Mind Game: Fan The Flames

By Sandra Maksimovic

The Fanboy is an interesting breed. For those of you too busy watching Big Brother to have heard of this wondrous cultural phenomenon, the general purpose fanboy is simply a passionate fan of various elements of “geek” culture, including science-fiction, comic books, Star Wars, video games, animé, hobbits, Magic: The Gathering, World of Warcraft, etc. 

However, the predominant idiosyncrasy that most distinctly separates the fanboy from regular 'fans' is that the fanboy lets his passion override his social graces, pretty much always to his detriment. 

Some believe that the main attribute of the fanboy is his complete inability to apply reason to his thinking.

Note: You have no doubt noticed that I have only been referring to fanboys.  This is because I think the word fangirl sounds really stupid (and that constantly typing his/her is dumb) so throughout this article you may assume that I am lumping both boys and girls under the one banner of “fanboy”… and that ‘his’ is also ‘hers’. Mmyeah.

More fascinating still, at least for me, is the console-gaming subset of the fanboy. 

According to my various Internet forum/blog comment observations of random gaming websites, the console fanboy has the ability to exhibit rather angry, rabid-dog-like, knee-jerk responses to any (even remotely) negative feedback directed at his console of allegiance.A typical exchange will usually go something like:

Person 1: Well, the [console] hasn't been doing so well this year....

Fanboy:  ZOMG! Did you just say that the [console] sucks?!?!?! YOU SUCK! You and your [opposing console company] fanboys can all burn in everlasting hell along with [opposing console company CEO]!!!!!

Though the above example is not overly offensive, some sworn-to-the-core fanboys have been observed to threaten their opponents with death, including death by stabbing, rape, arson, and public flogging. Though, admittedly, the Internet and its alluring blanket of anonymity has precipitated the rise of various forms of what I like to call: online ‘arseholeism’.

Still, it is unclear to me just what drives a person to such insane loyalty to a piece of hardware. 

I’ve often wondered whether fanboyism (the video-gamer kind) is just a rather lengthy extension of buyer's remorse. It costs a large amount of money to buy into this hobby, and even more to continue getting any gratification from it. So it gets to a point where they delude themselves into thinking they are the righteous campaigner for their chosen system, constantly justifying their decision to countless anonymous randoms online, none of whom care, nor whose lives this information will have bearing on in the slightest.

While I don’t necessarily like fanboys, I have to admit they do have a strong sense of communal loyalty to their chosen products. If only they could channel that energy into something less ridiculous.