We're all fans of some games. We like the game or the game series a lot and we always want to play more of it. However, some of use love the game a little too much...

For example. The Harvest Moon series has always been one of my favorite games. What disturbs me sometimes are some of its fans. Especially fans of marriage candidate characters. Some of them love their marriage canditate so much they want to find ways to kill off the rival candidates... yikes!

I mean... to keep them away you don't make friends out of them, but on some forums and even youtube vids the fans want to see those characters go to the afterlife or something...

Heh... I know it's all just plain fun, but I find it disturbing sometimes. How about you guys? Ever had rabid fans (or maybe anti-fans) raining on your favorite game? :)

Ah yes, that indeed was a great game. I had no idea people became so attached to their characters though! But I suppose that's something to expect from an RPG-styled genre. I admit I find myself hard-pressed to delete accounts/uninstall games that have a RPG character I put a lot of time into.

Anyway, I find it worth throwing out a counterexample to yours by talking about the fans for a little game I play called Starcraft 2. Interestingly enough, the rabid fanbase that it does have is actually healthy for it. Its place within the world wouldn't be where it is today without those hardcore fans. Maybe the definition of rabid is slightly different from your example, but the attitude is all the same. It's something precious to them, and any sort of change to the balance of the game sends them into a rage (well, at least if it was an unnecessary change).

And where it's at now - a growing beacon of Esports - is a good thing. Before it was only thought to be a Korean/Chinese thing to be a Starcraft player, but thanks to these rabid fans I'm starting to see a lot of support for European players, and now more recently American players (slower to catch on here because Americans still view this as a waste of time). While I'd consider myself passionate for the game, I'm no where near the level of these other fans. But even with their excessive advocacy for the best RTS in the world, I would happily stand by their side.

While rabid fans were good for SC1, I think it's a held opinion that the same rabid fans doom SC2 to be merely a decent RTS game rather than a legendary one.

(1) The lack of genre growth of SC2, lack of innovations, due to the rabid SC1 fanbase not wanting anything new. SC1 was new once upon a time too, keep in mind.

(2) The poor balancing and metagame of SC2 due to rabid fans having too much input into game design, and Blizzard listening to them too quickly. A good example is the treatment of elevation cover bonus. But that was a few months ago, I don't know the state of balance/gameplay of SC2 now.

I'm not really into many games that have notoriously awful fanbases. I've stayed away from games like Sonic and Final Fantasy just because they're not really my cup of tea. Although, I really like Zelda, and I think now and then you get some crazy fans there.

However, Team Fortress 2 is one of those cases where the fans sometimes get to me. When the game first launched, the fanbase was fantastic, because it was mostly mature people who were smart enough to not chase games based on how gritty and realistic they were... it was people who knew that style mattered more, and that excluded all the superficial kids and douchebags. Right now, the people who play Team Fortress 2 are a mixture of fun people, children, 4Chan bastards, griefers, trolls, and angry teenagers.

And unfortunately, you can't avoid Team Fortress 2 fans like you could RPG fans... You gotta play with them.

mlai
(2) The poor balancing and metagame of SC2 due to rabid fans having too much input into game design, and Blizzard listening to them too quickly. A good example is the treatment of elevation cover bonus. But that was a few months ago, I don't know the state of balance/gameplay of SC2 now.

You're right, as far as balance issues go. Rabid fans want nothing more than to revert to the old units and abilities of the first Starcraft. Without it, they find that Starcraft 2 deviates too much from the potential of being as polished as the first one. Too much quirkiness for them I suppose. They argued that the game is too much of a cheese-fest where a player could end the game in a mere couple of minutes rather than bringing it to a strong late-game where players could really show off brilliant strategical decisions (like in the first one).

So far I haven't personally been displeased with any of their patch changes but...you never know.

