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Now that all three of the “next-gen” consoles are out here in the UK, it’s a good time to discuss zealotism as we know it. For those who don’t have a clue what I’m on about, then you can consider yourself to be lucky - it’s best to stay out of arguments between consoles, after all.
Anyway, zealotism (a word that isn’t in the Word dictionary, but has now been added), is the dedication and loyalty towards a particular company that has made a console in the past few years. This is fine, but zealotism usually turns sour when they make fun/offend a rival’s console, causing anger amongst offended zealots of the opposition, and giving those who are a bit of a zealot to make their case heard. Then, the “discussion” usually reaches boiling point when a newbie includes extremely vague comments in their point of view against their rival’s consoles, before the regulars/notables/staff/no-one moves in to diffuse the situation.
Scared? Good. Although there are four main types of zealots nowadays, any company that has released a console can have its zealots. For example, there’s still a dedicated bunch of people out there using their Amigas, if not for gaming then for work. Similarly, Mac users consistently pop up (especially in these forums) and make themselves heard - and who can blame them? And of course, there are the Sega zealots, who are getting quieter and quieter as each day passes, moving on and converting to another format of their preference.
Then there are those who don’t really care what console they have, and are grateful for the entertainment value of their existing machines. Finally, an increasing number of people are becoming Multi Format Gamers (or MPGs), owning more than one console and laughing at those who are dedicated to their cause of supporting a single format/platform only.
So, why do zealots….er, zeal?
Well, there are a number of reasons:
1) “Casual” Gamers (eg. Joe Punter)
The majority of gamers portray games as “another form of entertainment” in line with watching movies and listening to music, which, in all fairness, it is. However, these folk usually just play games for just an hour a week, or maybe even less, or when they’re severely drunk. With circumstances like these, there’s no point in investing cash into buying another console if you’re only going to play on your existing one ten minutes less to make room for your new one.
But if they’re so “casual”, then why would they spend their precious time in forums based on games? Well, there are other topics other than games on forum sites, and when the inevitable crossover does occur, that’s when the presence of red fingered (from all the angry typing) kicks in.
2) Money
Most people find they can’t afford to buy a new console, or the new games to play on that console if they did. Therefore, in order to show that they wholly support their console of choice, they thrown verbal abuse at other consoles, either to display their loyalty towards their purchase, or as a sign of strength. Of course, there are quite a lot of people who don’t resort to this, and simply get on with the console they have, occasionally looking up and saying, “Ooh” at a game on another console.
Another point is that once they’ve bought the console, zealots want it to survive so that they wouldn’t have to buy a new console from a rival, therefore they carry on buying new games for their console instead of saving up for another one.
Finally, there are those who feel that they can’t afford to support all the consoles they’ve bought with the games they deserve (I sound like a mother who can’t have another kid, here), for example, I sold my Game Boy Advance and 8 games to help support my Gamecube, PS2 and PC better (my DC can look after itself). Moving away from the poor mother analogy, I sold my GBA so I can buy more games for the three formats mentioned above.
3) Minority
This has more to do with personal computers than consoles, but where there is a minority, you can guarantee that there are zealots. Why? Because minorities attract attention; and when they do, people will join the cause to support them - after all, we all love to see the underdog win on occasions, don’t we? In addition, users and members of this minority will feel more valuable to their like minded cohorts, as there are less of them there than, for example, PC users. As with any small group, the connection between those in a minority group is tighter (great, I sound like a Big Brother psychologist now).
4) Ability
Zealots form because they like their machine/god’s attributes. Power hungry console gamers, for example, would take the Xbox over the Gamecube and PS2. Those in search of quiet fans and tiny discs in their consoles, however, would want a Gamecube. This point also includes the aesthetic look of the console.
5) The Future
Depending on the person’s analytical skills, they may come to the conclusion that Y console is the best for the future (I didn’t use X as it would sound too much like the Xbox), i.e. best in terms of performance in two or three years time, or developer support. They will then support this console until the future comes (sounding like a Star Trek captain). Or, if the console turns out to be not as future proof as the zealot had imagined, then he will quickly jump ship to another one.
6) Loyalty
Before entering the realms of gaming with more than one console/platform, I was an avid Nintendo fan, or “Ninty”, as some might say. The reason for this was because I grew up with the console, and so therefore grew attached to their games, characters, and style of play. This might be a problem for Xbox owners, as there really isn’t a single character that kids can look up to/pretend to be who isn’t already out on another platform, but hey, that’s not my problem.
