Both Nintendo fans and Sony fans (on VGChartz) are going through hard times right now with the Wii U and Vita. There's a common saying which says hard times are when a man shows his true colors. Well, how differently have Nintendo fans and Sony fans dealt with their troubles? Surprisingly enough, Sony fans and Nintendo fans have behaved almost identically during their hard times. The following is just a few of the similarities I've noticed across Nintendo fans and Sony fans in general. Note: when I refer to consoles, I'm referring to the Wii U and Vita.
Both fanbases avoid sales discussion of their preferred console, while heavily discussing sales of the other console. When it comes to sales discussions, they seem to be very interested in the future of their lesser preferred console, while being fairly apathetic towards their own. It's much more likely that an X console thread will be created by a Y fan. And that X thread will be mainly composed of Y fans. The same is true in Global UP and general sales threads. It's very common to see X fans show up when Y is discussed, yet disappear when there favorite console is discussed.
Both fanbases claim(ed) criticism is/was too early for their preferred console. The most popular argument used by both is the "wait for the big games" argument. Both fanbases seem(ed) to B_E_L_I_E_V_E their preferred console would turn the tables to become at least a modest success. Of course it is still fairly early for the Wii U so Nintendo fans are more likely to be right, but at the moment it's impossible to know, and it looks like both Nintendo fans and Sony fans are going down an identical path. The most ironic thing about this is the fact that many people are using the exact arguments that they mocked other fans for using.
Both fanbases claim criticism is excessively harsh for their console. Perhaps both are right about this one. The Doom Threads have been quite excessive recently. However, both fanbases seem to believe their preferred console is criticized extremely more than any other console. Obviously one of them is false; both consoles couldn't have been Doomed extremely more than any other consoles. The problem with people measuring Doom is the fact that their own biases will unintentionally skew their view; people are obviously going to notice more doom threads of their favorite consoles than for any other console.
Both fanbases are too quick to label a thread a mindless Doom Thread or label someone a hater. Again, I admit there's been a lot of Doom Threads created by a lot of haters recently. However there's also been a lot of sincere threads unfairly attacked as baseless attacks. In fact it's quite rare for any fanbase to welcome criticism with fair feedback. Either this criticism is ignored (as I noted earlier), or if they do react, then it's likely with, "Oh, another Doom Thread. how stupid." People shouldn't let the haters taint their view of all people with fair criticism. Here's something you can do whenever you see an offending post: read through the post and try to find the exact text that's offensive. If you cannot find it, then ask yourself if you become upset with all negative posts of your preferred console.
Of course these are all my subjective observations based on the general behavior of the users on here. For everything I've listed above, there's a batch of users from both camps who stand out and do the opposite. But for the most part, I think the above is true. What can we do with the knowledge that we are all the same? Well, perhaps this will encourage everyone to be more empathetic when looking at people "on the other side". Maybe? Nah, who am I kidding.
