Where does Elitism even come from?

[SilentVirus]

I swear, it's everywhere I go. On just about every forum, video, chatroom, etc, there is a group of disgruntled children respectable individuals going back and forth about the superior gaming platform. Be it Xbox, Playstation, or PC. So my question is: where does all this even come from? Like what prompts people to argue for hours about which is better?

 

[Vanitas likes Bubbles]

Strong opinions on a particular subject I'd say.

 

[Hal10k]

People like to be convinced that they make good decisions. But if the decisions they make are good, then obviously the converse decisions are bad. Ergo, if you make a decision that they did not, then you obviously have inferior reasoning skills.

Hence every argument ever.

 

[Racecarlock]

People like to feel confident in themselves and what they buy. Sometimes, people decide to look down on others to get that feeling. It's a human thing.

 

[Vault101]

the believe that you are better than others

 

[veloper]

It's not elitism if someone thinks the 360 or the PS3 or the PC or the wii is the better gaming platform.

It's just an opinion. The reasoning behind it can even be sound and the resulting arguments entertaining.

The only problem here is people who have problems with opinions- their problem ofcourse.

 

[Scrustle]

It's to do with the psychology of in and out groups. People, especially young people, feel the need to identify with a group. People will always pick the group they think is best and as a result will start to form an "us and them" attitude towards other groups. They exaggerate perceived positive traits of their own group and emphasize perceived negative traits of other groups.

 

[Kahunaburger]

It's either (if glorious PC gamer) an 100% objective assessment of their console's superiority, or (if dirty console peasant) an inferiority complex.

Spoiler

shut up, platformers, fighting games, Shin Megami Tensei, and From Software games don't exist.

 

[370999]

I swear, it's everywhere I go. On just about every forum, video, chatroom, etc, there is a group of disgruntled children respectable individuals going back and forth about the superior gaming platform. Be it Xbox, Playstation, or PC. So my question is: where does all this even come from? Like what prompts people to argue for hours about which is better?

Arguing about what platform is the best isn't elitism IMHO. Elitism comes from being, or at least being perceived as (both by yourself and by others) as being type of some "elite" with the additional social perks.

So why elitism? Because if you can lord it over people you often get nice stuff first.

So I would argue there is no gaming elite (apart from say the western world but let's not go there) but only people wallowing in pathetic self-delusion.

 

[Naeras]

It's either (if glorious PC gamer) an 100% objective assessment of their console's superiority, or (if dirty console peasant) an inferiority complex.

(spoilertagged)shut up, platformers, fighting games, Shin Megami Tensei, and From Software games don't exist.(/spoilertagged)

/thread

It's a matter of people wanting social status, and one of the ways to get that is to harp on everyone that makes choices that are different from yours, because your choice is clearly better. Also everyone who owns console X rather than console Y has a bigger penis and is currently having sex with at least three women. Because video games.

 

[Vern5]

Elitism comes from insecurity. It is the psychological defense against doubt. When a human being makes a choice but suddenly finds that the choice they made was either wrong or technically inferior, that human is now presented with new choices to make. On one hand, that person could admit fault and try to retroactively correct their original decision. On the other hand, that person could stay the course and stick to whatever poor choice they made with the fervor of denial.

 

[Dryk]

It's usually either a need to validate ones purchases or a dominance display depending on the situation

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

I swear, it's everywhere I go. On just about every forum, video, chatroom, etc, there is a group of disgruntled children respectable individuals going back and forth about the superior gaming platform. Be it Xbox, Playstation, or PC. So my question is: where does all this even come from? Like what prompts people to argue for hours about which is better?

Arguing about what platform is the best isn't elitism IMHO. Elitism comes from being, or at least being perceived as (both by yourself and by others) as being type of some "elite" with the additional social perks.

Strictly speaking "PC is better than console" isn't elitist but "PC is better than console and I play PC so therefore I'm better than you". But usually the PC vs console arguments have a personal element because people attach themselves to their preferred gaming medium and believe the superiority of a medium reflects on them too, so most of the arguments are carried out with an elitist attitude.

 

[BENZOOKA]

How can elitism be so hard to grasp? If you have any idea how egos work, elitism is quite a natural part of some of it spilling out over the borders, in a context of suitably comparative sides to be on.

It's either (if glorious PC gamer) an 100% objective assessment of their console's superiority, or (if dirty console peasant) an inferiority complex.

And that's a fact, so there's nothing of subject to argue about regarding which is the best platform. Except arguing for the sake of arguing, which is pointless anywho.

 

[BeeGeenie]

Imma go with: Mankind has evolved to be social creatures who divide the world into "us/them" groups by nature. It's natural to identify with those who are like you and distrust those who are different. Having a different opinion about which console is best is a trivial matter, but it's created by the same biological mechanism that leads to racism, sexism, religious persecution, and any other case of us vs. them thinking.

At least it's less likely to lead to violence if it's just something trivial like a console war, so I'd say it's better than the alternative. At least until ps3 owners start rounding people up for the xbox360 inquisition ; )

 

[Liberaliter]

I think most people who bash other consoles and are generally elitist fanboys can't afford to own every console, so they deal with the insecurity that they may have bought the wrong one by championing it to the ends of the earth. They also should probably get some perspective and not spend so much time arguing on forums about video games.

 

[kingthrall]

people like me who are elitist, grow smaller elitists from my cabbage patch. I teach them, feed them information like water and watch them grow into bigger egotistical trolls. Thus surpassing myself and making the monster destroy the maker.

Oh brings a tear to my eye

 

[370999]

I swear, it's everywhere I go. On just about every forum, video, chatroom, etc, there is a group of disgruntled children respectable individuals going back and forth about the superior gaming platform. Be it Xbox, Playstation, or PC. So my question is: where does all this even come from? Like what prompts people to argue for hours about which is better?

Arguing about what platform is the best isn't elitism IMHO. Elitism comes from being, or at least being perceived as (both by yourself and by others) as being type of some "elite" with the additional social perks.

Strictly speaking "PC is better than console" isn't elitist but "PC is better than console and I play PC so therefore I'm better than you". But usually the PC vs console arguments have a personal element because people attach themselves to their preferred gaming medium and believe the superiority of a medium reflects on them too, so most of the arguments are carried out with an elitist attitude.

I'm not very tech savvy so forgive me if I'm wrong but isn't the PC the platform is the best hardware yes? But I don't think that makes it objectively superior in all regards, a die-hard JRPG enthusiast would be starved for the lack of releases of the games they like and would be forced to migrate to another platform. Likewise I imagine there could be a case made for a Phone being the best gaming platform as someone always has it on them, and they find the games engrossing.

What I'm suggesting is that their are other metric beyond that of hardware capability to measure a platforms worth.