I think this is a stretch with regards to videogames, even taking into account the corporate manipulation of consumers to bond to a brand. I understand forming emotional attachments with environments when partaking of something - a coffee-shop, a house, a group of friends - but to say that this can stretch to the "plastic box" used to play games is like saying readers find themselves emotionally attached to the physical book they're reading. The physical book may represent any number of things - a best friend, a lost love, a feeling of innocence - but the story and the physical book are, to my mind, separate. So it is with videogames and the console used to play them.
IMO. :)
Perhaps it's not the console itself with you then. I had hoped, but maybe didn't do a great job on, that I'd explained that any number of things create that environment, and just that for many people the console itself can be a part of that. I know for me it's a factor, but totally understand why it may not be for someone else. But it's funny you bring up books because I know quite a few book readers who are unable to enjoy e-books because the tactile feel of a book, the smell of a book, the physical feeling of where you are in a book, the book store you're in, the reading corner you have, whatever snack you have while reading, all of these are huge effects on their enjoyment of the books directly. It's something even author's will mention a character experiencing.
So not everyone's experience is going to be the same. Heck some people literally do not visualize things in their heads so when reading a book don't form images of characters in their heads. This ends up having a really interesting effect then if say someone gets upset, even if not seriously, that a character in a movie adaption looks nothing like them in their heads. And the person who can't visualize will get really confused. It's not that the person doesn't understand that how a character looks can matter; they just didn't form that specific sentimental attachment to their own creation.
Not that people who don't form emotional connections to their consoles are some how mentally compromised lol. But more that everyone is different in a lot of ways probably too complicated to really be useful trying to analyze here. Because the point isn't that everyone has this exact experience in this way, but that hey, pretty much everyone reading this has those mental emotional environments created by a variety of factors for them personally, and for many of those people a console involved. Further still, for many of
those people that console is their playstation. Alright, all good and well. Point is that emotional attachment to a console is all things considered pretty normal when it is a large factor in creating the mental sanctuary in which you experience video games.
And where this goes awry is when that whole tribalistic corporate thing starts to exploit that emotional attachment.
Thing is if the console itself was never remotely a factor in your enjoyment of a game, then that kind of exploitation is probably something you're pretty immune to. You may have other things in your life you could be emotionally exploited for by a corporation, but I don't know you and I don't know what that is and it's kind of beyond scope here.
But yeah, not EVERY playstation fan is personally attached to their console. For whatever reason, I...really don't have a lot of attachment to my PS4 even though I had like 1000 hours on it this year or something crazy. And certainly not every playstation fan who is attached to their console has had that attachment exploited by a corporation looking to encourage a fanatical fanbase like these corporations like to do.
I am dumbfounded by some of the assumptions against your original comment.
The fact you have to clarify it further or even "defend" the post in question is quite surprising, all things considered.
Honestly thank you so much for that I feel like I'm going crazy. I go through enough self doubt and perfectionist rewriting and reevaluating as is. It's not perfect, and it's kinda messy and drags at points, but having someone so thoroughly misunderstand what I took meticulous time explaining is just. I'm so tired. Thank you.
This is why I didn't make it its own thread. Would rather people who are invested enough to be keeping up with this topic read it rather than have 4 pages of talking about how long it is (gonna happen regardless) and how self important I must think I am to make everyone read that, and then like 3 more pages of trolls, bad faith arguments, and misreads. It's just exhausting man.
