Yet Another Fanbase Topic

[Nintendoga]

*Ahem*

Yep, here it is, another topic on how the fanbase sucks, and how blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda.

Let me ask you something, What do you think compels us (as a Fanbase) to point out the unessential flaws in Sonic? Like "Green Eyes" or "Modern Sucks" or even "Not 1:1 Genesis Physics, ruined forever". I thought the fanbase was behind all of this crying and raging at Sega about these non essential things, but after the release of Generations, many folks have made it clear that we are still on this subject.

Is it because of the general public's idea that "Sonic is Dead" that we have started to feel more resentful towards the blue hedgehog? Look at old gems like Sonic Adventure, and Sonic Advance. Both good games once considered to be the pinnacle of the series, has gotten mostly negative reception because they don't hold up to "today's standards".

People say that they are doing it for the better, but it is in fact for the worst. Our Complaints have scared Sonic Team into thinking "Sonic only, Fast Speed, Light Stories, and No Friends" are what make a good sonic game. This is not true. Sonic games could have the greatest concept for a game ever, yet come out disappointing because it didn't feel like it had enough effort. The Developers would just piece together everything that a Sonic fan wants, and only think of the individual components, instead of thinking how the final product will turn out because of these individual components.

Sure it may come out as a great game, but it only shows off half off their potential, as the developers may have wanted to add new things, but were afraid to do so as it may have upset the fanbase.

To put it softly, "Sonic Team's our bitch." They will do anything to please us, and won't try to change anything about the games, sonic, or us, as it may upset or anger the Fanbase.We need them as much as they need us. Without each other, both would fall apart. however many now think of it as "We don't need them, but they need us if they want to stay alive."

To get back on topic though, is it because of the direction the series has taken, that makes us want to bash Sonic Team for trying new things and force them to go back to the classic formula, which is regarded as the only formula for sonic. Or is it because of the general public that makes us BAW, RAGE, and Overreact whenever something is amiss in the Sonic universe.

Maybe some of these are legitimate complaints, but to overreact to a new statement made by Izuka every time he says something, is just somethin else. SSMB as a whole is just a tiny fraction compared to the entirety of the Fanbase. Say what you want, but you cannot deny the fact that:

The Sonic Fanbase is a Trainwreck.

[Exploder]

Scapegoating, overreaction, maybe both.

It's natural for certain people to find the easiest target that looks plausible to blame. They know the gameplay in some of the previous games is crap, but they blame the most obvious surface elements instead of the core, fundamental ones.

As a result of this horrible feedback, Sonic Team ends up trying to fix 'problems' that were never really problems in the first place, and end up going all "Sonic only, Fast Speed, Light Stories, and No Friends" like you said. It never goddamn occurs to them that more playable characters and a...I won't say better, but a story that has more effort invested into it can actually be part of a good game too, but they're inextricably associated with having poor quality due to the past fuckups.

That's the thing: they have no clue whatsoever how to separate those things from an actually bad game. They don't know what makes a bad game at all.

This post was very disjointed, but that's how my thoughts went.

Edited November 10, 2011 by Exploder

[Blacklightning]

Let me ask you something, What do you think compels us (as a Fanbase) to point out the unessential flaws in Sonic?

Because everyone else does it. A lot of people do it just to fit in because they know they'll get fucking lynched if they try making a statement that seems blasphemous to the masses without intimidating them with tl;dr Internet Tough Guy logic. Hell, some sects of the fandom are stupid enough to do it regardless of how you justify it, as I'm sure most former regulars of the Sega boards can attest.

Either that or they're just brainless fucking tools who can't stand having their own train of thought. Neither possibility is a pretty picture to be honest, so I just consider myself thankful that A- I can debate well enough to defend my views, and B- I frequent a Sonic board not overpowered by raving lunatics. Well okay, maybe it is, but I like to think we're the good kind of lunatic. =P

Also, just to put an appropriate Men in Black quote in good context: "A person is smart. People are stupid." Once the matter becomes less about the individual and more about the collective, common sense has a tendency to go down the shitter regardless of the subject matter.

Edited November 10, 2011 by The Cheese

[Dr. Crusher]

I'm one of those guys who is constantly annoyed at the fanbase but nonetheless continues to enjoy the games.

When I realised that Generations was still being riddled with comments like "Shadow's voice isn't badass" and "Enjoy your Sonic 2006 future", I had to take a drink. Of Fanta, mind you. But still. A drink is a drink.

