Topic: Nintendo fanbase intolerant to criticism?

Please skip to the edit on the bottom if you`ve already read the below post.

irst off, im not looking to offend people or cause e-drama by saying this, but i feel like i need to talk about this. i think the Nintendo fanbase is intolerant to criticism and that its harming Nintendo. Let me tell you a little about myself, i used to be a huge Nintendo guy in the 7th gen, almost a fanboy. i was big into Wii and DS. i researched heavily into upcoming games and systems, pre-ordered games early, talked about Nintendo a lot, ignored other systems for the most part, defended their hardware choices, felt hurt when people insulted Nintendo. i also had this elitist mentality that 1st party Nintendo games were superior in quality that many Nintendo fanboys share.

as the 8th gen approached, my Nintendo fanboyism dimmed a little, i still got a Wii U on launch day and enjoyed it, but i wasnt quite as optmistic as before. i was more objective than before and began doubting Nintendo more as i saw the Wii U have a sub-par line-up and mediocresales, the PS4 and X1 on the horizon also made me worried that the Wii U wasnt gonna be what i hoped for it to be. i still believed in the console though and supported it.

i began to gravitate towards the pc around late 2013 or so and i became more open minded, more neutral and more mature. i never grew any ill-will towards Nintendo, but i began to realize that other systems and developers could offer great games too and that Nintendo wasnt the infallable king of everything gaming as i used to see them as. i also became more open minded towards criticism towards Nintendo, before i used to just shut down whenever something critical was said about Nintendo, but now i began to accept and understand them. i began to take Nintendo`s struggles more seriously and started sharing ideas about what their problems were and how to solve them.

and thats when things went off the rails. i took to miiverse to share my ideas on how Nintendo should change. i suggested Nintendo of America take more charge as Nintendo of Japan`s family gaming strategy clearly isnt working in the US, i suggested Nintendo put more advertising effort into virtual console and local multipiplayer without awkward commercials of teens with huge smiles, i suggested focusing on making the Wii U more media friendly with apps for playing video, images and music off storage devices, i suggested Nintendo change their strategy to take more risks and try to expand the Wii U`s appeal. what happened? people refuted my arguments, acted hostile towards me, treated me as a traitor, insulted the PS4 and X1 as if they had anything to do with the conversation. up until then i only had good experiences with the fanbase. it wasnt a one time scenario either, i tried other threads and got the same non-constructive responses.

i especially remember when i made a wish-list for he next Nintendo console. i thought nobody would take offense to that, this is what i wrote:

1. listen to 3rd parties when it comes to designing hardware as in what CPU architecture they want to use, Nintendo can adapt to any architecture be it X86, ARM or whatever so take input from 3rd parties when it comes to hardware.
2. prioritize hardware over size and low wattage. small size and efficiency is nice and all, but it wont make games better. i buy a console to game, not for decoration.
3. make it backwards compatible with Wii remotes and the gamepad. stick to a standard controller as default. if somebody wants to make a game that uses motion control or gamepad controls, they can through backwards compatibility.
4. make 3rd parties a priority, reward 3rd parties that put in good effort on the Wii U with perks like lower license fees, free advertising, awards. anything to encourage 3rd parties to make an effort
5. do not make it a Wii successor, give it an original name and look that seperates it from the wii line and get advertisements right this time

people refuted what i said, accused me of being an armchair analyst, money hatting 3rd parties, leading Nintendo astray. i was appaled to see that people saw my suggestions as an attack on Nintendo. one guy begun demonizing Sony as if i ever advocated for them. he also stated Nintendo`s profits over the years as proof that my opinion was wrong his was right. it was surreal to see the community i used to consider fellow players turn on me because i dared to suggest Nintendo do things differently and that to some extent, i used to be like them.

on WiiUdaily, its a similar story. i use similar arguments and a few people support me, but most cast my argument aside without even trying to consider it. notably one called Diortem, attacks anybody who dares to say something that might be detrimental to Nintendo. some guy called treasure tracker lame and Diortem simply called him a moronic troll, i asked the guy why he didnt like the game and he simply said it would bore him after a while. fair enough for me, but then i criticised the game for being too expensive at 40$. i mean honestly, its a captain toad level pack developed in less than a year, they cant charge near full price. but Diortem defended it without really using good arguments, he just made it out to be me being overdemanding. i pointed out how the E-shop had lots of games that offered more value for the buck than TT, but was simply told to skip if i "wanted to miss out so badly". now most recently he was defending Nintendo`s abundance of Mario titles saying that Treasure Tracker was a brand new IP and had nothing to do with mario. i pointed out that it was a spin-off and actually took place in the universe of 3D world as proved by the ending. his response? "It's a new fucking IP that's completely different than Mario, period."

