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| OK so I admit it, I'm slightly enamored with Infinity |
'With most men, unbelief in one thing springs from blind belief in another' - Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, Notebook L, Aphorisms
Mr Georg Christoph Lichtenberg is absolutely spot on you know. If we are so vehemently opposed to one thing, it is because we are normally fiercely loyal to another. Or to put it into modern Internet parlance, if you 'flame' one thing it's because you're a 'fanboi' of another thing altogether. Stands to reason if you ask me. So then, I have to ask myself a very serious and soul searching question, am I a fanboi? My gut reaction is to scream no! I'm a rational being who comes to all my conclusions based on careful considered thought and a keen analytical eye. But is that not blind belief in my own critical judgement and my ability to judge things fairly and even handily? Ultimately dear readers, I fear I might just be a bit of a fanboi when it comes to the games I enjoy. True, I don't think I'm as rabidly loyal as some people are to their respective game systems, but nevertheless, loyal I am.
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| Hell Dorado is dark with some cool mini's, that's why I've stuck by it! |
But is it an issue? Should I be concerned that my love for some games blinds me to their faults, or specifically enables me to mentally 'overcome' them? Or that it might cloud my judgement of others products? That is a far more difficult question to answer. It also cuts to the credibility in some respects of me as a reviewer or as a critic. Indeed, it cuts to the credibility of all reviewers. Because as objective as most of us will try to be, our subjectivity is always on display and can never be fully expunged from our deliberations. And neither should it be, after all it's our opinions you are reading so should not our subjectivity come through too? Yes, but I think not at the expense of some rational and objective critique. It's a balance dear readers on a very narrow tightrope, and I can assure you it's a very difficult one to tread. I agonise over the language I use in my reviews and the words and phraseology as well. I try to keep my descriptive words the same throughout all my reviews, so people know what to expect when I use a word, because as long as I'm consistent in my language and my beliefs on certain things, at least I'll remain a useful benchmark against which to judge your own likely experience with a product.
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| Look in my humble opinion Angry Elves rock, as do giant steam powered robots! |
It goes deeper though than the language I use to be honest with you. I re-read all my articles to make sure I'm not overly gushing or scathing. Unless I feel it is appropriate to be. I try to look at things as rationally as I can, and to give the reader as much actual concrete information about whatever product it is, so they can make decisions for themselves. Because ultimately it's you who has to make the decision as to whether or not a purchase is worth making, or a game worth playing. But is a bit of rampant fanboism a bad thing? Is it such a bad thing I enjoy Infinity, Freebooters Fate or Dystopian Wars so much? What about my love of all things anime and big robots? Does that colour what I think about Anima Tactics and Heavy Gear Blitz? The answers to those questions in that order are, 1) nope, 2) it's part of who I am and finally 3) of course it does, see the answer to the previous question. As long as we're honest with ourselves and others about being 'fans' of something at least we all know the position we're all coming from and specifically where I stand. For instance if I continually express love for things you hate, we can assume that I'm rght and you're wro... kidding, I'm just kidding, settle down and buy a sense of humour! Nope that we like very different things, and that's cool because at least I'm now a reference point for your own tastes.
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| Look Freebooter's Fate IS that good a game... and it has pirates!!! |
Reality is I can't take who I am or my own experiences out of my judgements or opinions, because without who I am and what I've experienced it's just passionless meaningless words. So yeah, I'm pinning my colours to the mast... I'm a fanboi and I'm proud of it! I don't see anything wrong with enjoying certain aspects of the hobby and loving certain games or products. It's not like I exclude all other games either is it? I mean I play a lot of things, it's how I know the things I like are the right games for me. I'm still willing to give any product a go, much to the dismay of some of you as your bank balances look far less healthy after I do, sorry about that by the way. I'm not totally blind to the faults of the games I like / love either. It's just that because I enjoy them so very, very much, I find them less irksome. So what the hell is this Sunday Sermon Blog all about then? Why have I decided to admit I'm a fanboi? Well it's for three reasons mainly:
- I pretty much like everything to a certain degree, and even those games I'm not madly in love with I still talk about passionately. So why not be honest about it?
- I'm fed up of people holding back on how they really feel about games. I wrote another Sunday Sermon a while back about our hobby needing evangelists, and if you're going to evangelise you need to admit you're a fan and express a bit of passion for something.
- Last Sunday's Sermon about turning readers into followers got a load of responses, and more importantly many of them said they loved my Blog because of how openly passionate I was about the games I love. Many also informed me that my passion had encouraged them and they wanted to thank me.
So to all of you out there who seem afraid to pin your colours to whatever mast it is you love. Or to admit you're passionate about a game, and try to convince others there is a sound empirical rationality behind you decisions... give it up, you're not going to fool anyone. It might be part of your internal logic, and it might even have some validity to it, but it's passion and enthusiasm that will get others hooked. So is it such a terrible thing to be a fanboi? Peace out!
I'd have to say, if you truly had an unbiased opinion, you would not have any affiliation with any part of the hobby, be it models, rules or even games altogether! My reasoning being that we judge games by what we've played and how those compare to new experiences. If we hate certain aspects in game X, but they are fixed in game Y, the similarities and differences to game Y can only be drawn because of a love and thorough understand of game X.
ReplyDeleteBeing a fanboi isn't a bad thing at all, it shapes and moulds our particular tastes in the hobby. Abiding by these tastes we create a demand from our suppliers to further refine and improve the games we love play. I'd say our fanboi desires are what have led to this Golden Age of Gaming by creating widely unique and fun to play games that each target what the opposition has missed.