So as I said, the fanbase and their complaints/fanfiction/usually-rubbish fancharacters infuriate me to no end, but it doesn't cease my love for the games. I'll never understand why colourful eyes are so degrading for many people.

What really gets on my nerves is when someone boasts about being smarter than SEGA and then reveals his/her fancharacters or Green Hill Zone #41. But I'll stop now before I'm blinded by Sonic Fanbase Fury.

Edited November 10, 2011 by Dr. Crusher

[batson]

I always consider Segas biggest enemy to be, not Sonic's core fanbase, but the gaming public and the video game media. I mean yeah, there is certainly a section of the fanbase (a fairly large section, i will admit), the retro-extremists, that has pretty much made a religion of being extremely critical of just about every turn the series has taken since 1995. But in the grand scheme of things, that section of the fanbase is being dwarfed by the more rational side of the fanbase that consists of people who might dislike certain aspect about some modern games but still like a lot of other things about them. (And i really dont think you can fault anyone and call him/her a retro-fag just for the sake of not being completely supporting of everything Sega does.)

But there is a group other than the retro-extremists who is probably responsible to an even higher degree of making Sega go into their "Sonic alone" phase and toss out grand stroylines, if only on account of being a much, much bigger group than the retro-extremists; im talking about that large section of the gaming public who sees anything with Sonic in it produced after 1994 and goes "Oh, that's one of those new Sonic games. I've heard they all suck, and they all make you play as new characters that suck balls". That is, people who are not actually Sonic fans in the sense of visiting Sonic sites and such, but who have a certain degree of familiarity with the franchise (often through having grown up with the classics) and who just eats up the words spewed by gaming journalists regarding what the series is and what it's flaws are.

Basically, i think the extremist parts of the fanbase are in fact to small to make that much of a dent in Segas ideas of what people want. But the apathetic gaming public who shuns whatever aspect of the series that video game journalists tells them to shun (which largely means that they believe "Sonic games shoudln't have a story", "Sonic's friends sucks" and to a certain degree "Sonic only works in 2D"), that is a big group that probably influence Sega a lot more than those unimportant, grumpy old guys over at places like GHZ. And then there are of course the video game journalists themselves, who has so much power when it comes to shaping peoples perceptions about the series (or any video game series). You could even say that they are the single biggest enemies to Sega, since they are the ones that pump the "modern Sonic sucks" mindset into the public to begin with.

Edited November 10, 2011 by batson

[Dr. Crusher]

Another common fan-rage issue that tends to upset me is when characters like Knuckles/Amy/Chaotix/Cream/Blaze/etc are giving the burning hatred of a thousand suns just for existing. When I heard all those Generations-related "Oh, it's them...", I shed a bitter tear.

Edited November 10, 2011 by Dr. Crusher

[Milo]

Another common fan-rage issue that tends to upset me is when characters like Knuckles/Amy/Chaotix/Cream/Blaze/etc are giving the burning hatred of a thousand suns just for existing. When I heard all those Generations-related "Oh, it's them...", I shed a bitter tear.

Wait, what? Usually Knuckles (like Tails) is excluded from the friend backlash list because he's part of the main trio.

[Mangoaxe5]

Another common fan-rage issue that tends to upset me is when characters like Knuckles/Amy/Chaotix/Cream/Blaze/etc are giving the burning hatred of a thousand suns just for existing. When I heard all those Generations-related "Oh, it's them...", I shed a bitter tear.

I agree, plus it seems like Sega is listening to the people who hate the characters more then they listen to the fans.

I really do have to wonder if we'll ever be able to play as Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Rouge, Amy, Blaze, and Omega again.

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Wait, what? Usually Knuckles (like Tails) is excluded from the friend backlash list because he's part of the main trio.

[Salamander]

After lurking on these forums for a few years, I have completely come around to the view that the Sonic fanbase are the reasonable ones, and reviewers and the general gaming populace are the problem. When I say "problem," I just mean this in terms of biased reception, not in terms of what actually may or may not be a problem with a particular game.

Although actually the two are more similar than you might think. Non-fans mock the fanbase for insisting on absolute precision in emulating Genesis physics, and then they turn right around and hate on Modern Sonic for green eyes and long limbs. They're exactly the same thing. Different physics and different design are not bad things on their own, and looking on them as such outside of all context is mindless nostalgia.

So I guess maybe that's the problem. It's nostalgia. And not just good nostalgia but an ever-present memory of the worst Sonic games, as if they happened yesterday and were developed by the people developing today and still need to be answered for.