Fanbases, Halo vs Half Life and pointless topics of discussion...

I'm sick to death of fanbases.

I have never understood these obsessive, die hard defense of games people like, and on the subject the anti-fanbases that also arise, i.e. the anti Halo/Half Life crowds that many gaming forums are plagued with.

I don't deny I was part of such things. I'm a part of the pro-Valve, anti-Bungie crowd. However, unlike many in these cliques, I very soon realised just how futile such things are. People who are passionate about their favourite games are horribly unlikely to change their opinion because some teenager whines about it on a forum somewhere.

True, without fans, companies would find it difficult to gain a constant foothold in their respective markets, I just don't see the point in people making thread after thread after god damn thread along the lines of "i h8 halo, i r hardcor gamer"

Why? Why would anyone upon reading this, especially fans of the Halo series, suddenly think "Wow! This guy's put a great case forward. I too will dislike Halo!" Surely the point of games is to enjoy them, and in Halo's defense it is a very accessible game to the newbies to gaming yet still retains the fun and challenge for the more veteran gamers of past genenerations.

One thing I have noticed is an all out war between the fans of Halo and the fans of Half Life, both going to desperate struggles to prove in every way their favoured game is better than the other, detailing innovation, gameplay, story complexity, graphics, soundtracks... All things that really only merge to form a game's most important aspect: how fun it is to play.

While I agree that on pretty much every point Half Life wins, I had as much fun playing the Halo games (Besides Halo 2, that one was dreadful) both in single player and multiplayer. As well made as Half Life is, Halo stands up highly against it purely because it's such an easy game to pick up and play whenever, no matter how interested in games you are, while Half Life is definately more of a game for the long-time gamer.

It all depends on why you play a game. If you prefer all the nerdy aspects of looking with detailed precision into a game's mechanics, the story and the way it presents it, and how technical the graphics and physics engine is, Half Life is definately for you. It just doesn't strike me as the kind of game you could play multiple times with similar enjoyment, where as Halo can be played many times through, especially in Co-op even if it has the same horrid problems as Timesplitters 3's co-op mode where major plot changes occur (thinking of the Harry Tipper levels mainly here, took me fucking ages to figure out the second player didn't have to retrieve the disguises on the first level of it).

Half Life is more an interactive story, taking the player through various locales and situations where he/she must complete objectives, where as Halo is something for any kind of gamer who just wants to shoot shit up.

Of course, my personal opinion is that Call of Duty 4 encapsulated both game's impressive gameplay and story telling into one wonderful package, but that's a topic for another time...