humans) in any one of the two-day events than in that week I played the WoW beta...

I never denied that. I'm not trying to defend MMORPGs as living gods here. I have problems with them. I was only playing devil's advocate to point out little things here and there.

When did I ever deny that? I'm confused...

Denied what? I wrote a long post there... :)

Eh, it applies to a lot come to think of it. The point is I really do see the advantages to the system that game uses over a standard game. I was just defending the standard MMORPG as best I could.

Ah. Just one thing I should say, then... GW isn't an MMORPG. :) It's an online RPG, for sure, but it's not Massively Multiplayer and none of the game's advertising, website, etc says that it is. Because it's not. So a direct comparison will be flawed, because it's intentionally different from the norms of that genre...

Ah. Just one thing I should say, then... GW isn't an MMORPG. :) It's an online RPG, for sure, but it's not Massively Multiplayer and none of the game's advertising, website, etc says that it is. Because it's not. So a direct comparison will be flawed, because it's intentionally different from the norms of that genre...

Ah. Just one thing I should say, then... GW isn't an MMORPG. :) It's an online RPG, for sure, but it's not Massively Multiplayer and none of the game's advertising, website, etc says that it is. Because it's not. So a direct comparison will be flawed, because it's intentionally different from the norms of that genre...

Woah, triple-post.

I know that and all, but you were comparing it too. Heck, you brought it up as a direct response to WOW.

Quote:Woah, triple-post.

Forum broke.

Quote:I know that and all, but you were comparing it too. Heck, you brought it up as a direct response to WOW.

I was referring to myself as well. :)

Oh, okay then.

...

So um... who wants to toss around the ol' pig skifrisbie?

Well, that's kind of weird.

So um, I think about this time we should do a thread merger :D.

Going by the articles about his mysterious dissapearing act/stopping work on his show (it was in Time and stuff...), Dave Chapelle is weird. :)

Going by THIS, I would say WOW is directly responsible for that :D.

It's time to slay the dragon!

Riverside!

Riverside Province is alright, but I prefer Nolani Academy of the Arcane Arts... :)

You have no idea what I'm talking about.

And you the same.

Actually I do, you're talking about WoW. I, however, am making reference to something else.

WoW? No! Guild Wars, silly! I don't have WoW, can't justify monthly fees without much income... and GW is fantastic. I've had it a bit over a month and am probably at 105-115 hours played.

And besides, there is no "Nolani" in WoW. :)

Close enough, anyway I'm still talking about something else that has nothing to do with either of those games.

And much less interesting, I'm sure. :)

Of course little is more interesting than MMORPGs x a million

Quote:And much less interesting, I'm sure.

Hmmmmmmmm...unlikely.