Serious question, is it possible to reason with a fanboy?

[njiska]

I may be a reasonably new poster to the DP forums, but i've been talking video games for alleast 15 years of the 20 years i've been on this planet and in that time i've found myself time and again trying to reason with a fanboy and time and again i find myself getting pissed off.

So what i really want to know is if there is anyway to deal with a fanboy? So many times i've watched great posts get locked because the legitimate disscussion has been invaded by fanboys and is reduced to a pointless shouting match.

It's one thing to love a system but it's another to hate all others for no good reason. Hell it's even against the rules here. But people still do it all the time. I want to know if there's a way to reason with them, a way to have them actually listen. I don't care if they don't agree with me, they're entitled to their own opinions, but i don't want a good thread to suffer because of them either.

So anyone have any ideas on how to deal with them? The only one i know is to sink to their level and that accomplishes nothing.

Do i just have to much faith in humanity that i beleive all people can be reasoned with? or is there reallya way? Let me know what you think and i thank you for your input.

[Xexyz]

Alright, my post will not be very inspiring but if I happen to run into an obsessive fanboy who can not see the light then F*** em. They aren't worth the time of day to reason with, especially on a forum.

[Jibbajaba]

In my opinion, absolutely not. A fanboy is a fanboy because they have blind faith and unwavering devotion to whatever it is that they are a fan of.

If nothing else, you have to admire their dedication.

Chris

[Daniel Thomas]

People are conditioned to project their self-image onto consumer products. It's practically a religion. You're worthless...unless you buy brand X. Then life is peachy, and your whole identity is tied into identifying with X. It's all a vicious sham.

Game fanboys? Please. Couldn't they come up with at least a plausable reason to pick fights? At least when women are involved, I can blame it on hormones.

[MegaDrive20XX]

You can't fight them, but you can sure as hell ignore them. I've had my share of one-sided "Final Fantasy" conversations...or issues of how much Sega sucks...

You can't change their minds at all

[Push Upstairs]

Just ignore them. Thats the only way to fight idiot fanboys.

I've only witnessed one long drawn out threads filled with grade school insults and "yeah, you're sweating 'cause you got nuthin!". 20+ pages of stupidity aimed at at trying to pass off some idea that every single PS2 in the world was knowingly defective. Even though the moron's own "proof" showed his comments to be incorrect he still went on.


so just ignore them.

[Gregory DG]

Fanboy is just another word for Troll. Just do what you would do with them. Ignore. It's wasted effort to even click the Reply button... :roll:

[goatdan]

People are conditioned to project their self-image onto consumer products. It's practically a religion. You're worthless...unless you buy brand X. Then life is peachy, and your whole identity is tied into identifying with X. It's all a vicious sham.

Game fanboys? Please. Couldn't they come up with at least a plausable reason to pick fights? At least when women are involved, I can blame it on hormones.

My gosh. That must be one of the best posts ever. Gotta breathe...

Woooooo.

Okay...

So seriously, I think it comes down to a few things:

What are you trying to reason with them about? If it is why one game or system isn't better than another game or system, then I don't think you should try to reason with them. Everyone has a personal taste, and I don't think that you should try to enforce a "no preference zone" rule. Personally, my Dreamcast is by FAR my favorite system and collection. If you came up to me and tried to convince me that I should like my Genesis as much as my Dreamcast, I'd think you're insane.

That having been said, I wouldn't care that you liked them equally because I think it is a thing of personal preference, but I personally don't really care for the Genesis but can't get enough of the Dreamcast.

Now, if you're talking about someone who would try to persuade me to ditch the Dreamcast and go with the [insert-system-name-here] instead and gave me examples of how the Dreamcast sucked, I don't think that you can reason with that type of person. That is the type of person who, in my opinion, has to make themselves feel better about their own purchases and / or preferences by trying to force others into making the same decisions or envying theirs.

If you tried to tell me to sell my Dreamcast because the PS2 ran it out of the market, I'd tell you that you're insane, and chances are I would take it as a reason that I didn't want to get such a system. It took me a long time before I purchased my Xbox because there were a few people that were doing just that about it and I didn't want to add any fuel to their fire. I have an Xbox. It's pretty nice. I still like my Dreamcast just as much as I did before I got it.

So anyway, the answer is maybe. If you get one that is encouraging you to get something because they are a fan of it themselves, but aren't trying to force it on you, absolutely. I think that all of us are this at some point deep down inside us. If you get someone that is telling you that your preferences suck, or your facts suck, or you as a person suck, why would you want to try to reason with them in the first place?

[PapaStu]

Its not so much the "fanboy" ness but the notion that they cant accept that there can be more than one right answer to a question. There has to be a BEST this or WORST that, and few want to admit that whay they like could be seen as that 'bad' thing. I'm by all means a Big Sony Fanboy (hell 700+PS and 300+ PS2 would make me one IMO) not to count for every other system that i've really got any games for. Nintendo? AYUP, XBox? /me nods Sega? totally. Its more of a personal level and being able to talk rationally and agree to disagree, and well many people are just incapable of doing that.

[spoon]

NO.

[Arqueologia_Digital]

VG Fanboys are a cancer. Only ignore them. Any discussion or comments with him could sick you...

Matías

[hydr0x]

equally bad to argue with as fanboys are, how could i call them, let's just say "anti-fanboys"

you know, the people who attack you just because you said you prefer some game or system like "you think the gamecube has more than one fantastic game? how dare you you fucking fanboy" or "you like Sonic? you Sega fanboy!"

^^ we have a few of those on this board :(

[Arqueologia_Digital]

you know, the people who attack you just because you said you prefer some game or system like "you think the gamecube has more than one fantastic game? how dare you you fucking fanboy" or "you like Sonic? you Sega fanboy!"
Good point. And don´t forget the ones that says you: "oh, you like Atari 2600...puaj!, why you like that poor games?, it´s only a big pixel with two colors"...(New generation stupid gamers)

Matías

[NintendoMan]

Now you could maybe call me a Nintendo fanboy, but I don't blindly deffend anything. Like if something was right, I was 100% wrong, and I keep saying I am right though, I would never do that.
I do have a mind and a thinking process, and never have NOT just liked something because "It's not Nintendo". I do give other things chances, just don't own to many of them.

[Lady Jaye]

equally bad to argue with as fanboys are, how could i call them, let's just say "anti-fanboys"

you know, the people who attack you just because you said you prefer some game or system like "you think the gamecube has more than one fantastic game? how dare you you fucking fanboy" or "you like Sonic? you Sega fanboy!"

^^ we have a few of those on this board :(

Like the time I was called a Sega fangirl just because I said that I don't like Adventure Island and that, as a remake/spinoff of Wonder Boy, it pales in comparison with the original...