Anyone else experiencing loss of interest in a game, the more popular it gets?

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BytByte

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Nov 26, 2009
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If that ever happens, its more I don't pay attention to the people making it popular. So like Frozen is an above average movie that I still enjoy, I just make sure to avoid any of the fawning over it.
 

FirstNameLastName

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Nov 6, 2014
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I can sort of relate to that. There are plenty of times when something is praised to the heavens and back only to end up being pretty mediocre, in my opinion.
However, for every overrated work that get's massive praise, there are works that end up deserving it. Fight Club in an example of a film that I intended on seeing for a while, but never got around to it. And, if I'll be honest, I kind of felt the same way about the hype, yet, once watching it, it well and truly met those expectations.

As for whether Undertale will meet your expectations, eh, who knows? While I certainly enjoyed it, I don't really agree with either the "best game ever" talk or the "best writing ever". If you can stomach a near lethal level of mawkishness and the occasional cringy dialogue (Alphys, I'm looking at you) then it'll probably at least be worth your money.
Lightspeaker said:
Edit: Also that was amazing. I got one of those "describe this brand in any words" captchas and I didn't recognise it in the slightest so I literally typed "damned if I know" and it accepted it. Do those things really just accept any input at all?
I usually just type a single space into it, and it works. I'm pretty sure the only input it doesn't accept would be the exact text itself, in order to confuse bots.
 

Chester Rabbit

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Nah, I'm just losing my interest in modern gaming due to the amount of bullshit they are riddled with these days. Which is fine because as it turns out I missed a lot in the last 3 generations that I can catch up on rather than bother with the halfhearted awful that games are being forced to become.
 
Sep 24, 2008
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Something Amyss said:
I don't even know what constitutes a hipster, because the term has been so beaten to death. However, I would say that this attitude doesn't particularly strike me as a healthy one, for whatever reason. That said, there's something else I want to address....

ObsidianJones said:
It's not hipster to want to form your own opinion before being bombarded with everyone else's. I rather find out that I'm not alone and join everyone proclaiming this or that is the best thing ever, than read about how something is the best thing ever and how there's never been a game like it and then actually play it to go mentality "... It was ok, but the best game ever?!"
Except this isn't so much wanting to form ones own opinion before being bombardfed by hype, it's an actual aversion to something because of hype. Now, you've let other people define your opinion and options, and I fail to see how that's a good thing.

Ostensibly, it is fine to want to form your own opinion. But when you let hype influence you negatively, you're not. You're letting other people form your opinion, just in a negative fashion. And here, it's even phrased in a counter-culture sense. I agree it's not hipster, but solely based on the fact where "hipster" appears to be nothing more than a snarl word. But is it really laudable to be unable to form your own opinion simply because other people like something?

Honestly, I don't think it is.
I'm not sure if you understand what I'm saying. that might be the fault of me explaining myself, and I apologize if that's the case.

But how am I letting other people define my opinions if my very point is people can hype up something, get my hype going, and it fails to live up to my expectations? They are still claiming it to be the best thing since the invention of [Insert your favorite thing here], yet after playing it I don't agree. Because the game doesn't live up to what I considered to be the best thing ever material.

I think what's happening here is a fundamental misunderstanding of opinion. In my meaning, my opinion will be rendered on how I feel about a thing. Yes, Hype can create expectations... but expectations are not opinion. Am I let down when a game doesn't live up to the expectations brought up by all the hype around it? Obviously yes. Do I rate the game lower for that? No. If the game is good, I'll find it to be good. But if the game was yelled from the Mountaintops to be the best thing ever, and I find it to be merely good... my opinion wasn't defined by anything but what I like. Expectations? Sure. But in the end, I'm simply not following suit with everyone else.
 

Ryallen

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Feb 25, 2014
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I do as well, and like @AdamJensen said, it seems to be a sign of my inability to truly grasp the concept that I am not special. Even when I put myself down, it's just so I can feel better that I am unique in my sheer amount of suck. But, back to the topic at hand, simply put, normally, it would be good for you to embrace feelings similar to these, but in this case it would actually benefit you in the long run to ignore those feelings and play the game itself. That way, if you don't like it, you can properly air your grievances without just saying "It's popular, so I don't like it." I can't guarantee that you'll like Undertale, but at least give it a chance before you write it off as overrated and terrible in every way.
 

MHR

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Apr 3, 2010
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Ur turning into a hipster bro. If you continue down this path... you're going to have a bad time.
 

Nazulu

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Jun 5, 2008
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No, it's good for me when things I like become popular because I can talk about it more.

For you, I have no idea. Maybe you didn't word it perfectly, or there is something more. Or maybe you just get tired of hearing about it? I mean, you enjoyed something as small and innocent, but then it's over blown to something Amazingly Ferpect and you start to notice it's been over blown and the trend just doesn't sit right with you? I really have no idea.

I liked Avatar, one of the highest grossing films if not the highest which was praised as the greatest film evaaarrr before anyone had seen it. But there is no way in hell I could call it anything above 'Good', and I'm not even sure about that because I'm in no hurry to see it again. So while I don't agree with any of it's awards and praise, I still like to talk about it and can still enjoy it as an average action flick.

Edit: Why did you have to say hipster? Now you have all these 'experts' pinning you do down as a stereotype.
 

visiblenoise

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Jul 2, 2014
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I don't think it happens to me. In fact, I take it as a sign of general quality, that if I do decide to try it out, I won't be getting into some obscure indie piece that has a 1% chance of converting me into a rabid fan and a 99% chance of just washing over me like any other waste of time. And if it's something I've already played/watched/read, it absolutely does not affect me if more people start liking it.