7) Company Image
The final point is that of the firm responsible for the console; this could be troublesome for the PC, as no single manufacturer makes all of them, but with the PS2, Gamecube and Xbox, each has a firm attached to it. So for Sony, and I say this as how the general public see it, the PS2 is for “cool, sophisticated” people who like to have a “good time”. As for the Gamecube, the console and its games are mainly aimed at “kiddies”, or for those with a family and/or has a liking to Nintendo made games. Finally, the Xbox is there “mainly for geeks” who usually spends their spare time playing with programming languages and staying indoors, or basically not going out.
Note the excessive use of quotation marks - and don’t get me wrong, I completely disagree with (most of) these point of views.
It’s good to know that even zealots wise up over time, gradually calming down and seeing the finer points of another console, just like in a relationship where you have to see the finer points of your partner to succeed…. oh, that’s my creative side getting mixed up with the technical side again.
Anyway, thanks for reading, even if you have skipped to this last paragraph, and…
FIGHT THE ZEALOTS!!!
Ahem.
Anyway, zealotism (a word that isn’t in the Word dictionary, but has now been added), is the dedication and loyalty towards a particular company that has made a console in the past few years. This is fine, but zealotism usually turns sour when they make fun/offend a rival’s console, causing anger amongst offended zealots of the opposition, and giving those who are a bit of a zealot to make their case heard. Then, the “discussion” usually reaches boiling point when a newbie includes extremely vague comments in their point of view against their rival’s consoles, before the regulars/notables/staff/no-one moves in to diffuse the situation.
Scared? Good. Although there are four main types of zealots nowadays, any company that has released a console can have its zealots. For example, there’s still a dedicated bunch of people out there using their Amigas, if not for gaming then for work. Similarly, Mac users consistently pop up (especially in these forums) and make themselves heard - and who can blame them? And of course, there are the Sega zealots, who are getting quieter and quieter as each day passes, moving on and converting to another format of their preference.
Then there are those who don’t really care what console they have, and are grateful for the entertainment value of their existing machines. Finally, an increasing number of people are becoming Multi Format Gamers (or MPGs), owning more than one console and laughing at those who are dedicated to their cause of supporting a single format/platform only.
So, why do zealots….er, zeal?
Well, there are a number of reasons:
1) “Casual” Gamers (eg. Joe Punter)
The majority of gamers portray games as “another form of entertainment” in line with watching movies and listening to music, which, in all fairness, it is. However, these folk usually just play games for just an hour a week, or maybe even less, or when they’re severely drunk. With circumstances like these, there’s no point in investing cash into buying another console if you’re only going to play on your existing one ten minutes less to make room for your new one.
But if they’re so “casual”, then why would they spend their precious time in forums based on games? Well, there are other topics other than games on forum sites, and when the inevitable crossover does occur, that’s when the presence of red fingered (from all the angry typing) kicks in.
2) Money
Most people find they can’t afford to buy a new console, or the new games to play on that console if they did. Therefore, in order to show that they wholly support their console of choice, they thrown verbal abuse at other consoles, either to display their loyalty towards their purchase, or as a sign of strength. Of course, there are quite a lot of people who don’t resort to this, and simply get on with the console they have, occasionally looking up and saying, “Ooh” at a game on another console.
Another point is that once they’ve bought the console, zealots want it to survive so that they wouldn’t have to buy a new console from a rival, therefore they carry on buying new games for their console instead of saving up for another one.
Finally, there are those who feel that they can’t afford to support all the consoles they’ve bought with the games they deserve (I sound like a mother who can’t have another kid, here), for example, I sold my Game Boy Advance and 8 games to help support my Gamecube, PS2 and PC better (my DC can look after itself). Moving away from the poor mother analogy, I sold my GBA so I can buy more games for the three formats mentioned above.
3) Minority
This has more to do with personal computers than consoles, but where there is a minority, you can guarantee that there are zealots. Why? Because minorities attract attention; and when they do, people will join the cause to support them - after all, we all love to see the underdog win on occasions, don’t we? In addition, users and members of this minority will feel more valuable to their like minded cohorts, as there are less of them there than, for example, PC users. As with any small group, the connection between those in a minority group is tighter (great, I sound like a Big Brother psychologist now).
