Fanboy-ism

I've had it!
I'm fed up with gamers calling one another "fanboys" for preferring one system over another or for making a factual statement that is negative about a certain title or platform. Recently I wrote a preview for a game and said that I didn't much care for MAG (a first person shooter that features up to 256 players simultaneously that suffered from some bad design choices) and I was called an Xbox fanboy solely for making that statement.

First of all, that is completely unnecessary and shows the readiness people have to jump to conclusions. I said i didnt care for a game that happens to be a Playstation 3 exclusive title and was immediately branded an Xbox fanboy. Since when does saying something dismissive of one party immediately make you on the side of their proposed opposition? I could have just as easily been a Nintendo fanboy but the public seems to see microsoft and Sony as the main two competitors.

Now, let me explain. The term "fanboy" is pretty much what it sounds like, much as a person who considers themself a Liverpool supporter for example would fanatically defend their team against all criticism and deem all other teams inferior, a videogame fanboy is said to do the same for their preferred system or franchise. What started out as an endearing tem for one who, say, loved nintendo games over all others has evolved into a derogatory term meaning one who single-mindedly defends nintendo, even the bad games, and dismisses all other systems and franchises regardless of quality. If you were to call me a fanboy i would take it as a personal insult nowadays as it has become just that.

the gaming community is rife with individuals who think it appropriate to think "what you say means nothing, as you are clearly an xxxxx fanboy" (xxxx being the system or franchise in question) meaning that now, no civilized discussion can take place, making absolutely any given subject impervious to critique, as anyone who does is branded a fanboy of the opposition. Is this really a fair, mature approach to the medium we all love?

Granted, some people do exhibit fanboy-ish behaviour and will defend a developer to the grave, but these people are in the minority and shouldn't be an example of the common gamer. I don't call people fanboy because it is never appropriate, and due to the negative connotations it now brings it would be rude of me to do so. If someone dislikes my opinion i will discuss it like a civilized human being instead of ignoring any opposing viewpoint and holding my head up high like I won the "argument" because only MY opinion matters.

I implore you to never use this term and discourage others from doing it, it's pathetic and ridiculously narrow-minded and narcissistic If you don't listen to what someone has to say, they won't listen to you and you end up being a foul-mouthed baby that has to resort to name-calling to feel like they are superior.

I say all this as i was watching a video on a new game for the nintendo 3DS and someone made the fair comment that 3D gaming is only popular because of 3D movies, this is pretty much indisputable, people love watching 3D movies so naturally games are the next step. The fellow that made the comment was then verbally assaulted and called a sony fanboy (amongst other things) and it led me to believe that THEY were in fact Nintendo fanboys who didn't want to listen to anyone bashing their favorite developer. Now i didn't call them that, but it troubled me that my mind went there, i realized that the term "fanboy" is now ingrained into gamers minds to describe anyone with a viewpoint.This has gotta stop, it's not healthy discussion and it's not painting gamers in a good light.

If someone has a viewpoint that's against yours, hear them out and counter it with facts of your own, if it is obvious they are just biased you do have the option to just leave them be. They can go cry into their mario plushies.