It's very simple. When people find something they're not a fan of but lots of other people are they will immediately denegrate it. Pure in-groups/out-groups social psychology.
People hate being wrong. There's the dellusion of held by some people claiming they're a "non-conformist". These people are like the millions of other non-conformists who want to believe they're a unique special snow-flake. But in general most people want to see themselves as right and part of normal society, or at least better than average.
Finding out that everybody enjoys something but you don't creates an internal conflict. There's only two explanations, or RATIONALISATIONS that can resolve this conflict.
Either,
1) you are not like the large majority of people, society will continue to choose things that don't fit your needs and wants because most people are not like you. It's not a question of right or wrong, it's the reality that when you want B, most people might choose A and this is no good for you. You are the outcast of society. That is a problem.
OR 2) you are better/smarter than a large majority of people and it is only a matter of time they realise how right you are... the numpties.
Guess which one most people choose.
The reality is for games and most media is that it doesn't matter. Subjective tastes vary wildly. Something like CoD being the biggest seller almost guarantees it's not the "best" game for most of its fans, its just the one with the most universal appeal. The best average. Also games are such specific instances that liking one doesn't mean liking something almost identical to it. Hence the reason other military shooters near identical to CoD have NOT achieved the same success. So there's no reason to give a flying f**k if someone likes CoD or not, unless you fear being an outcast.
This kind of hatred escalates the bigger something is in relation to other things people like. There are plenty of examples of people hating something simply becauses it's hugely popular;
Angry Birds, Twilight, CoD, Mario/Zelda/Nintendo, Xbox, Sony, Titanic, Dances with Wolves, the list goes on.
And to prove that's it not a well thought out point they'll either proclaim "it's complete shit" giving no credit to whatever it might do right. When they do try to give points as to why it's usually fairly nit-picking stuff. Not innovative enough, too innovative, a rip-off of something else. All general statements that can be levelled at ANY form of media usually.
With CoD the only concern is how much it influences the development of other games. Because CoD was so successful, way too many developers are trying to jump on the bandwagon. Some will succeed (Battlefield 3), others will fail (Medal of Honor). But like Angry Bird clones they'll realise modern consumers don't work like that so hopefully they'll stop. Hopefully the Kinect/PS Move attempt to jump on the Wii remote boat taught them that as well.
Personally I like CoD, but they broke my heart with MW2. They used to be wonderfully immersive experiences into the faceless soldier. They used to give the illusion of being in a real soldier's boots (idealised I know but convincing in a band of brothers cinematic way). Then MW2 missed the point completely. CoD BLOPS missed it even more. MW3 got some of it back but by this stage my expectations of what CoD means has changed a lot.
The fanboy/anti-fanboy stuff I just find completely tedious. It works on the principle that somehow everyone's opnion matters when virtually none of them do, including my own.