But I ramble. :) I too like most everything I play to one degree or another, but its those likes, and on the off hand, what I dislike, which keeps me as an avid wargame enthusiast! Wallet be damned, show me the models! lol
I agree and I think it's high time us fanboi's took the meaning of the word back. I like stuff... so sue me. :P
DeleteI guess I just think that if you actually enjoy something and it makes you happy that realistically you're no longer as impartial as you thought you were. So why not be honest about it?
Yes indeed sir, you do quite well at giving great reviews which are founded in a knowledge of the game and your opinion on the models and set ups, so impartial or not, as you stated it's up to our decision making to follow through ultimately.
DeleteI'll say personally I've not been steered wrong at all to this point! So keep up the good work! :)
All in all, if you want to spread your hobby, the best way is to be passionate about what you play, be knowledgeable about it's rules, finally to be fair and friendly on the tabletop. That's what I think fanbois should do, cause flaming games before you try them or because of a single viewpoint really just hurts the hobby and community.
Cheers, nice of you to say so.
DeleteI think being a fanboy is okay, but depends how you go about it. People who are passionate about the games they play and talk about it a lot are fine. It's when it gets to the stage that you just flame on other games and their players because of it. The people who can't accept that other people may get enjoyment out of a game, like the models or rules or whatever and cannot see someone else's side to the argument, that's the dark side of being a fanboy.
ReplyDeleteYeah that's fair enough. Although tbh with I still don't get why people play chess. I mean white is so OP. :P
DeleteClearly people who play white are the power gamers, while those who play black are just in it for the fluff and so stuck with an underpowered army. :P
DeleteAlways bet on black.
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Agreed Mecha Ace, WAAC assholes the lot of them but the fluff bunny chess players are just as bad. The whole chess community is a mess.
DeleteSinSynn... steady!!! :P
Certainly there is nothing wrong with being a fan of something or other; having an uncommon attraction to certain settings or tropes; or feeling loyalty to a company, sports club, etc. However, there is a great gap between being a fan and being a fanboi. Fanboi implies myopic devotion to a particular thing or franchise. Liking something or being a fan is one thing, being blinded to all the world by devotion is something else.
ReplyDeleteI was on BoLS the other day (a mistake, I know) reading the comments for one of Mantic's new releases and was struck by the number of commentators that appeared to genuinely hate all models that were not produced by GW. That is fanboism, dedication taken to an extreme that transcends any sort of reason and becomes pure emotion.
People in general, and young men in particular, are predisposed to investing themselves in something abstract. Gamers are healthier than many, we argue about tin soldiers on the internet rather than strapping bombs to ourselves or beating up supporters of a rival sports team. But, fanboism in full bloom is born of that same fanatical impulse.
Passion is often good, but zealotry is generally bad, and it can be very hard to tell the difference. And admitting your passion for a given thing is necessary for any kind of reasonable discussion.
I'm not too sure you're describing a fanboi... sounds more like a douche or a tool. :P
DeleteBut yeah I know, I'm just poking fun at myself in this article, and also letting people know I think it's OK to say you like something. You don't even need to justify it to me with rational thought necessarily. Gut instinct and emotion are enough. However, I don't think it's cool to go round ripping on things all the time.
As for frequenting BoLS... serves you right! Some decent folk on their but generally it just descends into the lowest common denominator... sigh... just not a good place to have a discussion. Too much willy waving.
Maybe the slag carries slightly different connotations depending on which side of the Atlantic you are standing on. Over here, or least in California, 'fanboi' is very much a sub-species of douche-bag.
DeleteI think of the fanboi as someone with an unreasonable adoration for a specific company, game, movie, franchise, or the like; and who loves with qualification all things associated with it regardless of quality and who hates anything seen as similar or in opposition.
Its perfectly fine to be enthusiastic about something for no other reason then you like it. The difference is the fanboi believes that his like or dislike of something is a statement on its quality "everything I like is good. Everything I don't like sucks." Also he sees the focus of his fanboism as an outgrowth of himself. So, a negative comment about GW or a competitor enrages the GW fanboi and makes him feel personality attacked. A more reasonable fan understands that tastes are different and even things he very much likes are not without flaw. At least, that's how I see it.
Something one must remember about the terms 'fanboys' and 'fans' is that they're originally short for 'fanatic'. I was once active in a LotR forum (LotRplaza) that called itself the 'LoTR Fanatic Forum'. Their honesty and self-awareness was rather refreshing.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's a large part of the problem, when people aren't aware of how much they're into something, and when they cannot see the counter-argument. If you keep your eye out on these two things, you'll keep your fanaticism in check. Fanaticism isn't inherently bad, indeed it's rare to be in this hobby without a healthy dose of the stuff, but as Spiffy Iguana up there said: there's a difference between passion and zealotry, and I think that keeping an understanding eye out for the counter-argument is the way to balance.
Yeah I know I come across people who are blindly loyal to one product or other and I find it sad really. I totally understand loving something... but to the exclusion of all other things....
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Nope that's not for me. I tend to find those sorts of people are the boring people any way. You know the sort that always order chicken tikka masala and go on holiday to Bognor Regis every year to the same caravan park with the same caravan. Beige people I call them. If they're happy good on them, but I'll steer clear of them thank you very much. lol.
so it's ok for me to say that i bloody love 40k, and that i have no particular desire to play any other game system, and i don't care that it is flawed and that other systems might be better?
ReplyDeleteOf course it is. I think it's you that will be missing out, just like anyone who only focuses on one game system. But, it's your call and I'd respect anyone's decision to stick with one game system if it's truly what they wanted to do.
Deleteheheh, very diplomatic answer. i was actually being facetious, but sadly, while i would love to play other systems, the money i would need to invest is to large right now, as is the time. i really do bloody love 40k though, so i guess that's ok :)
DeleteWell maybe you'll be lucky enough to win some free stuff from me at some point!!! lol. I will be giving free stuff out as much as I can, third parties and bank balance permitting!!!
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