Halo's Fanbase

[blood77]

I just hate the image that all Halo fans are loud mouthed and obnoxious idiots who insult people and are similar to angry screaming kids talking about how awesome Halo is and how anyone who disagrees is wrong and all that garbage. The thing is as joobnook keeps reminding us, the haters are usually far more obnoxious than the actual fans as the haters can so often (not always) be grouped into the category of trolldom. Also I think it's unfair to call the Halo crowd a huge number, I mean yes the Halo Nation is still a big one but it's not as big as it once was, their voices drowned out by the screaming commentors on Youtube videos and the millions of people who just make videos saying 'Halo fucking sucks, it's overrated, it's overrated because it sucks it sucks because it's overrated ETC'.... you can't still call it 'overrated' at this point.
Honestly the hater-fanboy debate has a nice visual metaphor of a big mean angry bully who towers over all the other children sitting in a sandpit shouting... nay bellowing at a small child who is just trying to play his game undisturped. The bully has a lot of friends and they are all accusing the smaller child of being the biggest mainstream audience who is loud mouthed obnoxious and never shuts the hell up. The Bullies are the haters, the little boy is the Halo Fanbase. That's how I see it anyway, the Halo fanbase really isn't all that bad seriously. They just want to play their game in peace and have fun doing so and despite the hate there is still growing numbers of fans for the game. But it's still in equal proportion to the haters and I think people need to realise it. I wish people would stop portraying insulting stereotypes as fact in all honesty.

Depends where you're looking. I've seen some extremely vocal Halo supporters before

Yo.

Granted that the anger towards Halo and it's fan is a little overboard, it however some what deserved, but certainly not to the existent that it has gotten to. It is one thing to say something is bad, it is another to spend time and effort out of your day diagramming it for the norms.

But don't play the sweet little kitten act. All online games, fps and not, all suffer from these kinds of problems. Unless you happen to that particularlly lucky person to have enough friends that are on regularly enough to never have to enter random matches with other people. Anyway, I am just saying speaking out against hate is fine, but don't try to paint the picture that your community is devoid of potholes and blemishes.

 

[MrBrightside919]

Do you really think a video game could be loved by everyone?

It's just the nature of video games in general...

 

[Legion]

Haven't you heard? It's cool to hate Halo.

Few people seem to have noticed that on this site, whatever Yahtzee says about a game becomes the number 1 criticism on the forums. I am really not joking, the key words he uses for any game are then spread like wild-fire on the discussion boards.

Some may argue that it's because Yahtzee's opinion is widely shared, but if that were the case I'd have expected to see those opinions appear somewhere before his.

To be perfectly honest, anyone who can honestly say they hate a game needs a life.

Hating the fanboys/reaction of people because of the game? Fine.

The game itself? That's just sad.

We hate it because we love it...plus they keep trying to sell the franchise out after they realized they will never be able to recreate the originals glory. But mostly everyone is just sick of hearing about it for 9 years or so.

In all honesty, I hear about Halo far more often from haters than fans. It's the haters who won't shut the fuck up about it, the fans just play the bloody game.

I agree that they have failed to recreate the glory of the first one though. If they remade Halo 1 with updated physics/graphics it would be an excellent game.

 

[MusicalFreedom]

The only thing worse than people complaining constantly about halo is people making huge fucking posts defending it. Why would anyone do that? reeks of insecurity, if you ask me.

 

[Vrex360]

I just hate the image that all Halo fans are loud mouthed and obnoxious idiots who insult people and are similar to angry screaming kids talking about how awesome Halo is and how anyone who disagrees is wrong and all that garbage. The thing is as joobnook keeps reminding us, the haters are usually far more obnoxious than the actual fans as the haters can so often (not always) be grouped into the category of trolldom. Also I think it's unfair to call the Halo crowd a huge number, I mean yes the Halo Nation is still a big one but it's not as big as it once was, their voices drowned out by the screaming commentors on Youtube videos and the millions of people who just make videos saying 'Halo fucking sucks, it's overrated, it's overrated because it sucks it sucks because it's overrated ETC'.... you can't still call it 'overrated' at this point.
Honestly the hater-fanboy debate has a nice visual metaphor of a big mean angry bully who towers over all the other children sitting in a sandpit shouting... nay bellowing at a small child who is just trying to play his game undisturped. The bully has a lot of friends and they are all accusing the smaller child of being the biggest mainstream audience who is loud mouthed obnoxious and never shuts the hell up. The Bullies are the haters, the little boy is the Halo Fanbase. That's how I see it anyway, the Halo fanbase really isn't all that bad seriously. They just want to play their game in peace and have fun doing so and despite the hate there is still growing numbers of fans for the game. But it's still in equal proportion to the haters and I think people need to realise it. I wish people would stop portraying insulting stereotypes as fact in all honesty.

