Insane Difficulty: Understanding fandom. - Insane Difficulty

I have lately been thinking about fandom in general. This is an interesting conversation for me to have considering I guess am a "gamer", whatever that means these days. I tend to hate labels because people use them to make assumptions and judgments about you. I tend to want to get to know someone first before I make those judgments. I don't like calling myself a "gamer", or "Atheist", or whatever other label I could fit into. Those labels come with association with groups of people that I may only share one thing in common with.

So then back to fandom...its interesting to think about the large group of people that literally cream their pants when the new Star Wars comes out, or when the remake of FFVII was announced. These people are beyond excited, to the point of obsession about these things and I find it quite interesting but in some ways...I guess the word would be weird?

When I say weird I guess I mean that it is weird for me to think about how someone would literally go crazy over something like Star Wars or Final Fantasy, or honestly anything. I guess I sound like a grumpy old man here but hear me out. I need to make clear that I'm not saying anything to hate on anyone, or to talk shit, this is mostly my observation and then me throwing it out to everyone who reads so that they can tell me their experience or their opinion on what I have to say.

I like many things. I love many things. I really love many things. I can play WoW for hours at a time, or binge watch Once Upon a Time. I can follow news about the things I like and love, purchase merchandise about the things I love, I can honestly do any number of things to support the things I love and show others my support of the things I love. The thing is that I don't have to be a ridiculous, foaming at the mouth, crazy person who falls out of their chair and starts crying when the Final Fantasy VII remake is announced.

I feel like its worth discussing how fandom can be quite extreme and strange to observe at times. Maybe I am wrong? I am sure there is more I want to add but its quite late at the moment. I would like to throw this out there, get some rest and see what everyone has to say and then hopefully have a good conversation about this.

i am of the opinion that nothing is ever beyond (constuctive) criticism. far too many people disagree and get really bent out of shape when something that they have latched onto is criticized. i'm all for loving things as long as that love does not conflict with one's ability to reason.


replace god with the force, mako etc. sure their behavior is silly but this alone is not evidence of irrationality. i actually kinda envy them cause they look pretty damn happy.

Don't come in here trying to set a debate; this is not the place to do it.

...



I don't think fandom about little things like a game coming out is bad. I find myself guilty of being one, towards old school MMX games. You can only imagine my reaction whenever I see a new teaser of MMX: Corrupted.

But I act in a fandom kind of way with many, many things. FFT mods, FFVIII / FFIX mods, 1.3 challenges, many, many soccer events. Basically, my take on my fandom comes that I like to have this little moment of knowingly overreaction to forget about the shit that happens around us. It's sad that I level it down to basically anything we do, like playing games etc, but I just see it as that.

Perhaps you don't fall in what auraplatonic said, Hart, considering you're conscious of how much you love the things you love, and they seem to be quite an array of stuff.

I say you don't fall in that category because I interpreted what he said like this (and it's probably what distinguishes you from a hooligan, Hart, taking the soccer example. xD):

People who go to the absolute extreme for what they devoted themselves to, and sometimes these people have nothing else to rely/depend on, or to trust, so they defend it with overzealousness and beyond reason. This can be rather unhealthy, considering that this particular thing they've devoted themselves to could: a) end; b) disappoint them; c) all of the above and cause major chaos in their lives or emptiness even, especially because they have no other pillars in their lives. This is not always the case, but it's in the extreme side of fandom.

I usually just leave those people be, as long as they're not really harmful. They must have their reasons to be so obsessed, whether they're aware or have control over those reasons is up to them.

I am a fan of thieving whores not being in my vicinity.

auraplatonic, on 30 December 2015 - 10:15 PM, said:

Fully agree.
There's also a good chance that not all the video-reaction-youtuber's reactions are true(someone should be sincere, anyway) but you know, now it's a trend to earn on video reactions so i don't exclude also fake reactions.

I'm not against over reactions and hype, but my opinion is that the best moment to scream for happiness is not before or after the experience, the best moment to do it is while you're playing it
Like... what's the point of screaming for FF7 remake, until you see how good it actually is?

This is the sort of thing where I come from a similar position (minus the grumpy old man part ) but wouldn't be able to elegantly start a thread about. I tend not to get excited about a game until I'm practically holding it in my hands ready to play. I saw some reaction videos to the FF7 trailer and my own reaction to those was pretty much .

I agree with Tenka about some cases probably being faked. IIRC, one of the YouTubers I watch originally called FF7 "not particularly bad or good, just meh". But then when the remake was announced, he completely flipped out. Two and two don't add up there. But that doesn't account for every case, of course.

I think it comes down to people hyping themselves up, before even the earliest trailer or announcement exists. People were already thinking "A Final Fantasy VII remake would be amazing, I so wish there was one" before it was being made. The announcement ends up being a release for the already pent up excitement.

Ah, I feel obligated to post since I've just remembered my biggest act of fandom in the last 4 years or so. It was the World Cup final, Argentina - Germany. Lost the final on extra time from an out-of-nowhere goal.

