PS3, The Loser That The Fans Think Is Winning.

[sieanr]

JerzeeBalla said:

Excuse the thread title, I couldnt get what the topic is into words. 

My question is this. I have been registered here for a while now, but this is my first (and probably last) thread. In the last couple of months I have seen numerous complaints about the behavior of Sony/PS3 fans (or fanboys more specifically.) I thought about why people are so upset at Sony fans seemingly superhuman ability to ignore that its in 3rd place and continue to speak as if it is indeed winning the console war. Almost every thread I enter turns into a back and forth between a group of Sony enthusiasts, and a group of people who swear that this site is run by Sony Nazis and the mods dont care. 

I personally think, and this is based on no kind of factual evidence, that the behavior is irritating because the PS3 is the last place console. This kind of behavior was present last gen, just in reverse. XBox fans talked as if it was God's gift to gamers, even though it was utterly destroyed sales wise. Ditto for the Gamecube. Sony fans hated when those camps had the audacity to place their "pitiful" consoles in the same breath as the almighty PS2.

Jump to this gen, and everything is switched. The Wii is crushing all comers, and the 360 is smacking Sony around in NA. Yet PS3 fans talk as if its the single most important gaming related creation ever. I think this really bothers, or annoys, a lot of people. Can anyone confirm this for me? Or tell me I am very stupid if thats the case? I just want to understand why everything that goes wrong on this board is blamed on Sony fans/fanboys. Are they the cause of every thread derailment? Are they the only ones trolling? The only ones creating threads designed to start trouble? I just want to make sense of what I am reading.

Quite simply most people define themselves through the products they consume, and advertising companies work very hard to reinforce this.

For example Sony fans will often claim their console has a library of 'hardcore' titles while the Wii just has 'casual' games. So by purchasing a PS3 you're making a statement that you like hardcore titles, and the guy down the street with a wii is a lesser, casual gamer. Another example would be the pepsi generation advertisements which branded it as the drink of choice for young, cool kids and made coke look like the antiquated drink your parents once enjoyed. So buying and drinking pepsi means that you're a hip kid, but drinking coke makes you just a square as your parents.

This sort of thinking extends to just about every facet of life - even clothing, cars and food. Tons of people shop at whole foods not because their "organic" food is better then the cheaper mass produced goods in most groceries, but because it makes a statement that they're health conscious and environmentally friendly. This is our modern culture of consumption, where goods are purchased based, at least in part, on what they can add to your personal image.

Thus when the PS3 is portrayed in a negative light most die hard take it personally, because it is. When you define yourself by the products you consume and the properties they convey any criticism of said products is quite literally an attack on that person. So when PS3 fans claim to be hardcore, its usually because thats what most people say about the PS3. They may not buy tons of games, and they may even play only mainstream titles, but the fact that they own a PS3 makes them hardcore - and anyone who argues that the PS3 isn't a hardcore console is indirectly claiming that that poster/PS3 fan isn't hardcore.

So don't expect things to change anytime soon until people start to look at goods as only something to be used. And if some of the PS3 fans zealotry resembles religions fanatics, its because it does. Consumption has taken up the function of religion for most people.

/rant - feel free to continue arguing in a completely predictable way.