Depends where you're looking. I've seen some extremely vocal Halo supporters before

Yo.

Granted that the anger towards Halo and it's fan is a little overboard, it however some what deserved, but certainly not to the existent that it has gotten to. It is one thing to say something is bad, it is another to spend time and effort out of your day diagramming it for the norms.

But don't play the sweet little kitten act. All online games, fps and not, all suffer from these kinds of problems. Unless you happen to that particularlly lucky person to have enough friends that are on regularly enough to never have to enter random matches with other people. Anyway, I am just saying speaking out against hate is fine, but don't try to paint the picture that your community is devoid of potholes and blemishes.

I know, believe me I know that. I wasn't in any way saying Halo wasn't without it's flaws and that's actually another point I forgot to mention earlier is that all FPS games have it's share of arseholes on the servers but for some reason it's only ever Halo that gets mentioned in this context. I met more annoying people on Team Fortress 2 and Call of Duty 4 then Halo but I still met some uber pricks on Halo don't think I didn't.
Believe me, when you play as an elite over a spartan... you see the worst of the crappy online players.
I am in no way saying that Halo is innocent, just that it's nowhere near as bad as one perceives.

 

[Legion]

The only thing worse than people complaining constantly about halo is people making huge fucking posts defending it. Why would anyone do that? reeks of insecurity, if you ask me.

I would say it is the other way around.

If you don't like a game (or anything else for that matter) then why waste time thinking/typing/talking about it?

I dislike Big Brother and Celebrities (an example, it could have been anything else), I don't go into every thread and ***** about it how much it sucks.

People then say "because everyone loves it and won't shut up about it, it's overrated so I'm bringing it down a peg." but that is a lie; you hear bitching more often than praising

Anyone who says otherwise will have me spending half an hour or so searching the forums and getting a list of threads to prove them wrong, because I'm that good stubborn.

 

[blood77]

I just hate the image that all Halo fans are loud mouthed and obnoxious idiots who insult people and are similar to angry screaming kids talking about how awesome Halo is and how anyone who disagrees is wrong and all that garbage. The thing is as joobnook keeps reminding us, the haters are usually far more obnoxious than the actual fans as the haters can so often (not always) be grouped into the category of trolldom. Also I think it's unfair to call the Halo crowd a huge number, I mean yes the Halo Nation is still a big one but it's not as big as it once was, their voices drowned out by the screaming commentors on Youtube videos and the millions of people who just make videos saying 'Halo fucking sucks, it's overrated, it's overrated because it sucks it sucks because it's overrated ETC'.... you can't still call it 'overrated' at this point.
Honestly the hater-fanboy debate has a nice visual metaphor of a big mean angry bully who towers over all the other children sitting in a sandpit shouting... nay bellowing at a small child who is just trying to play his game undisturped. The bully has a lot of friends and they are all accusing the smaller child of being the biggest mainstream audience who is loud mouthed obnoxious and never shuts the hell up. The Bullies are the haters, the little boy is the Halo Fanbase. That's how I see it anyway, the Halo fanbase really isn't all that bad seriously. They just want to play their game in peace and have fun doing so and despite the hate there is still growing numbers of fans for the game. But it's still in equal proportion to the haters and I think people need to realise it. I wish people would stop portraying insulting stereotypes as fact in all honesty.

Depends where you're looking. I've seen some extremely vocal Halo supporters before

Yo.

Granted that the anger towards Halo and it's fan is a little overboard, it however some what deserved, but certainly not to the existent that it has gotten to. It is one thing to say something is bad, it is another to spend time and effort out of your day diagramming it for the norms.

But don't play the sweet little kitten act. All online games, fps and not, all suffer from these kinds of problems. Unless you happen to that particularlly lucky person to have enough friends that are on regularly enough to never have to enter random matches with other people. Anyway, I am just saying speaking out against hate is fine, but don't try to paint the picture that your community is devoid of potholes and blemishes.

I know, believe me I know that. I wasn't in any way saying Halo wasn't without it's flaws and that's actually another point I forgot to mention earlier is that all FPS games have it's share of arseholes on the servers but for some reason it's only ever Halo that gets mentioned in this context. I met more annoying people on Team Fortress 2 and Call of Duty 4 then Halo but I still met some uber pricks on Halo don't think I didn't.
Believe me, when you play as an elite over a spartan... you see the worst of the crappy online players.
I am in no way saying that Halo is innocent, just that it's nowhere near as bad as one perceives.

