The Fall of the Fanbase

[The Undying Nephalim]

As I get older, the more I realise self-proclaimed 'fans' of anything - books, video games, films, etc, are a burdan on whatever art they claim to be supporters of. Fans of just about anything get so hung up and obsessed with their favourite art forms that they claim ownership not just in the product(s) that they own, but apparently power to decide what direction their art should go next, who else should like them, and for what reason to like them for.

The possessiveness and anger probably stems from the thought that you'll no longer be getting anything new in the mold of what you like. To put it in a simple and childish way "I liked this one cookie I ate a lot and I want more and I'm not getting anymore! I'm going to complain!" It's understandable. If you like Starfox rail shooters it's perfectly natural to want more and not a different genre. I love Star Fox best when I'm in an Arwing shooting fleets of ships and dislike running around on the ground shooting dinosaurs with a mystical magic staff in Adventures, but I'm not going to be spoiled and complain that I'm not getting more shooters. I am not going to attack people who genuinely enjoy Adventures and Assault. I'll express what I dislike about those games if asked, with the understanding that entertainment is completely subjective and that I'm probably biased because of what I do enjoy.

 

So sometimes franchises go in a different direction to that you don't like. GET OVER IT AND MOVE ON!

Again, to overly simplify it, it really boils down to "I'm not getting what I want so I'm going to complain until I get it." There's nothing wrong with expressing things you dislike in a game, but things get a little iffy when it turns into "this is what this series should be, this game should not exist, these fans are wrong for liking this, me me me me me! etc." I'm guilty of it myself, and sometimes it's hard to recognize it because we get so caught up in what we personally want that we forget that the creators might want to do something different (or have to do something different to make money) and that there are other audiences out there that enjoy different things as well. I just try to make what I want instead of complaining and hoping Nintendo does nowdays.

 

I really don't understand why anyone would get hung up on Star Fox of all things.

It's a really strange situation with modern society, and it's not limited to the Starfox Fanbase. The Zelda fanbase is another prime example. Toon vs. Realistic graphics, wacky lightheartedness of recent Zelda games vs. the serious tone of older Zelda games, Male Sheik vs Female Sheik... you'll find fans arguing religiously with each other over the most pointless of issues. I'm guilty of it in the past (even still having an extreme knee jerk reaction to Hyrule Warriors and roll my eyes at how much praise it gets before release), but as I grew older I started to realize it's just entertainment, it's not religion. I think both Starfox and Zelda "should" be certain ways, but at the end of the day I really own neither and the property owners really don't owe me anything. Yes these games "had an impact" on many people in their childhood (myself included), but at the end of the day it's fictional material made by a profit seeking corporation so that they can make money and hopefully their customers will have fun. It's not a lost book of the Old Testament that changes the rules of Leviticus that have stood for over two thousand years, and it's really kind of sad how a lot of people treat games, movies, and other recreational subjects as if they are religion. It's happened with sports and now it's happened with video games. 

[DZComposer]

OK, since this has devolved into an argument on which game was better, I'm gonna go ahead and lock this.