Consoles: What’s the deal with these “statuses”, anyway?

 

Author: Amy Pistone

                If you have an Xbox 360, many would consider you to be a hardcore gamer. A Wii, a casual fanboy/fangirl who cannot move with the times. A PlayStation 3, someone who is a mix of the two. What is the deal with these stereotypes, anyway? Why is one console considered to be better than the other? And most of all, why do some people think they are better because they have a specific console?

                Status is not uncommon among gamers, it is just rarely talked about. People will argue which console is better to the death, but few will reflect back on these arguments and question why they were so heated in the first place. We could blame insecurities, jealousy, egotism… but this would all be wrong. The reason so many fight about these consoles, and fight for the status of their console, is not because of themselves – it is because of others. Every gameplayer is different, everyone has their niche. In our class of 5 die-hard gamers, including Mischley, everyone has their own niche, their own quirky games they like for no particular reason. We all accept this and discuss the differences in our class, rather than arguing, but part of this is likely due to the classroom setting. Gameplayers, in general, want the approval of their “clique”, their friends who are in this same niche. Consoles are consortiums of these niches that allow people with their differences to find common ground – but still, each console is a different bigger clique. Not everyone, not even most of the members in each clique deliberately try to alienate the other consoles, it just comes down to preference. This status is something that develops over time, where each player notices how awesome their console is and how much they like that. This is all fine and dandy, but as I have said, this is all a matter of opinion. No console is truly the best out of them all, there is no clear winner. They are just different.

                I say we abolish these statuses. Accept that you are a player, not a creator, of the console – you do not have to justify why you play it. Every console is awesome. Every console brings something to the table that the others cannot. Awesomeness is subjective, but everyone has their own unique form of it in their niches. Abolish the status of each console and every gameplayer can perhaps understand these differences. No longer will friends fight about how awesome their system is – and maybe they will play a game or two on a different console. But that does not mean the console is any less awesome.