Hey. It’s been a while. I’ll spare you the dramatics.

I feel like y’all be lying. It’s really that simple. I mean, I get it. We all, on some level, care about how we are perceived on social media. Some of us want to be perceived as the villain, or troll. Others want to be thought of as sensible and smart. Some of us put a lot of effort into staying “on brand” while others just speak their mind and take what comes with that.

As you probably know if you’re reading this, we are right around the corner from the next console generation. As usual, Microsoft and Sony are squaring up for another round of their heavyweight title fight. I’m not here to pick a side, or convince anyone else their choice is wrong. I’m also not here to neatly summarize what to expect at launch, or tell you what to buy, or any of that. I’m here to tell you why you need to stop pretending that the “console wars” are stupid and petty. Yes, you. You’re pretending. ALL OF YOU. We all secretly, or not so secretly, LOVE the console wars. You know why? Because they are FUN!

Don’t get me wrong. All group conversations are prone to go left. Politics, music, film and tv, sports, we have ALL debated these topics and watched them get heated. The console wars are no different. Some people take things too far, or too serious, and the joy is gone. But that is true of any popular debate, no? The fact is, we love to compare things. We ALL do. We also love to defend what we like, and feel attacked when others don’t like it. These aren’t absolute statements, but I feel like they do represent the majority of people. So naturally, we are going to compare the consoles, and we are going to defend the ones we spent our money on. To varying degrees of course. But it’s going to happen.

I just don’t understand this holier than thou attitude towards people who engage in this particular debate. You don’t remember “Genesis does what Nintendon’t” at all? We didn’t start the console wars, the companies did! And as kids, most of us picked a side. We can’t still find a little bit of fun in reliving those days? I’m not saying we should be assholes about it, or outright ridicule people. But if I’m an XBox fan, and Sony slips up, I can’t poke a little fun? Or vice versa? For the most part it’s harmless. And yes, there are idiots participating. But we can all curate our socials and get rid of people ruining the fun parts.

I know for a fact some of you are lying because I watch you participate in smaller scale versions of the console wars all the time. You only jump on your high horse when the conversation gets too big and you get annoyed. Or when the side you chose takes the L. I watched people on the TL screaming the console wars were stupid the NIGHT BEFORE MS bought Zenimax. Guess what they were doing the next morning? Talking CRAZY. Same energy was not kept. It was set all the way free.

I’m done. TL:DR – Start keeping it real. I’ll be back next time y’all lie.