Can I just not like Diablo III, please?

I am a social gamer. I like playing games with other people. I like talking games with other people. I like sharing in that nerdy exchange of nerdy things.

Gaming is inherently social. What this results in is a hive mind mentality of "Like this or you are not a real gamer."

Diablo III is the latest game that has the kind of buzz around it all gamers are forced to have an opinion on it. I've played it and got a guy to max level. I hate the game. I genuinely do not like it. AND I'm sick of friends talking about it nonstop.

I got it. It's a loot grind. You found some new loot. You progressed your guy far enough you can "farm" some boss over and over to try and get new items. I don't care anymore. I've told my gamer friends I don't care any more. They launched a real money auction house? Go figure; I still don't care.

Normally it doesn't bother me when friends talk a game I have no interest in, but the fact I display no interest in this particular title any more somehow makes my gamer friends question my taste in everything. I do not understand. I have expressed the same levels of distaste as the other friends on what about the game bothers me, but somehow not willing to stick it out because the end result of the gameplay doesn't appeal to me means...?

Here's the facts, folks. It requires you to be online to play it, which means it's not at my leisure. That is a huge mark against it. If I want to play a game at 5 AM on Tuesday (or whenever maintenance is), I should have that ability. It's also at heart a loot grind. The plot is pretty shallow (I would argue makes the former games weaker for being associated with it) so once you beat it on Normal, all there is, is simply to go slaughter minions of hell to get better loot to more efficiently kill the minions of hell. That is all fine and dandy but when the difference between gear is pretty miniscule and there are only two viable classes on the hardest difficulty AND THE GAME PENALIZES YOU FOR PLAYING WITH FRIENDS, it's just not worth it.

So, friends, I do not give a single iota of care to the fact you got some new nifty sword. It's the same way I have felt about World of Warcraft for years, and yet my WoW friends know not to tell others not involved with the game about some new progression they've made in that game. Let Diablo III be the same way.