finally back on topic, i really think this is a probem with the Nintendo fanbase, its not welcoming enough to any constructive criticism. anything thats not all praise gets ignored or attacked, my most constructive debates on Nintendo have all been on non-nintendo sites. i think the problem is, Nintendo fans are so used to being attacked that they see any criticism as attacks and i believe it hurts Nintendo in the long run not getting constructive criticism from their user base. id even say Nintendo`s misfortunes with the Wii U may be partly due to lack of feedback from the user base. at least thats the impression i get

up to this point i get the impression that the Nintendolife community is more accepting towards constructive debates as i have only had good experiences yet so id like to hear your thoughts on the subject, do you think Nintendo fans are too intolerant to criticism? or do you think my bad experiences just gave me false impressions? id like to hear what you think.

EDIT after thread lock: i wanted to respond to many of those who replied, bu alas i cant so il adress some of them here. first off, i dont consider myself a special snowflake or an expert by any means. i acknowledge that my arguments may be faulty and i have admitted to being wrong before, like at one point i suggested the Wii U shouldnt have a gamepad to cut costs, somebody argued for the gamepad and i was eventually convinced that leaving it out would do more harm than good. same with the idea of introducing a new console already in 2016, people argued it would hurt the trust in Nintendo too much and i agreed that would be true. im by no means trying to appear superior here, i make mistakes like everyone else. i could have made a less provocative title to the topic, i should have mentioned that i like captain toad, i think its well polished, innovative, the kind of unexpected move i want to see more of. its just the price, i thought it was gonna be like 20$ . they even said in an interview that it was made after 3D world launched so it was really developed in a year, i didnt make anything up. im writing this because i accepted criticism i got for making Captain Toad seem like a bad game and im adressng that here that wasnt my intention and i simply made a misjudgement in writing. once again, im not infallable and i can own up to my mistakes

also when i complained about people refuting my arguments, i meant that they rejected them without considering them. i dont mind counter arguments like when people told me how the gamepad shouldnt be discontinued or how releasing a new console early would betray their customer base. thats perfectly fine. but when people try to shut me up by saying irrelevant things like how Sony or MS is worse or jump to worst case scenarios and otherwise antagonize me, they dont add anything constructive to the discussion. if you show me a different viewpoint from my own, i dont mind, i even appreciate it. let me just say if you are a fan of Nintendo, but is willing to discuss ideas and consider viewpoints different from your own while still advocating your own if you believe they are right. i applaud you, you`re not the kind of fanboy im talking about here. dont feel offended that im talking about negative experiences from some Nintendo fans/fanboys. if you know you are different, you have no reason to take offense.

to finish off, i wanted to have some mature, serious yet friendly discussions here on whether this was really a problem, or if i had just happened to be at the wrong places at the wrong time. i looked forward to hearing different viewpoints even if they were critical to me, which is what i expected and wanted. i wasnt trying to win sympathy or have everyone agree with me by making this post. i just wanted to exchange ideas and experiences without going through the crap i keep getting on other communities. thanks to those who replied with constructive posts without judging me, even if they were sceptical of me. i would have loved to discuss the topic with you in an objective, balanced yet friendly way as i was hoping for. i was never looking to cause trouble or flame wars and if that appeared to be the case i apologize. have a good day

I think you've more or less just described every internet argument. Probably nothing to do with Nintendo.

If people disagree with you, they won't just think you're wrong. They'll also think you're stupid and evil. Try it against the Sony or Xbox specific fans and see if there's a difference.

Some are some aren't, you can't really generalise it.

I've been pretty happy with NintendoLife. The trolling is pretty minimal, and most people are levelheaded, each having his/her own criticisms and preferences for NINTENDO. I can't say anything about WiiUDaily, but GameFAQs Wii U forum is one of the most toxic communities ever.

My only complaint for NL is that there isn't much space for broad discussion of Nintendo franchises. Sure there are Zelda and Mario threads in GD, but they are pretty dead. NL could really make good use of an entire sun forum for major Nintendo games.

A good point. Another serious flaw I've noticed about online argument is that you don't factor into your impression of a group of people the sheer number of people who simply aren't replying to a comment.
If you're with a group of 10 friends debating some sensitive topic and 1 of them gets really aggressive and antagonistic about your argument, the fact that the other 9 are just calmly listening gives you a proper sense of the popularity of the aggression you're receiving. That doesn't work online, it's incredibly easy to generalise any group of people when you can't see how many just aren't responding. And given that people are far more likely to respond if they disagree than if they agree, you're lead to a false impression.

You've summed up very nicely what I'm too lazy to type when its gone past 1am, thank you.

Life's too short to stay locked up in a tower wearing rose coloured glasses, and unfortunately that's the fanboy/fangirl way of doing things. But this isn't just about Nintendo's fanbase, it's the same song and dance with Xbox/PS fanboys as well.

