10 Problems Only Gamers Will Understand

10. When Your Friends Buy Different Consoles To You

Anyone with a moderate circle of friends will have encountered this at one time or another: after years of having the same consoles, trading games and playing online together, they've finally decided they've had enough of the status quo and are switching to a rival platform. Many no doubt experienced this with the previous generation of gaming, where the Xbox 360 simply boasted a vastly superior online infrastructure to the PS3, and so was more appealing to those interested in social gaming. When your friends dropped the bombshell that they were changing sides, it was like a small part of your friendship died, as you knew straight away you wouldn't be spending as much time with them, even if only over an Internet connection. Funnily enough, with the PS4's considerable success over the Xbox One during the last year, the reverse has again happened, so there's not even a level of consistency here: gamers are constantly getting their little hearts broken as allegiances shift, safe for those who blindly stick to one console out of misplaced loyalty. Still, we've all seen a friend defect to the other side for one reason or another, and though nobody needs friends to make a game great, it can certainly add a wealth of fun to the experience, and gives you plenty to talk about the next time you meet up in that strange thing called Real Life.