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DP’s Editing Notes: I spent a long time thinking about how to approach this article and upon completion I feel genuinely disappointed that I have not expressed my feelings to a level of accuracy that makes me feel content. I might sound like a broken record but I am truly having a difficult time in fully understanding the ins and outs of the issue of culture (on many levels), an issue which fascinates me. I feel that this article may perhaps in some instances sound illogical and possibly domineering. Still I find it necessary to share with you my observations so if any of this makes a vague bit of sense then please share your thoughts.<\/em><\/p>\n I’m still<\/em> thinking about culture and I just can’t shake a few ideas that are bothering me. I’ve talked before about Casual Gaming<\/a> and this whole hierarchical view that seems to manifest in a significant portion of the gaming community. Where the core gamers view themselves as somehow superior to other, less experienced players.<\/p>\n What I have recently discovered from these articles is just how frustrated I am with fan culture. So I have decided to use myself as the example and explore how and why I react in particular ways to fan culture and if I myself hold some sort of bias\/grudge in a similar way.<\/p>\n My first such experience was over the recent holiday break where I visited a sale for a particular video game store. This isn’t just you standard game store though, this place sells anime\/manga\/games and is exceptional when it comes to video game collectables, rarities and hard to find game titles. So this place is obviously a breeding ground for fan culture. <\/em>*rubs hands together with glee*<\/p>\n As expected, some of the customers and their gaming friends did get on my nerves while I was in the store. So I paused and observed their behaviour a little and plundered the depths of my mind to find what it was exactly that hit an uncomfortable nerve.<\/p>\n My conclusion was in their conversation. My interpretation of their utterances was that it seemed as though many of the fans lacked a certain context about various games lined up on the shelves. Even though they would rampantly talk about certain games, it appeared as though they had only a loose interpretation of the historical relevance and impact of the game as well as other bits of relevant, factual information. Despite their lack of knowledgable context they seemed particularly willing to take the approach of \u201cresident expert\u201d<\/em> on the subject. My next observation was that many of the players seemed only interested in certain titles because of the attributes that ownership of this game would exempt about their significance as a player. For example: the idea that hardcore\/more skilled players play FPS games or that to be seen as a niche gamer you have to own all of the Harvest Moon games. There seemed to be a certain \u201cThe Internet says this game is cool\u201d<\/em> like idea accompanying what was said. To put simply, they were swayed by the online gaming culture as to what is acceptable or not.<\/p>\n My last observation is a pretty understandable one and that is fanatical behavior, essentially any behaviour that disregards social decency and is just blatantly rude. This is simply annoying behaviour no matter what field of interest.<\/p>\n When reading over my observations I guess (read: hope) that my frustrations have become clear and seem justified. I feel as though what I have noticed and what I continue to notice are the negative effects of not only fan culture as there is more to it than that, but also social culture. The difficulty (and perhaps why I am having such a hard time concentrating my thoughts on these issues) is because culture is not a very clearly defined issue and I am having difficulty on deciding on where to lay the blame.<\/p>\n Although I have answered the core question as to why I am frustrated with fan culture, I would still like to attempt to define what is behind the observed behavour as I am having a tough time in classifying what if I am actually frustrated with fan culture or if it is something else entirely.<\/p>\n Running down the list of observations, I really don’t know what to define as the problem source of this \u201cresident expert\u201d<\/em> \/ \u201cI’m right and you are wrong\u201d<\/em> idea. I can’t entirely chalk to down fan culture although in some instances this may be the case. I guess this is a case of social development instead.<\/p>\n The second observation (\u201cthe internet says this game is cool\u201d<\/em>) is again something that is perhaps fan culture and then again it could just be a social factor. Peer pressure from wider players, perhaps? Lastly the third observation is a bit of both social and fan culture.<\/p>\n In anycase, it does not matter what words I use to brand this type of behaviour, which drives me so insane. What I have realized is that it all comes down to something that I have talked about before; respect<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\nMy Observations and Interpretations<\/h3>\n
\n<\/p>\nMy Analysis<\/h3>\n
A Call For Respect<\/h3>\n
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