7 Deadly Gaming Sins: PRIDE

When I was but a wee bald lad, the playground wasn't just a place to relax by whomping a ball at one another for thirty minutes or so, but a place to settle complex and multifaceted arguments, such as which Pokémon cards were actually worth a toss, which Micro Machines people had brought to school to inevitably lose in the sandbox, and of course, which video game console was "best"

We all took pride in our console of choice, be it a Mega Drive, SNES, PS2, original Xbox or GameCube, if you were a true nerd (I kid), because they were "ours". It was like choosing a sports team, only that we actually had more agency in how our chosen team fared, and as such it came with all the trimmings both good and bad. We could revel in moments exclusive to that console with friends who shared the same platforms and tease and cajole those who weren't "in" on the joke.

However, at the end of the day, it really didn't matter, because that sense of pride is completely and 100% manufactured by the developers themselves and it was done so to use "Exclusivity" as a weapon. It's not as dark a facet of the industry as some other examples here, but the console wars serve only one end goal, and that's lining the pockets of companies that in reality do not give a toss about us.

Sony and Microsoft will still get out their teraflops each console cycle and try to stoke the fires of console pride within us as they know that fanboys battering each other usually translates to cold hard cash, and we fall for it each and every time. They want you to feel like you're part of the team, they want you to feel like you're choosing a side, but in actuality it's just clever marketing that gives companies a direct line to your wallet.