But where I'm getting at is this game is helped by the rabid fans in the fact that it's breaking down walls that I thought would never see taken down, especially here in America. At last, just as I type this, America has it's own Starcraft league boasting a prize pool of 100k for each of it's four seasons. That's something only typically heard of in Korea or China - maybe Europe. Say what you want about the production value of that league...but at least something is happening.

Anyway, overall I've been a big fan of Esports for one time, and that's what drew me into Starcraft in the first place. I like what the hardcore fans have done with the game. A lot of people don't share my opinion on this, but I think it's pretty cool that someone could make a career from playing a competitive video game.

Agreed, Hawk. I'm on those forums mainly to see anything new or informative about the game from some obscure source, but the people in game aren't much different from the forums. It's an obnoxious and extremely whiny fanbase for the most part. I wish there was a single Mute All function in game. Honestly though, I think it's a facet of the online gaming communities to be asshats. My time in World of Warcraft was extremely similar and I've heard Halo's community is horrible.

I can never fit in with hardcore Street Fighter or SNK-game forums. All of the terminologies used for a fighting game overwhelms me, it's like a freshman walking into a rocket science class. Things like 'scrub' or whatever, 'ticks', and so on.

I just want to tell me the best possible route to play difficult characters like Zangief without looking mildly stupid. Thankfully, from what I've seen, Capcom's fans don't seem too crazy to me... so I think. xD This is all stuff I remember seeing back in the day.

SNK's fandom is another story.

"Shrinking Mai's bust is a problem! Big problem! SHAME, SHAME!"

itsjustaar
I just want to tell me the best possible route to play difficult characters like Zangief without looking mildly stupid. Thankfully, from what I've seen, Capcom's fans don't seem too crazy to me... so I think. xD This is all stuff I remember seeing back in the day.

SNK's fandom is another story.

"Shrinking Mai's bust is a problem! Big problem! SHAME, SHAME!"

Heh... I've been burnt out of fighting games for a very LONG TIME now due to some of the things I encounter with the fanbase. Like that one time I beat this one challenger using Balrog online, then he sends me a voice message on XBLive about how I was cheating since he should be unbeatable (he was using Ryu). He never figured out how I can use that three button charged spin punch to get past his multihitting superfireball...

Life simulation games (such as the Harvest Moon series) have fewer of these fans that I have seen. My personal exception is The Sims though. Way too much whining about problems with changes in the gameplay (what?!? only SIX need bars?!? And why can't we watch our Sims climb INTO THEIR VEHICLES?!?)...

Oh... and those fighting game fanatics complaining about Mai's bust shrinking? Their video game "fighting" skills are probably only at their sharpest when their joysticks are standing up straight...

(1) They shrank Mai's bust? No they didn't. What are you talking about? Game devs would only make a woman's breasts BIGGER, not smaller. What bizarro world of video games do you live in??

(2) Oh god I hate Ryu/Ken scrubs. But OTOH, they're a good benchmark for you to measure yourself against, when you're learning a new character.

(3) A tick is a move which takes off a sliver of your health when you block it, such as a blocked fireball.

(4) To play Zangief without looking like a punching bag, first master his basic moves and the spinning punch thingie, so Ken scrubs can't just jumpkick/sweep you mindlessly for a win.

Once you got that down, you must master his radioactive palm move and most importantly his SPD (spinning piledriver). You have to be able to do the SPD on command, from a standing position.

They looked pretty small in KOF: Maximum Impact. :O

At least, compared to the cartoony-styled in the Real Bout games, I figure. *feels like such a perv now* Not that I go... y'know.... watching those things and--- er, doing compare...... *cough*

:D

I tend to pick Ken a lot, but only in the latest Street Fighter; that's when he took Ryu's moves and made them more flashy. Don't forget Dhalsim, though-- even the worst player can just keep using his extended legs to the point of abuse. I've never met a Dhalsim player that didn't ever divvy the moves up. xD

I wonder if fans can be considered "rabid" when they argue about a female character's breast size. I can understand the case with King of Fighters. Too much weight in front could affect your fighting ability. But what about bullet hell shooters?

