I think everyone here can agree that fandom can be a toxic place at times, but for me, "true fan" mentality is some of the worst ways for fans to act.
If you don't know what that is, it's when a fan or a group of fans of something decide "You're only a hardcore fan if you with agree with us" or "If you like/don't like this, you are just a casual" or "Real fans don't care about x, we only care about y" or some other variation that I'm sure you've seem at least once and is sadly very common in video game fandoms and circles and sadly something I've been seeing happen of ERA more often the past few weeks.
The reason I don't like it is because it's pure gatekeeping and elitism, a way to put down anyone who disagrees with you, who you don't consider "real fans" or aren't worthy or being noticed. I've grown more and more tired of this, for example fighting game fandoms pulling this mentality all the time when it comes "Competitive fighting game fans are the "real" fanbase, everyone else is just a casual" and then dismiss anyone who cares about lore, story, single player content, characters or like a mixture of online and offline as not important or not worthy of being listened to by the developers.
The reason I bring fighting games up is because that's where I had one of the worst cases of this, before the launch of Street Fighter V I was hyped as hell for it like a lot of SF fans were, posting speculation, doing posts and articles about my fav SF characters and ready for the game to come out. But when it did, I was disappointed, from the lack of single player content, the online being okay at best and the coming microtransactions just didn't appeal to me. As I result when I said, this I was made to feel miserable by people declared me "Not a real fan" and made me like I was kicked out of the fandom and that isn't right.
NO ONE should be made to feel miserable for liking a game, being critical of a work they love or liking different aspects to a game than others. Groupthink is no excuse for this BS Opinion myopia. You do not get to decided who can be a fan of a work or not for them or bully people for having different views
To me, if you like something, you are a real fan and those who use terms like "hardcore", "true fan", "competitive" or "pro" to bully people around and act like their views and opinion are worth more are just toxic, elitist arses that give fans a bad name.
Like fighting games because you like going to tournaments and playing on ranked matches? You're a fan. Like the people you like the different story modes, arcade, the characters, the lore etc, you're a fan. Love writing fanfiction, fan art or making remixes or your favourite tracks? You're a fan. Like Final Fantasy XIII but hate VII, you're still a fan. Want lore in other watch or don't care about lore, you're a fan. Looking forward to Let's Go Eevee or don't care, you're both fans. You're all fans equally and just as important and let no one EVER make you feel miserable for loving your fav works differently or make you feel lesser for your opinions.
And Devs, don't encourage it, one of the reasons I like Smash and Masahiro Sakurai because they seem to get that and make their games to appeal many different types of fans and newcomers rather than just the loudest (which are usually not the biggest). Same goes for YouTubers and game sites that indulge in fan opinion myopia and "true fan" mentality, just don't, you aren't helping and just contributing to making fan bases even more toxic.
Lastly, I fully realize that this isn't something that's solely a gaming problem, comics, TV, Sci-Fi, Movies, Fantasy, Gothic Horror all suffer from this same type of attitudes forming, however gaming to its sheer size and in many places, lack of moderation allows this sort of mentality to grow until it forces anyone that isn't part of a special group to move away.
If you don't know what that is, it's when a fan or a group of fans of something decide "You're only a hardcore fan if you with agree with us" or "If you like/don't like this, you are just a casual" or "Real fans don't care about x, we only care about y" or some other variation that I'm sure you've seem at least once and is sadly very common in video game fandoms and circles and sadly something I've been seeing happen of ERA more often the past few weeks.
The reason I don't like it is because it's pure gatekeeping and elitism, a way to put down anyone who disagrees with you, who you don't consider "real fans" or aren't worthy or being noticed. I've grown more and more tired of this, for example fighting game fandoms pulling this mentality all the time when it comes "Competitive fighting game fans are the "real" fanbase, everyone else is just a casual" and then dismiss anyone who cares about lore, story, single player content, characters or like a mixture of online and offline as not important or not worthy of being listened to by the developers.
The reason I bring fighting games up is because that's where I had one of the worst cases of this, before the launch of Street Fighter V I was hyped as hell for it like a lot of SF fans were, posting speculation, doing posts and articles about my fav SF characters and ready for the game to come out. But when it did, I was disappointed, from the lack of single player content, the online being okay at best and the coming microtransactions just didn't appeal to me. As I result when I said, this I was made to feel miserable by people declared me "Not a real fan" and made me like I was kicked out of the fandom and that isn't right.
NO ONE should be made to feel miserable for liking a game, being critical of a work they love or liking different aspects to a game than others. Groupthink is no excuse for this BS Opinion myopia. You do not get to decided who can be a fan of a work or not for them or bully people for having different views
To me, if you like something, you are a real fan and those who use terms like "hardcore", "true fan", "competitive" or "pro" to bully people around and act like their views and opinion are worth more are just toxic, elitist arses that give fans a bad name.
Like fighting games because you like going to tournaments and playing on ranked matches? You're a fan. Like the people you like the different story modes, arcade, the characters, the lore etc, you're a fan. Love writing fanfiction, fan art or making remixes or your favourite tracks? You're a fan. Like Final Fantasy XIII but hate VII, you're still a fan. Want lore in other watch or don't care about lore, you're a fan. Looking forward to Let's Go Eevee or don't care, you're both fans. You're all fans equally and just as important and let no one EVER make you feel miserable for loving your fav works differently or make you feel lesser for your opinions.
And Devs, don't encourage it, one of the reasons I like Smash and Masahiro Sakurai because they seem to get that and make their games to appeal many different types of fans and newcomers rather than just the loudest (which are usually not the biggest). Same goes for YouTubers and game sites that indulge in fan opinion myopia and "true fan" mentality, just don't, you aren't helping and just contributing to making fan bases even more toxic.
Lastly, I fully realize that this isn't something that's solely a gaming problem, comics, TV, Sci-Fi, Movies, Fantasy, Gothic Horror all suffer from this same type of attitudes forming, however gaming to its sheer size and in many places, lack of moderation allows this sort of mentality to grow until it forces anyone that isn't part of a special group to move away.