Cool.

 

[Flunk]

Your observation only makes sense as applied to the members of this forum. There are a lot of people who love Halo all over the web and the real world too. Just not here.

 

[The Austin]

Speaking as an ex-Halo hater, some people like it, some people dont. Its just the hype that is put into the game, and those who dont like it just dont think it meets that hype. I never thought halo was special, I thought It was just a generic FPS. However, I have just learned to love halo again, mostly because of forge. One other reason people may hate halo is because there are TWO fanbases. There is the fanbase (ex. Me, you, every other casual gamer out there) And there is the @$$bag fanbase (people who wear halo t-shirts every day, people who get pissy if you say halo is bad, people who spend every waking moment playing halo) While one fanbase may be good, the other one ruins it for everyone else. The "hardcore" (@$$bag) Halo players obsess over it because thats all they have.

So the summary is this:
HALO IS LIKE RELIGION, HOMOSEXUALITY, AND WORLD OF WARCRAFT
WE WONT ARGUE WITH IT AS LONG AS YOU KEEP IT OUT OF OUR FACE

 

[Echo_419]

This 'Halo Bashing' is probably just from people who are board and are looking to get a rise outta someone or cant understand how popular it is. It reminds me of how the Irish look at U2. A good few of us hate them and don't really feel they are Irish anymore, it could be a subconscious envy at there success 'oh you think your better than me cause you sold some record?'

 

[MusicalFreedom]

If you don't like a game (or anything else for that matter) then why waste time thinking/typing/talking about it?

because posting is fun and getting reactions is also pretty fun, as far as the Internet goes

it's all caused by people being too fucking uptight anyway. I don't understand peoples' mindsets - "hmm, a post on the Internet, welp let's spend the next fifteen minutes of my life making a well-crafted post on how he is wrong and how he eats shit for brekkies". why not just make a less time-wasting post on how he eats shit and leave it at that? no-one convinces anyone anyway, might as well put as little effort into it as you can, so that you can at least think you're not completely wasting your time on the internet in the first place

it's all about not giving a fuck

 

[Kpt._Rob]

Okay see, but you may just be lending credibility to my point, because The Sims sits in the exact same iconic position as Halo.

Explain WHY you hate the sims. Don't just give us some obscure crap about "it's the devil". What is it about these games that has earned your ire?

Ok, ok. Comparable examples a-following:

Years ago, there was an ad campaign in American newspapers for a new type of pet. It said the pet didn't need to be cleaned, fed, walked or even cared about and would still be perfectly loyal. A company was selling them at 9.99$, and it was a whopping success. The "pet" was actually a little polished rock at the end of a leash.

A while back (think it was the 80's) a company was selling Bottled Norwegian Mountain Air for 50$ for a tank. They were investigated for fraud, but noone could claim they didn't sell a product legally, as they tapped real Norwegian mountain air from a property they owned, on to bottles, and sold it. Is it illegal to sell air? Apparently not, because the authorities let them go on, until foreign traders stopped taking in the product on an ethical basis even though it was selling ok.

The immortal words of that great Baltimore newspaperman H.L. Mencken:
"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American Public."

My point with all this;
Halo owes it's success to a few men's drive to make money, and with this game they basically got permission to print money themselves. This is not the reason I hate Halo. The reason is, they didn't earn it.

Fact is, Halo is the epitome of derivative storylines. It bears so many resemblances to different cultural works that it's not even funny. A few: The Culture and Ringworld, written by Iain M. Banks and Larry Niven, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game: aspects of the SPARTAN Project, Christopher Rowley's Starhammer, Demolition Man, and as covered here on The Escapist - the Latin epic Aeneid, written by classical Roman poet Virgil.

Halo didn't set out to innovate and replenish a genre, it set out to regurgitate the old; but the ignorant public chewed it up because they weren't enlightened enough to have tasted it before. And despite it's linearity, unreasonably obese graphics and derivative story, it achieved great popularity. But not only because the dominos of great reviews were pouring in, but because it launched, as it was handpicked to, with almost every new Xbox on the market. Synergy between the two has been key.

And that opens up another pet peeve, the main reason why Halo broke my heart; the console. The Xbox was successful in part because of Halo, and as we all know, the Xbox ushered in the era where consoles would be in almost every home. Since then, PC games have been getting worse, and farther apart. The developers now think it is "just fine" to produce one game for 3 systems, and as a result, the PC users are usually the ones left hurting.

Could I possibly make myself more clear?