I remember reading a forum where fans were arguing about one character's breast size (called the Touhou series). Problem is... she wears pajamas... all the time. And they're so baggy you can't really tell what her breast size is. And I don't quite understand why that info is important as it doesn't make her any less easier to defeat in the game (I hear she shoots a LOT of bullets). And I doubt such info affects her wizard powers in any way...

Yep... fans argue a lot about breast size, but no one makes any mention of Chun Li's "Horse Legs"...

The elite fan-service fellas. :D I knew plenty in the SNK RP scene who constantly, through blog and comment when chatting with them, who'd argue their fair share between who was the best SNK artist. Although that was more in terms of their design, as opposed to gameplay.

I can say most everyone hated Falcoon's style, especially with Angel's strange art design in one particular image she was in; she had dark skin, not quite-angel but she had tiny eyes and the body of a slithering snake. It looked all... bendy-straw-ish.

Hahaha. xD I was never into Chun-Li. Cammy, yes, and Karin and R. Mika, but Chun-Li... :/

SPEENANG BIRDU KEEK.

1. Dhalsim is hard to use and requires patience and good timing. He's not abusive. His style just frustrates the opponent when he's played well. Ryu/Ken are scrub-friendly.

2. I hate Chun Li's new legs. It's so unnecessary. Her proportions were fine in the original SF2. Other women kick just as hard as she does, and they look proportional (more or less). The creator has some sort of fetish with chunky legs; you can tell he's trying to edge Sakura in that direction as well.

3. Falcoon controlled himself and was good, back when he was a SNK fan artist. That's the entire reason SNK hired him. But as soon as he got a salary, his ego probably went into overdrive and he started doing weird "artistic" styles. Sorry dude, you're not George Lucas and we don't tolerate that crap. Out he goes.

The BEST KoF artist ever, was the unknown artist who did black/white lineart renditions of Kyo/Iori in the Jpnese KoF95 manual. That art was really good, and I have no idea who drew them. Kyo/Iori looked like teenage male fashion models, but ones who can kick ass. That's the quintessential KoF bishounen aesthetic. It didn't look like the art style of the one who did the colorized "photo-realistic" renditions.

I'm a little disappointed in the psychosis of the Resident Evil fan base. ESPECIALLY when they fight over their ridiculous pairings. I think it's disgusting of them to say that Resident Evil 5 is the worst sequel ever, or something dramatic like that. It was underwhelming, but still had some good quality fun. And I don't think the Resident Evil movies, tenuous though they may be (are) are THAT bad, although Apocalypse can die in a fire.

Personally, I'm more offended by Chun-Li's ridiculous bustline in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 than her epically bodacious legs in other recent games.

Rapid fans... yeah.
rapid console fanboys/girls are more scarier than game fanboys/girls.
making stupid comparsion vids to prove their consoles are the best.. Ever seen that RE5 comparison vids? I couldn't tell the diffence between PS3 and Xbox360 ones. "But buuuut this vid looks crappy compared with this vid! Bwaaaa!"
Big deal. i didn't buy my PS3 to play games with great grapichs. but to have fun damnit.

My problams with fanbases is them driving my interest away from franchises rather than them ruining games I like.

But the worst kind of fanbase is those that the game creators tailor later additions towards because they keep wanting to please everyone.

That reminds me a bit of what's going on with the upcoming indy title, Terraria. That one got mentioned by Notch (the developer who made Minecraft) and they suddenly got a lot of attention from the online community. Gamers make lousy game designers, though, and the devs behind Terraria seem to be taking their advice to the letter.

I was kind of looking forward to it when I saw the original trailer, but now it just comes off as a jumbled mess of backwards and unbalanced design decisions. It's currently the only game I know of that actually punishes you for doing well in the game and rewards you for playing poorly. The devs had the nerve to add in an item which transports you back home, but then made it more advantageous to just kill yourself.