Jennifer Love Hewitt
A common practice which I have observed amongst audiophiles is to immediately condemn any particular device or even brand as being generally inferior to some ambiguous, "serious" audio equipment. What is particularly notable is how many audiophiles will go out of their way to avoid in any way being specific about what exactly might constitute a superior alternative. This is of course born out of the pant-shitting terror that a higher-ranking audiophile might come along in turn and condemn that alternative, and by implication impune the credentials of the first audiophile. Thus there exists a situation where the only way an audiophile might consider exerting their (imagined and delusional) authority is by belittling others. There is very little in the way of constructive feedback, and consequently the whole scene tends to stagnate.
Now, this is an attitude which is becoming increasingly common within the gaming community (for want of a better word). First-person shooters are the prime candidate for this behaviour. Not a single shooter will be published without a seemingly obligatory round of smug ridicule from your typical PHaGS sufferers. The gun sounds aren't authentic enough, or there are no dedicated servers, or the field of view is wrong, or bla bla bla. It's increasingly rare for the complaints to be accompanied by any constructive advice on what might be considered a respectable alternative. Not because no such thing exists, but because should someone name names, you can guarantee it will be accompanied its own round of twattish mockery from other self-styled elite gamers. In the worst cases this can devolve into an infinite feedback loop between the aggressively partisan fans of directly opposing games or licenses, for example Quake 3 vs Unreal Tournament, or even Unreal Tournament (insert a version here) vs Unreal Tournament (insert a different version).
MMOs or even single player RPGs are another prime spawning pit for negative gaming energy. Unlike with FPSes, whose elite players are typically the deluded armchair pros who secretly believe they're skilled enough to rival properly qualified players on the basis that they came top on some random public server leaderboard one time, RPG players have the additional handicap of rose-tinted spectacles and the idiotic belief that innovation ought to be avoided at all costs. They're the sort of players who don't play EverQuest 2 any more because they've "been there, done that", but who still believe that any new MMO must adhere to EQ2's design principles, to the point where it would be identical. Cue an avalanche of criticisms regarding "carebear" gameplay, because the gamer has forgotten or is simply too stupid to recognise the fact that "hardcore" game play elements of veteran games were a result of technical (and creative) limitations and are not actually fun.
This isn't helped by the now-compulsary open beta period which every game must go through, as dictated by gamer law. This allows PHaGs to pretend they're especially "in the loop", as if they're some sort of industry insider who has been recognised for their gaming expertise, rather than simply a person with an email address. It also allows them to be early to the criticism party, and with the additional advantage of not requiring any financial outlay (i.e. asking their parents to buy the game for them). Because the sooner you can smear your pompous critical shit over the various gaming forums, the more important and insightful it must be. And then when the game goes live and inevitably slides into obscurity, you can claim you "called it". As if that actually means something.
The end result is a clique of gamers who are essentially unable to enjoy modern games. Any modern games. Because if you're seen to like something, someone you (or perhaps other people) respect more might come along and be critical of it, and you will shown to be a fool. These people are blind to the fact that it's them who suffer from this attitude. It's analogous to a typical audiophile's obsession with "reference" sound. Because they can't possibly enjoy music or movies unless they can prove, preferably with an oscilloscope, that the frequency response of their system is as flat as can be. It's almost as if the sound they're trying to hear is itself an inconvenience which spoils the audio purity. They may as well just listen to no input signal at all, so that they can sit back and masterbate smugly while they consider the exceptional signal-to-noise ratio of their DAC. Similarly, there's no real point in gameophiles (or whatever the equivalent would be) actually bothering to play games at all, since there cannot, by definition, be a game that lives up to their impossible standards.
