There’s a philosophical Thought-problem which goes as follows;
A man, walking through the desert, comes across a half-starved donkey. In front of the donkey are two identical bails of hay. The man asks the donkey why he hasn’t eaten them, to which the donkey replies,
“ I couldn’t decide which one to eat first”.
The man replies,
“If I moved one closer then surely that one is the best choice”.
The donkey simply replies by saying, “Yes it would, but which one would you move?”
The problem is designed to express the issue of preference in decision making. When presented with two identical options a perfectly logical person should be stuck for which to choose. This concept of decision and preference is easily applied to consoles.
The war between consoles is heated, and even that’s an understatement. Both sides have devoted fans that couldn’t possibly fathom having made the other choice, and both seeming blind to the reasoning of the other. Obviously the choice of choosing a console is more complex than choosing between two bails of hay, and obviously the choices aren’t identical. But the important thing to remember is that it always comes down to preference.
Both consoles have their pro’s, and both consoles have their cons. Someone choosing a PS3 may be swung by the free online system or the fact that Infamous is an exclusive, someone choosing an Xbox may have been swung by the Halo franchise or ergonomically designed controller. The choice may even fall to something as simple as what their friends have. But why, having made this decision, can somebody be considered to have made the ‘wrong’ choice?
The flame war between fanatics has existed since the start of this console generation, and the same tired arguments have been used countless times. Tell a PS3 owner the perks of a 360 and they might scoff that “yeah, but you have to pay for Live membership!”. A valid point, but why does that make the 360 owner wrong? Simply put, it doesn’t.
Think back to when you chose your console? Surely there was a point at which you considered the other. Seems like a million years ago right? After buying a console people seem possessed by the need to defend their decision, as if they’re afraid they’ll be criticised for it. And why not? There’s a plethora of people, equally trying to defend their choice, that’ll jump at the chance to call you an idiot (or something worse…). Surely it’s time to put and end to this quarrelling? Surely we’re all adult enough to say “So you chose that huh? I can see why you did that, to each their own!” instead of saying, “You chose THAT? God are you stupid!! what the hell where you thinking?”.
Here’s a confession, I own a 360. I chose it because it was the right choice for me, I chose it because I liked the look of Halo and I chose it because my best friend had one. None of those reasons can ever be considered wrong, it was a personal decision that made the most sense for me.
Criticising somebody for their choice of console is about as logical as saying that you’re favourite food is stupid. It’s all about preference, an infallible semantic argument that you made. So next time you get into an argument with someone about consoles, try congratulating them on their decision. The least it’ll do is confuse your would be opponent and if you’re lucky you might just show them the stupidity of the entire argument. Who knows, perhaps if more people do this the entire console war might just end, a guy can dream right?
