Hal10k said:
The Fallout fanbase is in a state of constant war that has little hope of changing, ironically enough. You either have the veteran fans who insult Bethesda for committing the cardinal sin of making a first-person, semi-real time game, or you have the people who dismiss the older games out of hand simply because they're old. The veteran fans are worse, in my opinion, probably because they've been engaging in flame wars for ten years now and they've gotten really good at it.
First of all, Fallout 3/New Vegas aren't semi-real time. VATS is a semi-turn based gimmick to (try to) appease the hardcore veteran fans.
I'm an old-time Fallout fans and most of my experiences indicate that the gripe most old-school Fallout fans have with Bethesda has less to do with FO3 being first person and more to do with the lack of Fallouty feel in the game. That and the way they pictured the BoS, the slight retcon to the Enclave and FEV, etc... Oh, and the lack of real consequences in the game, the moronic ending, etc.
But, I agree with you on one point: The Fallout fan base is pretty annoying. Just ask J E Sawyer back when he was working on Van Buren (the original FO3)