It's not about gaming; it's about in-groups. People in groups tend to overestimate their own group's strengths while ignoring their weaknesses, at the same time exaggerating the weaknesses of other groups while ignoring their strengths. What's interesting is that this isn't just their own individual biases showing - being part of an in-group actually strengthens your biases. So while one Xbox fanboy might not be too insufferable on his own, put him in a room (or a forum) full of other Xbox fanboys, and they can get pretty nasty towards the Playstation fanboys. There are two probable reasons for this: first, people like to fit in, and so they'll try to impress the other group members by showing how dedicated they are, and subsequently go over the top; second, people feel validated by the like-mindedness of their group, and that strengthens their "group spirit". You see this in politics. People of a particular political affiliation [i]always[/i] (but not actually always) view the opposition unfavourably to a ridiculous degree. Conservatives think liberals are idiots who don't do the research, and liberals think conservatives are idiots who don't do the research. Common sense should tell you that at least some people of a particular side must be half-intelligent and adequately informed. And, of course, it doesn't just end there. You'll see this sort of in-group behaviour pretty much everywhere. Well, except maybe in Nintendo fans... They're generally clever and handsome people, right?