4) Ability
Zealots form because they like their machine/god’s attributes. Power hungry console gamers, for example, would take the Xbox over the Gamecube and PS2. Those in search of quiet fans and tiny discs in their consoles, however, would want a Gamecube. This point also includes the aesthetic look of the console.
5) The Future
Depending on the person’s analytical skills, they may come to the conclusion that Y console is the best for the future (I didn’t use X as it would sound too much like the Xbox), i.e. best in terms of performance in two or three years time, or developer support. They will then support this console until the future comes (sounding like a Star Trek captain). Or, if the console turns out to be not as future proof as the zealot had imagined, then he will quickly jump ship to another one.
6) Loyalty
Before entering the realms of gaming with more than one console/platform, I was an avid Nintendo fan, or “Ninty”, as some might say. The reason for this was because I grew up with the console, and so therefore grew attached to their games, characters, and style of play. This might be a problem for Xbox owners, as there really isn’t a single character that kids can look up to/pretend to be who isn’t already out on another platform, but hey, that’s not my problem.
7) Company Image
The final point is that of the firm responsible for the console; this could be troublesome for the PC, as no single manufacturer makes all of them, but with the PS2, Gamecube and Xbox, each has a firm attached to it. So for Sony, and I say this as how the general public see it, the PS2 is for “cool, sophisticated” people who like to have a “good time”. As for the Gamecube, the console and its games are mainly aimed at “kiddies”, or for those with a family and/or has a liking to Nintendo made games. Finally, the Xbox is there “mainly for geeks” who usually spends their spare time playing with programming languages and staying indoors, or basically not going out.
Note the excessive use of quotation marks - and don’t get me wrong, I completely disagree with (most of) these point of views.
It’s good to know that even zealots wise up over time, gradually calming down and seeing the finer points of another console, just like in a relationship where you have to see the finer points of your partner to succeed…. oh, that’s my creative side getting mixed up with the technical side again.
Anyway, thanks for reading, even if you have skipped to this last paragraph, and…
FIGHT THE ZEALOTS!!!
Ahem.
I'm just pointing out the reasons for them - don't shoot the messenger!
Zealots rock! If it werent for the hardcore you would be playing tony hawks 20 by now.
Zealots....Syndicate Wars....MUST....PLAY.
I've posted this in the wrong forum, haven't I?
Now that all three of the “next-gen” consoles are out here in the UK, it’s a good time to discuss zealotism as we know it. For those who don’t have a clue what I’m on about, then you can consider yourself to be lucky - it’s best to stay out of arguments between consoles, after all.
Anyway, zealotism (a word that isn’t in the Word dictionary, but has now been added), is the dedication and loyalty towards a particular company that has made a console in the past few years. This is fine, but zealotism usually turns sour when they make fun/offend a rival’s console, causing anger amongst offended zealots of the opposition, and giving those who are a bit of a zealot to make their case heard. Then, the “discussion” usually reaches boiling point when a newbie includes extremely vague comments in their point of view against their rival’s consoles, before the regulars/notables/staff/no-one moves in to diffuse the situation.
Scared? Good. Although there are four main types of zealots nowadays, any company that has released a console can have its zealots. For example, there’s still a dedicated bunch of people out there using their Amigas, if not for gaming then for work. Similarly, Mac users consistently pop up (especially in these forums) and make themselves heard - and who can blame them? And of course, there are the Sega zealots, who are getting quieter and quieter as each day passes, moving on and converting to another format of their preference.
Then there are those who don’t really care what console they have, and are grateful for the entertainment value of their existing machines. Finally, an increasing number of people are becoming Multi Format Gamers (or MPGs), owning more than one console and laughing at those who are dedicated to their cause of supporting a single format/platform only.
So, why do zealots….er, zeal?
Well, there are a number of reasons:
1) “Casual” Gamers (eg. Joe Punter)
The majority of gamers portray games as “another form of entertainment” in line with watching movies and listening to music, which, in all fairness, it is. However, these folk usually just play games for just an hour a week, or maybe even less, or when they’re severely drunk. With circumstances like these, there’s no point in investing cash into buying another console if you’re only going to play on your existing one ten minutes less to make room for your new one.
But if they’re so “casual”, then why would they spend their precious time in forums based on games? Well, there are other topics other than games on forum sites, and when the inevitable crossover does occur, that’s when the presence of red fingered (from all the angry typing) kicks in.
