WARNING: Long and ranty (TL;DR near bottom)

So I've been coming here almost every day since Feb of 2007, and it's been a great ride. I've always loved these forums and the users who made it what it WAS. Therein lies my problem. This forum does not seem to be what it was when I first arrived, not even close. I came looking for sales at the beginning of the last console generation, and that's what I got. I kept lurking to stay up on the sales and eventually was drawn in by the incredibly varied cast of "characters" that were present on these forums. Yes there were still fanboys that would go through hell and back to defend their consoles, but they were much further and farther between.

The meat of the forums seemed to be the rich sales analysis and predictions that occurred and the interesting game related and off topic conversations that filled the intermediary between game releases. Back when I started we still had graphics comparisons and other issues that broke down into the ramblings of fanboys, but the mods had them in check. It was actually tolerable reading through the forums as the comments were mostly thoughtful and very often funny responses. They actually added to the discussion without the perceived attacks on any side of the console camps.

Now lately I am only really able to check sales data on the front page and read the titles of the topics because I get frustrated by the level of fanaticism of users or the fighting that occurs. I know that vgchartz has grown beyond sales and has attracted a different type of forum goer who probably didn't come here for the same reasons I did. I know the new console generation has begun and fanaticism seems to be at its highest, but so many threads are about why the other console sucks, or if you think your console /game is great, you get beaten down for having an opinion. I've just gotten too frustrated by all of it.

Now my rose tinted glasses may be a tad thick here. I really hope there is a place for people to express their opinions without provocation from another side. Are sales discussions, predictions, and analysis going to make a comeback with the new generation? I just wish there was less of a need for people to fight each other, and instead discuss what makes gaming great and what makes people buy the games and systems they do.

TL;DR - I've probably been here for too long but my nostalgia keeps me here, hoping to return to a simpler time when we could discuss intelligently, and not attack each other. I just wish for less hate between the console sides so we can read thoughtful discussion without being bogged down in extreme fanboism. If that’s too much to ask, any suggestions on where that might be found?

AND Maybe I'm completely wrong, and it's been here all along. I must have just lost it along the way. It just seems that when an article comes here that has great potential for discussion, it's already bogged down in BS comments that it's not worth it trying to make your way through it.

I hope the hate will cool down once both consoles have been out for a bit. I think people are just getting a bit feisty waiting for their new console

Personally, I have found the site a lot less interesting the past few years. I have been coming here a bit more recently because I want my PS4, so have been feeling a little bit bored, but I do have some hope things might improve again

Anyway, I would basically say wait 6 months. Keep coming here for the sales figures and jump into any proper discussions that you find!

next few weeks on here are going to be utter hell with both sides at each others throats the very first sign a single console world wide crashes there will be blood shed on here. I would maybe take a break over Christmas from the forums and enjoy some Festive gaming and then come back in the New year when stuff has calmed slightly and everyone is hung over from the festivities and launch rage!

The site is really quite good still, there is a lot of strange messages on here from some people but if you over look the stranger bits and pieces there are some golden threads to be found on here. Would definitely not leave anytime soon, I think Sony and Ms fans just need a common enemy to rage against to cool off together with, maybe an apple console announcement or Ouya2.0 could do it heh.

For the time being, try sticking to one of the megathreads. They only have one fanbase posting so the trolling is kept really low. Other than that though you really need to just figure out who the good and bad posters are. Respond and have serious conversations with the good posters, and try to avoid the others.

In a few years everything should settle down. Just look at the handhelds. Back when the vita was launching, the trolling between both factions was everywhere. Now people pretty much just accept the 3DS is doing good and the Vita's not. I've only seen the occasional Vita trolling in Wii U threads but that'll end once the Wii U gets older too.

Meh, everybody is just up in arms right nkw because of the new gen. Honestly though, when I think back to some of the people that have been in these forums when I first got here, I dont think people are as fanatical now as they were then. There are certainly overly fanatical people right now, who say things you would think would only come from somebody being paid to say it, but I think they are fewer and far between. People are juste xcited about a new gen right now, I dont think they are being overly combative...

To be fair... I havn't been in this site for long but this site definitely has least amount of fanboyism vs some of the other sites I have been to... Apart from the occasional, wiiU is doomed threads and some missunderstandings, everything else seems pretty good.

I've been going to IGN for years. And as more and more people spend time on the internet and more kids are raised internet-minded, the internet gets worse. IGN has slowly turned into a cesspool of ranting and raving fanatics. A new generation is getting older and learning they have a voice, and they're using their voices when a decade ago they would have still been relatively unheard as they matured. And of course, trolling has basically become a sport; once the knowledge of such people became widespread, the internet took a turn for the worse.

Or at least this is the case of gaming websites. I completely understand what you mean, and I don't think it's just you. I haven't been on VGChartz for a long time, but everything else has just gone to hell.

The start of a new console generation always bring out the worst in fanboys. Give it a couple months and things will go back to normal.

I've been coming here since Q4 2007 so I can relate to OP's semi-rant. While there was always back-and-forth banter between all factions of gamers on here, it was generally just lighthearted stuff and any of the obvious attention-starved trolls or fanboys were snuffed out pretty quickly.

Then in 2009-10... right around the time the PS3 started to turn things around and the Wii started to tail off... the overall community started to change, and the level of discourse on the forums has steadily declined since then, culminating with the Xbone and PS4 reveals and launch hype over the past year.

So it wouldn't be too far off to say that the dramatic shift amongst the standings of the big 3 console manufacturers that has taken place over the past 3 years or so is the main culprit for the increase in trolling and fanboyism around these parts, and around gaming websites as a whole.

You are wrong. Its been here the entire time.