I suppose you've at least spelled out some reasons, flawed as I must say they seem. You talk a lot about Halo's story, but, who're we kidding, people don't play Halo for the story, or at least I sure as hell don't know anyone who does. People play Halo for the multiplayer, because that's what Halo got right, and I should say it seems to have earned that fair and square, it doesn't have anything to do with ripping off other stories, because there is no story.

As for Halo ruining the market for PC users, that seems a little bit unfair to lay all of the blame for a decline in PC based games at the feet of Halo. And frankly, I welcome the dominance of console based gaming anyways, it means that I don't have to constantly pay for upgrades so that my three hundred billion dollar superduper PC can play the latest games and I don't have to worry about it being obsolete in a week and a half. If you want to blame something for the popularity of console based gaming and the decline in PC based gaming, blame people like me who just can't afford to constantly pay the rediculous prices necessary to maintain a gaming computer.

 

[Manhattan2112]

well, I know that I personally don't like it because Master Chief can jump 9 feet in the air, but not 3 feet forward, and god forbid I hit something while in the air, or I spend 15 seconds falling to the ground. It's like the game was made on low-gravity, instead of Master Chief having the ability to jump high, (which is what everyone tells me).

And secondly, the multiplayer is all about running in and shooting. I can't sneak around or anything to that affect, because your 'Spartan' or whatever the hell he's supposed to be seems to have flashing arrows above his head. If I'm not running forward and getting slaughtered, I'm running forward and doing the slaughtering. It's all a matter of who shoots first.


God forbid you lose a game! Be prepared to face 5 screaming idiots, blathering on about how you got raped - even if you lose by something like a mere 3 kills.

Granted that no game is perfect, I can't seem to find one that is less fun to play than Halo 3 (no offense). It's really a personal preference thing. I mean, if you're the one doing the screaming, about how you raped the other team, then I'm sure you love it (haha, that was just a joke)...(It really IS a personal preference thing). But I did discover something interesting yesterday: in the Forge feature on Halo 3, you can change the gravity and player speed. With gravity at 150%, and player speed at 150%, your movements actually feel NORMAL.

Halo isn't really my thing, but some people love it. Me? I'll just stick to Team Fortress 2. (And YES, I own Halo 3. I regret buying it. But I DO own it; I'm not going to badmouth a game without first hand experience)

EDIT: I would like to say that I just popped Halo 3 in for old time's sake (my friend finally got a 360 and it's all he plays so I wanted to say hi), and just had an interesting conversation with some friendly guys! It went a little like this:

Guy 1: Manhattan, Shut up!
Me: I didn't say anything.
Guy 1: Shut your fuckin' face you fag!
Guy 2: Yeah, you idiot, shut up!
Me: Fine.
Guy 1: Why are you so quiet, you pussy?
Guy 2: Yeah! Pussy!
Me: (annoyed grunt)
Guy 1: Shut your fucking head!
Guy 2: Stupid Fag! Suck my dick!

Edit More: After being killed by my own team mate because I was about to capture the enemy flag, and he wanted to instead, this was what I got:

Guy 1: You're gay Manhattan
Guy 2: I should put you on Youtube for being so gay
Guy 1: Oh! You Booted him? You ******!
Guy 2: Stop being so gay!
Me: If that guy hadn't killed me, we would have won, and instead the enemy got to our base JUST in time to stop us.
Guy 1: You're so gay!

Gotta love that multiplayer.

 

[ohgodalex]

Halo haters despise the game so fervently because it has such a large fanbase and it's extremely popular, so it must be to blame for stupidity, the decline of PC Gaming, and world hunger.

Let's do some simple math here, ladies and gentlemen.
Lots of people like FPS games. Lots of people like, and bought, Halo. The chances that there are obnoxious people who play Halo are higher because there are more people that play it then, say, Psychonauts.

EDIT: Obviously, this doesn't apply to people who have valid complaints about the gameplay, because you are entitled to your opinion as long as your reasoning is sound.

 

[jak1165]

Halo's a good game. Not a 10/10-type game, but not a 3/10 either. How innovative did you actually expect the story to be though? Its not like you couldn't have seen the ending coming from 10 miles away. Halo 3 could've been Halo 10 and it still would've have ended the same way, just with more fluff in the middle. But was there any doubt that Chief would save the day at the end of it all? No. I guess the worst criticism that I can come up with is that the story was predictable

 

[The Lost Big Boss]

Okay see, but you may just be lending credibility to my point, because The Sims sits in the exact same iconic position as Halo.

Explain WHY you hate the sims. Don't just give us some obscure crap about "it's the devil". What is it about these games that has earned your ire?

