I'm gonna have a little moan here about an issue I'm probably the 600th person to notice, and then see if anyone else concures or has had similar frustrations.

So take this example. I was on a forum over on the Escapist. The topic was Sony's aquiring Street Fighter V as a console exclusive. I left a comment which was critical of Sony for engaging in what I believe to be a consumer-unfriendly and generally douchy business practice. Now obviously this attracted rebuttles that assumed (based on wishful thinking) that my being critical of Sony obviously meant that I hated the PS4 and was therefore an Xbox fanboy (since this is a world of black and white afterall).

In reality, I was just as critical of Microsoft's buying up Rise of the Tomb Raider, and I own neither a PS4 nor an Xbox One. I'm actually a PC gamer primarily. But when I told them this, the next wave of responses demanded that I had no reason to be upset by Street Fighter V's exclusivity since I own a PC and Street Fighter V is indeed coming to PC.

Explaining that I was not upset for my own sake, but for the sake of Xbox based gamers who wouldn't be able to play Street Fighter V. That I cared about gamers in general and what they get to and don't get to play was apparently a strange and threatening concept to many on the forum, and I was thussly chastised.

This is what I've come to call "Agressive Indifference" (I'm probably not the first to call it that, but if I am then DIBS!) the gaming community online often tends to have a very "fuck you, got mine" attitude, and tries to force this viewpoint onto others, should they display dissapointment over a situation which does not directly effect them. I have a PC, therefore I can play Street Fighter V, or Rise of the Tomb Raider, therefore I have no reason to be upset that others are missing out on those games. I care about my fellow gamers all over the world and believe they shouldn't miss out on games caught in the crossfire of Sony and Microsoft's age-old pissing contest. My PlayStation homies shouldn't have to wait an additional year for Tomb Raider and my Xbox homies shouldn't have to miss out on Street Fighter.

But this is a view not shared by a lot of people on the interenet, and a lot of those people have this notion of "I don't care about that, therefore fuck you for caring about it!" This may be a matter of such people assuming automatically that I think like they do, and that if they don't agree with me on a matter, then they immediatly fear that that means I'm attempting to force my beliefs onto them and so they act pre-emptively... with the very same notion.

I most often see this Aggressive Indifference in the form of "shut up and just enjoy the game!" And I'm only noticing it more and more now that a new console generation has started, and we have many poor souls who have been conned by the console manufacuturers into believing the continued divide between two near identical machines is a market dichotomy that benefits them in some way.

Is anyone else tired of this trend? The notion that you "if I don't care about it, that means its not worth caring about!"?

We defend what we spent our hard earned money on to validate our decision. If someone comes along as says 'You made the wrong choice.' people will defend their choice.

In the cases of TR vs SF, it's weird. TR was presumed and expected on all consoles when it was announced, only later did they say 'No, it's only on Xbox.' Even though every entry before then had been on PC and Playstation. It was weird for people, a change like that seemed odd and unexplainable other than Crystal Dynamics being money hungry thanks to MS. With SF5, 4 did well on Xbox but doesn't have the same history and when it was announced, SF5 was announced that it would be on PC and PS4 thanks in part to Sony who were helping fund the development as Capcom said they couldn't afford it. Part of Capcom getting help was console exclusivity, it's still available on PC. This small difference in how the funding for development of these games has been done can speak volumes in how companies are viewed by audiences. PC users especially who see MS taking away a game from them while Sony allowing a game to still come to them.

Gamers are passionate about their hobby, like everyone would be. And in an industry where brand wars have been so prominent throughout its history, and even empowered (we even have a name for it, console wars, Sega used it to push their consoles a lot) it's expected to see those reactions. I wish they would start to fade away, since the consumer is way more informed and savy now than in the SNES-Genesis era, but what can you do. Also, it's the internet. Those things happen a lot around here.

Indeed. I was just using that as an example though.

"Agressive Indifference" That's a good way to describe the internet!
I don't care, but I have to post why I don't care and tell you you're an idot.

My theory, fear of change. People are most afraid of change, and the internet is a perfect outlet for that. Anything that involves any change gets plenty of hate.

I agree. People this gen adopted the "defend at all cost... no matter what my co. of choice did". And when you disagree with them you are automatically put in that "agains't us" category.

As gamers we should be glad everyone can enjoy gaming and we should encourage multiplatform gaming as the second coming, instead of wanting everything to be exclusive.

You want a gaming forum without that kinda behavior? then make it
- referral only admission
- International passport verification
- and the use of real names.

Basically, take out anonymity. You'll be shocked how understanding everyone will be.

I think it's a small percentage of both PlayStation and Xbox players.  The exact same scenario would happen to you if MS had gotten the exclusive deal. 

An excellent post about a real issue. I couldn't agree more.

I know you want to be clever but in what world is any of what those people are doing indifference?