2) Money
Most people find they can’t afford to buy a new console, or the new games to play on that console if they did. Therefore, in order to show that they wholly support their console of choice, they thrown verbal abuse at other consoles, either to display their loyalty towards their purchase, or as a sign of strength. Of course, there are quite a lot of people who don’t resort to this, and simply get on with the console they have, occasionally looking up and saying, “Ooh” at a game on another console.
Another point is that once they’ve bought the console, zealots want it to survive so that they wouldn’t have to buy a new console from a rival, therefore they carry on buying new games for their console instead of saving up for another one.
Finally, there are those who feel that they can’t afford to support all the consoles they’ve bought with the games they deserve (I sound like a mother who can’t have another kid, here), for example, I sold my Game Boy Advance and 8 games to help support my Gamecube, PS2 and PC better (my DC can look after itself). Moving away from the poor mother analogy, I sold my GBA so I can buy more games for the three formats mentioned above.
3) Minority
This has more to do with personal computers than consoles, but where there is a minority, you can guarantee that there are zealots. Why? Because minorities attract attention; and when they do, people will join the cause to support them - after all, we all love to see the underdog win on occasions, don’t we? In addition, users and members of this minority will feel more valuable to their like minded cohorts, as there are less of them there than, for example, PC users. As with any small group, the connection between those in a minority group is tighter (great, I sound like a Big Brother psychologist now).
4) Ability
Zealots form because they like their machine/god’s attributes. Power hungry console gamers, for example, would take the Xbox over the Gamecube and PS2. Those in search of quiet fans and tiny discs in their consoles, however, would want a Gamecube. This point also includes the aesthetic look of the console.
5) The Future
Depending on the person’s analytical skills, they may come to the conclusion that Y console is the best for the future (I didn’t use X as it would sound too much like the Xbox), i.e. best in terms of performance in two or three years time, or developer support. They will then support this console until the future comes (sounding like a Star Trek captain). Or, if the console turns out to be not as future proof as the zealot had imagined, then he will quickly jump ship to another one.
6) Loyalty
Before entering the realms of gaming with more than one console/platform, I was an avid Nintendo fan, or “Ninty”, as some might say. The reason for this was because I grew up with the console, and so therefore grew attached to their games, characters, and style of play. This might be a problem for Xbox owners, as there really isn’t a single character that kids can look up to/pretend to be who isn’t already out on another platform, but hey, that’s not my problem.
7) Company Image
The final point is that of the firm responsible for the console; this could be troublesome for the PC, as no single manufacturer makes all of them, but with the PS2, Gamecube and Xbox, each has a firm attached to it. So for Sony, and I say this as how the general public see it, the PS2 is for “cool, sophisticated” people who like to have a “good time”. As for the Gamecube, the console and its games are mainly aimed at “kiddies”, or for those with a family and/or has a liking to Nintendo made games. Finally, the Xbox is there “mainly for geeks” who usually spends their spare time playing with programming languages and staying indoors, or basically not going out.
Note the excessive use of quotation marks - and don’t get me wrong, I completely disagree with (most of) these point of views.
It’s good to know that even zealots wise up over time, gradually calming down and seeing the finer points of another console, just like in a relationship where you have to see the finer points of your partner to succeed…. oh, that’s my creative side getting mixed up with the technical side again.
Anyway, thanks for reading, even if you have skipped to this last paragraph, and…
FIGHT THE ZEALOTS!!!
Ahem.
Anyway, zealotism (a word that isn’t in the Word dictionary, but has now been added), is the dedication and loyalty towards a particular company that has made a console in the past few years. This is fine, but zealotism usually turns sour when they make fun/offend a rival’s console, causing anger amongst offended zealots of the opposition, and giving those who are a bit of a zealot to make their case heard. Then, the “discussion” usually reaches boiling point when a newbie includes extremely vague comments in their point of view against their rival’s consoles, before the regulars/notables/staff/no-one moves in to diffuse the situation.
Scared? Good. Although there are four main types of zealots nowadays, any company that has released a console can have its zealots. For example, there’s still a dedicated bunch of people out there using their Amigas, if not for gaming then for work. Similarly, Mac users consistently pop up (especially in these forums) and make themselves heard - and who can blame them? And of course, there are the Sega zealots, who are getting quieter and quieter as each day passes, moving on and converting to another format of their preference.
