I've noticed recently that backwards compatibility has become a huge topic in gaming, especially seeing as it is a feature that will be absent in the next gen consoles. So, I'm just here to ask, who on this site honestly cares about backwards compatibitity? 

Personally I do not. It's not because I find it to be a bad or useless feature. It's definitely a good feature, but only good for convenience sake, and certainly shouldn't be a factor in a person deciding to purchase a video game console nor as a negative in the description of a console. 

With every backwards compatible console I owned, it's a feature I almost never used. It's something that doesn't affect me, because I don't buy next gen hardware to play last gen software; I buy it to play the next gen software, of course! If I really want to play last gen software, I'll play it on my last gen hardware. I don't see why I can't just keep my PS3 after I purchase my PS4. It's not like getting up and switching out the HDMI cable will somehow take a vast ammount of my life away. Like I said, the feature is convenient, but completely unnecessary. I'm confused why so many people make a huge deal about it. I remember even watching a video back in 2008 of a really wierd looking guy (with some really messed up teeth) making a huge deal because he bought a brand new PS3 to play God of War II. Not sure why he didn't just buy a PS2, as they were already dirt cheap at the time, but nonetheless it was stupid of him to even bitch about it imho. I have no plans of getting rid of my PS3. What about you guys? 

I know this is kindof an arbitrary topic, but I hear about it all the time, and I just don't see what all the fuss is about.

It's convenient in not having to keep multiple consoles hooked up. It bothered me that Wii U didn't keep GameCube b/c (although i understood it, given the difficulty of getting a slot-loading drive to have variable disc-sizes), meaning that i'll have to dig up my GameCube if i ever get the urge to run a GC game.

It's pretty important to me, but its absence wouldn't stop me from buying a system with awesome games.

It's just a really nice feature, especially for people with only a small amount of disposable income who want to catch up on software from the previous generation.

3DS keeps on playing my DS games. It matters to alot of people. Mostly everybody wants it for their ps4/X1. Its a great bonus feat.

But then you have to pay for the games again. What of those of us who have built our collections over the years?

It is extremely handy. I can forgive them for not implementing if it's too difficult or just not possible though.

I care quite a bit.

My PS3 broke a few years back and I held off buying a new PS3 because I was hoping PS4 would be backward compatible. Now that I found out that it isn't this delays my PS4 buy by a couple years. Still going to get it because I love Sony, but not as soon. PS3 is still a $250 system, I'd rather pay $50 ontop of the $400 for a PS4 which is BC then buy two consoles.

In the past I bought a 360 over a PS3 because both were BC, but I owned a PS2, and not an XB. Plus Gears of war and the then exclusive Lost Planet looked awesome.

I didn't buy a PSV because it wasn't physically BC. I didn't own a PSP until last year, and had the PSV been BC with retail PSP games I probably would have purchased it over a PSP. Now I won't own a PSV until I beat all my PSP games, and that might be a loong while.

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I think BC is very important in this day and age, especially because many people don't own multiple consoles. If PS4 was BC then everyone who only owned a 360 could play PS3's exclusives if they upgraded to PS4. The same logic applies to PS3 owners buying a One. Not everyone buying a PS4 owned a PS3, and not everyone buying a One owned a 360.

Plus a lot of core gamers ignored the Wii, but Wii had a lot of great games (XenoBlade for one). If someone interested in the WiiU was also interested in a couple Wii games (just a couple, Wii has a good library), it doesn't make much sense to spend $100 just to play 2-3 games.

Backward compatibility is nice because it gives new consoles an instantanous lineup of cheap, and excellent games.

Very important but I can live without that if the system already has a big library of games that I like.

For example, 4-5 years ago there was no way I would have purchased a PS3 without BC because the library was very weak for years and without ps2 games to keep me busy it would haven just gathering dust. That's not a problem with the latest Nintendo consoles because in the case of the Wii I had the gamecube library. And now on the WiiU I have the Wii library. Now that there are enough games that I may like in the PS3 the BC is not that important. But the ps4 lost me as a consumer due to the lack of BC and a currently weak line-up of announced games. Now most likely it will take 4 years or so before I get interested in the system.

Me. Being able to play Xbox games on the 360 was a major selling point for me to get it originally... It's particularly important at the start of a gen when the new consoles have few games themselves... having a large back catalogue of PS2/Xbox games was probably a big reason for the PS3/X360 to take off like they did...new consoles may struggle to take off because of this

It's an important feature. For me, it's pretty much essential.

In the end, however, I would be perfectly willing to go without it if I had a continuous, digital library.