Ok, ok. Comparable examples a-following:

Years ago, there was an ad campaign in American newspapers for a new type of pet. It said the pet didn't need to be cleaned, fed, walked or even cared about and would still be perfectly loyal. A company was selling them at 9.99$, and it was a whopping success. The "pet" was actually a little polished rock at the end of a leash.

A while back (think it was the 80's) a company was selling Bottled Norwegian Mountain Air for 50$ for a tank. They were investigated for fraud, but noone could claim they didn't sell a product legally, as they tapped real Norwegian mountain air from a property they owned, on to bottles, and sold it. Is it illegal to sell air? Apparently not, because the authorities let them go on, until foreign traders stopped taking in the product on an ethical basis even though it was selling ok.

The immortal words of that great Baltimore newspaperman H.L. Mencken:
"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American Public."

My point with all this;
Halo owes it's success to a few men's drive to make money, and with this game they basically got permission to print money themselves. This is not the reason I hate Halo. The reason is, they didn't earn it.

Fact is, Halo is the epitome of derivative storylines. It bears so many resemblances to different cultural works that it's not even funny. A few: The Culture and Ringworld, written by Iain M. Banks and Larry Niven, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game: aspects of the SPARTAN Project, Christopher Rowley's Starhammer, Demolition Man, and as covered here on The Escapist - the Latin epic Aeneid, written by classical Roman poet Virgil.

Halo didn't set out to innovate and replenish a genre, it set out to regurgitate the old; but the ignorant public chewed it up because they weren't enlightened enough to have tasted it before. And despite it's linearity, unreasonably obese graphics and derivative story, it achieved great popularity. But not only because the dominos of great reviews were pouring in, but because it launched, as it was handpicked to, with almost every new Xbox on the market. Synergy between the two has been key.

And that opens up another pet peeve, the main reason why Halo broke my heart; the console. The Xbox was successful in part because of Halo, and as we all know, the Xbox ushered in the era where consoles would be in almost every home. Since then, PC games have been getting worse, and farther apart. The developers now think it is "just fine" to produce one game for 3 systems, and as a result, the PC users are usually the ones left hurting.

Could I possibly make myself more clear?

Don't forget Aliens (the movie). Almost all of Halo 1 was copied from Aliens. From the one liners, the weapons, the vehicles and even to the black Sargent. Almost every little thing was taken from Aliens.

 

[awsome117]

I am a fan of halo, and I would say why it is good. But, because I am a fan of Halo, I can not think, I have no motter skills, and I must always say "can i haz recon?"

But, in all seriousness, Halo is a game, and should be treated as such. Some people take it too far and get way too much into because they must be right about it(whether it being good or bad).

That being said, wether you like or not, I don't care(not meaning to sound rude, but it's the only way I could say it). I don't want to hear it, unless I ask you about it(which I won't).

That's my little rant, enjoy.

 

[Pillypill]

I like halo - it's frantic combat style - strange story - stupid little gassmasked helium sucking imp like alien migets, and all. If i had to put it to just 2 reasons why there are so many ppeople who hate it i'd say; un-realistic combat and the annoying foul mouthed tea bggers that seem to clog up most of the online modes with there insesive: "powned noooooooob!"(s) and "F***k you"(s) that they feel a need to shout at you every time they break you killing spree.

I still like halo though.

 

[Manhattan2112]

I like halo - it's frantic combat style - strange story - stupid little gassmasked helium sucking imp like alien migets, and all. If i had to put it to just 2 reasons why there are so many ppeople who hate it i'd say; un-realistic combat and the annoying foul mouthed tea bggers that seem to clog up most of the online modes with there insesive: "powned noooooooob!"(s) and "F***k you"(s) that they feel a need to shout at you every time they break you killing spree.

I still like halo though.

I like your side to this. I mean, you're right about why I don't like the game. And thank you for mentioning the unrealistic combat style, because I had 1 thing to say about that: Even in the distant future, who designs a combat suit that can take 32 Bullets from an Assault rifle, as well as it can take 1 smack in the face? It's funny because whenever I ask this question to the "Pwnd NOoooooobz" type of Halo player, the response is always the same: "It's the future, idiot!", as though they completely missed what I just asked.

 

[lukemdizzle]

Now don't worry. This isn't going to be a senseless "bash Halo thread" but something I've noticed. I go on alot websites and gaming forums and all I see there is "OMG HALO SUKS" threads. If so many people hate it, then why does it have such a huge fanbase?

I mean on any forum I go to the number of Halo haters seems to greatly out-weigh the number of likers.

Your thoughts? Opinions?

I find that a the haters are more vocal. I like halo but I don't go around yelling about how great it is. Ill just bring it up sometimes when listing games I like which will then cause people who hate it to vocalize their opinion