Then there are those who don’t really care what console they have, and are grateful for the entertainment value of their existing machines. Finally, an increasing number of people are becoming Multi Format Gamers (or MPGs), owning more than one console and laughing at those who are dedicated to their cause of supporting a single format/platform only.
So, why do zealots….er, zeal?
Well, there are a number of reasons:
1) “Casual” Gamers (eg. Joe Punter)
The majority of gamers portray games as “another form of entertainment” in line with watching movies and listening to music, which, in all fairness, it is. However, these folk usually just play games for just an hour a week, or maybe even less, or when they’re severely drunk. With circumstances like these, there’s no point in investing cash into buying another console if you’re only going to play on your existing one ten minutes less to make room for your new one.
But if they’re so “casual”, then why would they spend their precious time in forums based on games? Well, there are other topics other than games on forum sites, and when the inevitable crossover does occur, that’s when the presence of red fingered (from all the angry typing) kicks in.
2) Money
Most people find they can’t afford to buy a new console, or the new games to play on that console if they did. Therefore, in order to show that they wholly support their console of choice, they thrown verbal abuse at other consoles, either to display their loyalty towards their purchase, or as a sign of strength. Of course, there are quite a lot of people who don’t resort to this, and simply get on with the console they have, occasionally looking up and saying, “Ooh” at a game on another console.
Another point is that once they’ve bought the console, zealots want it to survive so that they wouldn’t have to buy a new console from a rival, therefore they carry on buying new games for their console instead of saving up for another one.
Finally, there are those who feel that they can’t afford to support all the consoles they’ve bought with the games they deserve (I sound like a mother who can’t have another kid, here), for example, I sold my Game Boy Advance and 8 games to help support my Gamecube, PS2 and PC better (my DC can look after itself). Moving away from the poor mother analogy, I sold my GBA so I can buy more games for the three formats mentioned above.
3) Minority
This has more to do with personal computers than consoles, but where there is a minority, you can guarantee that there are zealots. Why? Because minorities attract attention; and when they do, people will join the cause to support them - after all, we all love to see the underdog win on occasions, don’t we? In addition, users and members of this minority will feel more valuable to their like minded cohorts, as there are less of them there than, for example, PC users. As with any small group, the connection between those in a minority group is tighter (great, I sound like a Big Brother psychologist now).
4) Ability
Zealots form because they like their machine/god’s attributes. Power hungry console gamers, for example, would take the Xbox over the Gamecube and PS2. Those in search of quiet fans and tiny discs in their consoles, however, would want a Gamecube. This point also includes the aesthetic look of the console.
5) The Future
Depending on the person’s analytical skills, they may come to the conclusion that Y console is the best for the future (I didn’t use X as it would sound too much like the Xbox), i.e. best in terms of performance in two or three years time, or developer support. They will then support this console until the future comes (sounding like a Star Trek captain). Or, if the console turns out to be not as future proof as the zealot had imagined, then he will quickly jump ship to another one.
6) Loyalty
Before entering the realms of gaming with more than one console/platform, I was an avid Nintendo fan, or “Ninty”, as some might say. The reason for this was because I grew up with the console, and so therefore grew attached to their games, characters, and style of play. This might be a problem for Xbox owners, as there really isn’t a single character that kids can look up to/pretend to be who isn’t already out on another platform, but hey, that’s not my problem.
7) Company Image
The final point is that of the firm responsible for the console; this could be troublesome for the PC, as no single manufacturer makes all of them, but with the PS2, Gamecube and Xbox, each has a firm attached to it. So for Sony, and I say this as how the general public see it, the PS2 is for “cool, sophisticated” people who like to have a “good time”. As for the Gamecube, the console and its games are mainly aimed at “kiddies”, or for those with a family and/or has a liking to Nintendo made games. Finally, the Xbox is there “mainly for geeks” who usually spends their spare time playing with programming languages and staying indoors, or basically not going out.
Note the excessive use of quotation marks - and don’t get me wrong, I completely disagree with (most of) these point of views.
It’s good to know that even zealots wise up over time, gradually calming down and seeing the finer points of another console, just like in a relationship where you have to see the finer points of your partner to succeed…. oh, that’s my creative side getting mixed up with the technical side again.
Anyway, thanks for reading, even if you have skipped to this last paragraph, and…
FIGHT THE ZEALOTS!!!
Ahem.