Not You Again By Chris Moxon

Every console has them, companies needs them, and everyone hates them. Who could cause such loathing and needing all at the same time; Fanboys. These ill informed, borderline illiterate morons spread their obnoxious thoughts through online message boards and countless forums. No matter what the topic is on the result is unfailing; " I'm smarter than you even if my thoughts are narrow minded and I can barely speel...I mean spell." Even though their existence is detested they are still a valuable part of the video game industry.

The earliest fanboy rants could be found between Sega and Nintendo, mainly the fueds stemmed from their mascots ( Sonic and Mario) and how may bits each console had. The commercials and other factors between the two companies began the console war and in turn spawned the " Fanboy" which lead to numerous debates in school lunch rooms and recesses. Unfortunately, what once started as a harmless dispute eventually assumed the form of the ill-tempered, modern day, baseless "Fanboy."

What the "Fanboy" provides is an unwaivering support to a console, pc, and franchises. In other words they are "guaranteed" money. If the fanboy loves Sony, he or she will buy Sony's first party titles and hardware. If a fanboy loves Halo, then he or she will buy Halo products. So, because the fanboy is willing to go out of their way to buy software, books, hardware, and subscribe to various magazines, they are in return keeping their favorite products and studios successful and most of the time guaranteeing themselves more of what they want.

Fanboys also create opportunities. For example, suppose that a fanboy enjoys the software that EA publishes, that fanboy is willing to put forth money to venture out of his comfort zone to try new products from that publisher. If the fanboy feels that he or she benefitted from the new experience they become a loyal consumer for that studio.



Without the "Fanboy" franchises would never happen, sequels would never try to out due the last, there would be no exclusives. Everything would be neutral and video games would never be as exciting as they are now, and being a gamer would be an absolute bore. As much as people hate the fanboy; these people should be thanked for their loyalty to whatever flag they wave