Poll: Can a fan base ruin your fandom, interest, and support of a franchise?

[jhoroz]

No, because I really don't see what that has anything to do with the quality of the game. If you enjoy playing a game, whether it be popular or not, you should ignore what idiots on the internet say and just have fun playing it. It really is beyond me how a fanbase can suddenly ruin the experience of playing one of your favourite games.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

If other people can MAKE you dislike/like something against your will just by being assholes thats... shitty. Utterly shitty. If someone limits their experience of enjoyable things based on the actions of douches, no matter HOW many they are i feel genuinely sorry for that person. The media i enjoy is my business. And no amount of fan hate/love/talking can change that. If everyone who liked bananas was an asshole id still like bananas. Anything else seems fucking ludicrous.

Fans can make me not wish to join internet communities around the thing i enjoy, or seek to avoid it online, but they can never stop me from enjoying things in my own time. If you let other people dictate what you can and cannot like those people OWN you. You are their property because they decide what you enjoy not you. That concept creeps me out, im not being a part of it.

 

[putowtin]

Everyones entitled to their opinion that doesn't give anyone the right to force that opinion on others.

 

[Lord Garnaat]

No, I have a bit thicker skin than that. Honestly, the idea of swearing off something legitimately good just because of the fanbase strikes me as rather pathetic.

 

[JediMB]

Only the disappointing performance of the developers is taking away from my interest and support of their franchises. And that's not specifically about BioWare.

That said, I'm pretty apathetic about Mass Effect these days, only cautiously optimistic about Dragon Age, and pretty cynical when it comes to SWTOR and its future.

 

[Cranky]

Yes, I have been affected by how obsessive the ME fandom could be, though it still remains my fave series so not really true I guess. Mostly I don't let fans hinder my experience.

Ah what the hell I voted yes to it anyway.

 

[Tony2077]

when it comes to stuff like i will still like and play the games but i put a wall between me and the so called fanbase. hell i'm even thinking about putting up a wall between me and the whole gamer group

 

[thesilentman]

I'm going to steal Topaz's answer:

Ignorance. Ignorance is bliss.

I usually judge the fanbase after I look at the source. If the fanbase is unreasonable, I proceed to give no fucks. Wait, that's a good majority of fanbases...

 

[Akytalusia]

no. that would be silly. you'd be punishing the victim for the crime. that doesn't make any sense.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

No, but it can make me not want to have anything to do with said fan base.

 

[alphamalet]

Fans piss me off a lot, but I try not to let it affect my person enjoyment.

By the way, the Jennifer Hepler incident was ridiculous. I'm not sure it warranted the response it got, but it was an incredibly stupid thing to say. If you want to skip gameplay and just partake in the dialogue, then why the hell are you playing a game? Watch a movie or a visual novel instead.

 

[Jynthor]

Well, I never really had that with a franchise but I did hate Liara and Tali for a long time because of their obnoxious fans. Then I left the forums and the hate faded.

 

[Oinodaemon]

IGNORE THEM. Enjoying something is a personal thing. Fuck what anyone else says, love what you want to love.

I had a friend in high school that was so obsessed with Nirvana I can't listen to them six years later. I'm STILL sick of that fucking song. Which one? All of them!

 

[Doclector]

Personally, it's counter strike for me. I bought Counter Strike GO a little while after it came out on xbox. I had heard of some of the fanbase's reputation, but in the end...it truly ruined it for me. The combination of elitism and intolerance towards anything that isn't COD eventually made me quit the game for good.

Don't get me wrong, as with any fanbase, there were exceptions. There were people who were great fun to play with, but they were, sadly far outweighed by the people who really, really weren't.

I suppose that's the thing about online-focused games. If you like a single player game and everyone else hates it, or the fanbase who does like it sucks, it doesn't matter, it won't affect your play in the slightest. With online games, if a low amount of people like it, you won't be able to play at all, and a truly unpleasant fanbase can utterly ruin even the best online games.

 

[Nazulu]

Such as when I got into MLP, all the fans on one page in another forum announced Fluttershy is the best and those who disagree don't know what they're talking about or are just not fans. Obviously you ignore these assholes, then you can either look around for people with some sense, or tell them they're full of shit and this is why. I would encourage fighting back, but I know that's not for everyone.

Are you sure that it was not just a tongue-in-cheek "X is best pony" meme going on? Bronies in general have a very common habit of mocking that kind of character-favorism, by screaming "BEST PONY"! all the time, but often chaging the name multiple times even mid-episode.

I only ever saw this when MLP was just spreading, just before the 1st season was finished. They were serious assholes who missed the whole friendship part.

 

[Entitled]

IGNORE THEM. Enjoying something is a personal thing.

Well, I disagree with that. Community can be a large part of enjoying something, if you have a right attitude for it.

For a game like Skyrim, or Minecraft, or for a series like My Little Pony, the fan community can be the best part of it, with it's overanalyzing everything, sharing their own experiences, being creative by making all sorts of mods improving the gameplay, making professional fan videos, writing crazy-good fanfics, organizing cons, etc.

Compared to that, deciding that they are all assholes, and just sticking to playing/reading/watching through the raw product, can lead to missing out lots of enjoyment.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Abandoning an interest because of people who share that interest never really made sense to me. I agree 100% with you when it comes to Mass Effect but it isn't like we're all being forced to co-mingle with ME1 purists, Jennifer Hale Haters, etc.

IGNORE THEM. Enjoying something is a personal thing. Fuck what anyone else says, love what you want to love.

Basically what s/he said.

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

But you still like it because of me, right?

This is the funniest thing I've read all day

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

In a purely multiplayer game, I think a crappy fanbase can pretty much ruin it for you. On a singleplayer title, while a fanbase can annoy the hell out of me, it won't usually ruin a game for me. However, it will sometimes keep me from giving a game an honest try.
Dark Souls for example was a game I was interested in, but the more the fanbase opened its mouth, the less I wanted to try it just because of how annoying they all were. I ended up forming an opinion about how bad the game was before I even played it.
I eventually did play it, and it grew on me and I was pleasantly surprised. (It still has a TON of problems, its not God's gift to gaming) but because of the fans, I almost didn't.

 

[kortin]

If by can, you mean has the ability to, then yes. It's quite possible. Has it ever happened to me? Not that I can think of. I try to avoid letting other people involved in something ruin my enjoyment of it.