24th January 2003, 5:41 AM
(This post was last modified: 26th January 2003, 4:49 AM by Nintendarse.)
N-A: I think everyone has to understand that there are different types of fans. The pure gamers are the people that are heavily invested in the gaming side of things. Sony, Microsoft, and other companies don't matter to a Nintendo fan like this. The casual gamers are consumers. Nobody like this will show up to a message board and discuss video games because their interest in video games is as much as our interest in movies (I'm assuming that nobody here is a movie fanatic, but I could be very wrong). It's simply entertainment, and decisions are often based upon "buzz." Unfortunately, the video game industry is not mature enough to have the mass publication of critical analysis that the movie or music industry has. Therefore, you have games like Dragon Ball Z:Budokai sell 750K+ in its first month. Of course, there is the analyst. This person is interested not only in the enjoyment of gameplay, but also in the success of a company. The best parallel that I can draw is to the sport of football (double-meaning, but it applies wherever you live). The "casual" type would watch football on television, understand the rules, enjoy the game, but never really get personally involved. The "pure game" type would analyse the style of play and the amount of entertainment received from each game, but not really care about the success of the team. Finally, the "analyst" types are personally invested in the success of the team. They criticize the company not only for the quality of the game, but for the decisions of the coaches/administration. Just like the video game industry, there are varying degrees and overlaps of these categories. For example, people watching an American football game (especially Raiders fans) dress up in silly costumes and yell when when they feel that the coach has made a dumb move (not going for it on 4th down, etc.). These people are often blind to any criticism of the team, and when they are approached by any, they become defensive. Sound familiar? Gaming "fanboys" are often blind to any criticism as well. But to balance these types there are the ESPN analysts that go behind the results and delve into the miniscule aspects of the game, drawing less-subjective conclusions and acknowledging any biases they may have. I'd like to think that there is a bit of that here.