I'm a Nintendo/Sony player with respect for Xbox. It is possible to like more than just one.

I think what annoys me the most is when people completely write off a series as crappy because it's not on Nintendo or Nintendo didn't make it. Do you know what you're missing!? And the same goes for people who think Nintendo's games are kiddy games. Do YOU know what you're missing?

This, this all day long, it still shocks me how some fans will completely disregard everything in the industry just because it's not Nintendo. Man, they are losing out just as much as the guy who refuses to play anything by the big N because it's just for kiddos.

Agree as well that as an observer looking in, some practices by NOA seem deeply flawed.

This is in no way unique to Nintendo fans. It is found everywhere, and i mean everywhere. Posting on mostly-Nintendo sites makes this particular group more noticeable.

This. So much this. We can't have enough of this. I am guilty of generalizing in the past, but clearly generalizing needs to stop now. Stop pretending that some users speak for the whole, because they don't. I have often disagreed with many points here on this site, and I have witnessed plenty of debates on many topics. There is not a single large group of people who agrees with each other wholeheartedly (at least it's mostly improbable)

Uh, no. I don't buy Nintendo Console for 3rd party games because some turn out crappy. I like how Nintendo does their console. I hate how people judge the Wii U by sales and others opinions and not by their own experience. Today I asked my friend if he enjoyed Watchdogs on PS4 and he said he doesn't know and he still needed to read the review. I was like "Whaaa..."

I own both a PS4 and a Wii U. I personally play my Wii U a LOT more, but that's just because most of the games that have come out lately for PS4 have been rushed, and don't appeal to me much. However, I do like variety. Interestingly enough, I actually was the opposite of you last gen. I owned all 3 major consoles, but I hardly ever played my Wii, and mostly played on Xbox 360. Now all of that is backwards! (I just didn't like waggle controls much. )

I'm quite surprised anyone played on the Wii that much to be honest. After you'd got over the initial thrill of the gimmick, wasn't there only about 5 good games?

I've been to maybe 2 fanbases that weren't super harsh to criticism at times tbh. I'm not saying like "I was a major part of this community" but "I was part of the fanbase at all". This is not surprising. Honestly considering some Nintendo fans' highly questionable buying decisions based on brand name alone (WHO NEEDS MORE GAMES WHEN I HAVE POKEMON RUMBLE U!1!11!!!), I'm surprised I don't see even more of it.

But at the same time, I have to admit that there have been times when I've thought of criticisms but don't want to say them because someone will make an insane and insulting counterpoint that assume I go into everything wanting to hate everything ('sup Other M fans).

Not sure if joking or not, but just in case, there were a lot of Wii games I liked.

SMG, SMG2, NSMBWii, Sin & Punishment 2, DKCR, Goldeneye 007, Tatsunoko VS Capcom, Brawl, MKWii, Super Paper Mario, FF: Crystal Chronicles, and even the Wii version of CoD:WaW.

For the record, I'm not blindly defending Nintendo. I also enjoyed Red Dead Redemption, Dead or Alive 4, InFamous, Portal, CoD:MW2, Soulcalibur 4, Battlefield 1943, Dragonball Raging Blast 2, Burnout Paradise, and CoD2 on other platforms.

tl;dr
Just wanted to say that the gaming community in general is intolerant of criticism. That's the entire reason we have stupid movements like gamergate. Gamers take criticism of their favorite game/game company as a personal attack and flip out. It's really annoying and I think it's one of the reasons why gaming still isn't taken very seriously by the general public.

Yeah, there's a minority who are loud enough to appear like the majority who are overly sensitive to any "attack" on gaming. Whether it be their particular platform of choice, their favourite franchise or just games in general. And it happens across most things. I think the difference with gaming is that the people who talk about gaming tend to be slightly younger and slightly more tech literate than the audiences for most things. Especially the people who make page long rants.....

Your biggest mistake:

Trying to constructively criticize Nintendo there is almost like telling a child their toy is bad and not as good as the other toys, to which they respond by lashing out... Actually, that's almost exactly how it is there.

You're you're criticising the fanbase for being critical about your critique? Ooooo I've got an image for this:

Ugh, if third parties had their way, they'd only be designing one version which would work on any of the console manufacturer's hardware without any work on their part. What you want is an xbox or a playstation who just think that progress is about more power rather than innovation. The Wii was my first foray back into consoles since the mega drive, and it proved quite refreshing over the stale keyboard/controller input methods. Don't be different, conform, conform, conform.

It was legitimate cartoon until the third most important thing he could think of after "arts" and "sciences" was P.E. Yeah a generation of kids doing more P.E is of grave importance. I'd maybe go with philosophy, history and engineering above P.E.