It's pretty easy to get involved in sports fandom, as all of you americans must know about the NFL and NBA. But you guys can't even *imagine* how the whole country was when we won the semi-final against Holland. Streets were closed, thousands of people closing it, I don't know. It was crazy.

I never joke when I say our country is one huge soccer fandom.

Agreed with Laith. Going on the fandom route is simply letting an external being fill your emptiness, and when that variable s no longer up to your standards, then yeah, the emptiness will be worse, because you'll eventually feel forced to fill it with your own self-being.

About what Tenka said, I just ignore reaction videos, because I'm more the kind of person that Tenka describes. My deepest emotions are the ones that I express in an introspective way. Everytime I feel that sense of "holy shit this game is amazing" I feel it inside me, like my chest was growing and expanding and it was about to explode from the feeling.

I think it's cool that people are in fandoms to be honest, and I do admit that I am a fan of quite a few things. It's a passion for something, and passion is good stuff. It's when the passion becomes uncontrolled when I have a problem with it. I love seeing my nephew jump for joy at his Pokemon games, and his love for the games even got me to start playing them again, so I really don't see fans as a bad thing.

I have problems when people become obsessed to unhealthy degrees. That's when I have problems with it.

Thanks for all the replies guys. I have a hangover and am not at home right now but I will definitely reply to everyone sometime tonight

Hmm, I relate to wanting to treat people as people and not labels. For myself, I will enjoy things yet rarely identify myself as a fan of a piece of media. I choose to be mostly emotionally detached from fandoms; news of, say, the FF7 remake doesn't affect me on an emotional level.

Most of my sense of emotional security comes from within, intentionally. So I am less inclined to look to external sources for a feeling of belonging like some experience by being a part of a fandom. Neither good or bad, just not my cup of tea. I like being neutral about fandoms in general and not judging a whole person based on what fandom(s) he or she identifies with.

Too much to quote here

All of it is pretty intriguing. I'm trying not to over-analyze it although I often do...the FFVII hype video I was thinking about was this one.



Its over the top to the point that I feel like the guy on the right is overdoing it on purpose. I mean maybe I'm wrong, it just seems like someone reacting this way to anything is just irrational to say the least. The only time I have every reacted in any way close to this is when I am winning something when playing among friends and I am just rubbing it in for fun, but even then its not that genuine, its just for fun.

Of course, does it really matter? Not really, if it is real or not, or if someone reacts that way or not its really irrelevant when I really think about it. I guess that I like to think about why people do what they do, and this type of reaction to things always baffled me.

In the sports example Hart mentioned, I also find that quite interesting...sports brings out this kind of thing in alot of people but never really me. I think its because I view sports as something I enjoy watching for what it is; I like seeing professionals doing well at something, most sports engage me on that level. I had teams I rooted for when I was younger but when I try to root now I don't even really care who wins...I just enjoy watching the games play out.

I can appreciate people being passionate about things and things like crazy parades where an entire city basically fills the streets after their team wins a championship are a site to see that's for sure. I find that reaction much more genuine and makes more sense that someone freaking out about FFVII. When something isn't genuine it really turns me off. But maybe it is? Who am I to judge?

Sigh.

I tried to avoid this thread in its entirety, but it's starting to kinda suck me in, so here goes.

The phenomenon you're referencing has less to do with fandoms and more to do with sociology in general.

These are large social groups, simply put, and the amount of weight puts upon that social group generally tends to speak to the stability (or lack thereof) of their life on a whole.

Sports that are embraced by a country usually are the exception (to a point; this is because within that country's culture, it's considered normal to be overly passionate about the subject in question, but even that has its limits). American Football in the US, Soccer in South America/Europe, etc.

I'll start with a very extreme and cringeworthy example: Bronies. Some of them are fine. BTB's a really cool dude. But those who embrace it really strongly tend to be awkward as nuts, and like most fandoms you see this with, the more hardcore they are with it, the worse their life is on a whole. They integrate it so strongly to make up for what their life is lacking.

You can apply this to Star Wars, Star Trek, hell, even gamers.

I know this sounds really iffy and internet psychologist-y, but this is something that's always kind of interested me, and I've observed this many, many times, and the outcome makes sense to me. I used to do it myself.

This doesn't mean that if you're super good at X you shouldn't be proud of it. It means that if your identity hinges on it (like in the case of the Star Wars example I assume; I can't watch the video or get the link from the embed on Tor), causing such a visceral reaction, then there's a pretty good chance you're compensating for something.

I like Star Wars. I really, really like Star Wars. I also really, really like video games. But when a new one comes out that looks really good, I don't have that kind of physical reaction to it, and I assume most people don't, either.

The group of people you're talking about, aura, are a very vocal minority. It's the same thing with religion, feminism, or really any other group. Most of them are fine, but there's a very vocal, hardcore group within them that are just that into it, because they've made it into a very core part of who they are as a person -- their identity.

That's just how it is.

Advent, on 02 January 2016 - 11:40 AM, said:

I can live with this explanation, it makes alot of sense. I really don't have anything to add honestly

Advent, on 02 January 2016 - 11:40 AM, said:

/thread