I think over time though, the things I find myself initially drawn to have been shaped by the "gaps" that popular trends have left, so in a more subtle, slightly different way I also feel the same.
 

SlumlordThanatos

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Aug 25, 2014
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People trying to ram a game down my throat is a pretty sure way to make me want to avoid it, especially if it hasn't managed to capture my interest on its own.

Undertale comes to mind, for example.
 

Dragonzeanse

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Mar 17, 2015
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Several games have filled me with this apathy (used to be vitriol) due to popularity, yet there are some games I'm perfectly fine with being popular. It's a matter of what I think deserves to be in the spotlight. I don't particularly care about the popularity of certain games as much anymore, because I think every game that achieves mainstream success means there may be people who enjoy that game that want to check out other games. I try not to think of it as zero-sum.

That said, I don't expect League of Legends players across the board to play Bastion. I just try to spread the word of a game that looks interesting. I have issues getting into a lot of games, but I'd say I can at least understand the reasons why people like them (like most fighting games). Of course, I still despise a lot of popular games like the Halo series. I just don't insult people who like them.

It benefits people to be nuanced about their own irrationality. I hate "walking simulators," but I gave Gone Home a chance before I wrote it off, and I'm glad I did because there are far less interactive (and far more insipid) games than Gone Home being sold for a profit.
 

the_dramatica

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Dec 6, 2014
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Could be other games.

Getting invested into a universe that's become popular is a waste of time, if the media will adjust to pander to the new demographic with future titles and that turns you away. Other times you've played a game and you aren't willing to replay it.
 

Something Amyss

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Dec 3, 2008
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ObsidianJones said:
But how am I letting other people define my opinions if my very point is people can hype up something, get my hype going, and it fails to live up to my expectations?
You are not. You were responding in context, to a question that goes to a different nature and said that it was not "hipster" to do something which wasn't really the case. If you didn't intend this response to be in context, you definitely worded it wrong.
 

JemothSkarii

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Nov 9, 2010
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For me it's more hype aversion. Take for example Fallout 4: I love the Fallout series, one of the first games I played, I read into the lore, I'd probably fit right in with NMA.

Fallout 4's first announcement I was pretty hype. Then there was reports like ripping things out and a huge focus on voice acted protags and relationships that seeing all the hype for it now just fills me with a small depression.

This image basically covers it well enough:


Then there was something like Undertale, which I got swept up in. Been enjoying it.
 

m0ng00se

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Booyaah said:
I think my problem is, you see all these ppl that are obviously not really gamers, trying to get into the scene, not because they are really passionate about games, but they do it for $$$ or only because it's now the new cool FOTM trend.
i hope you don't give these people shit in real life. if people are tourists in your scene it gives you a point to start a conversation at and make a friend even if they ditch games later. if people are just trying to use their nerd knowledge to act better than you then learn to spot that properly and don't talk to them. or troll them cos it's funny.

that said i prefer to dress in clothes that fit me right instead of wearing my hobbies on my sleeve and i catch a ton of flak from the "real gamer" crowd until i pass some secret test that i don't know the scoring for; i usually fail because i don't like bethesda rpgs. the cod crowd isn't so fucking pretentious, drop some entry-level fps vernacular and you're in because they'd rather relate than distance themselves from you.
 

Kyrian007

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No, but the reason isn't exactly positive in my case. Simply put, other people's opinions don't matter nearly as much to me as my own. That isn't to say I won't listen to others, or don't in some small way value other people's opinions. But even in that there's some real serious narcissism because I give way more value to the opinions of people who I have agreed with in the past rather than those who have expressed opinions I disagree with. It's why I am still with the Escapist here. Way back in the day I saw some funny videos about video games from some Aussie named Yahtzee and I found his opinions on many games were the same as my own. Then they brought on a guy named Moviebob who's opinions about movies were close to my own as well.

Back to the topic though, with the exception of say Yahtzee and a couple of other friends, I don't care whether something is getting tons of hype or not. The only opinion that matters is mine. If I find a game good, then all the rest of the world screaming it sucks doesn't affect my enjoyment of it. And vice versa.
 

Dreiko_v1legacy

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Regarding Undertale, I dislike the look of it. It has this mixed look that has both cartoon and anime aspects but the balance is much more towards cartoony looks than something like Avatar for example. That being said I will still wait to actually play before I examine it. People praising it does little to affect my perception of it either way.


More generally, I don't tend to mind if something becomes popular but if something I love is being decried for some reason then I am much more likely to stand up for it. I find that some things are popular to dislike like Call of Duty, it's just a cool thing to be someone who dislikes them. The best example of this that I encountered is sword art online. Now, I'm not even a big fan of SAO, in my view it's average, the sheer amount of hate it gets by random people who don't know about the greater anime existence outside of this nation though results in forcing me to stand up for it more than I would care to do. If you think this is the worst anime ever made you clearly have not seen many anime at all. I think people dislike it cause it's popular and cause it appeals to a newer generation of anime fans who we as old fogies now get to make fun of while touting our old favorites as highly superior. I think too many people have this issue you bring up TC, they see something be popular and without properly judging it jump on the hate bandwagon to be cool.


My advice would be to isolate your feelings from the greater outside. Play games in a vacuum, decide how you feel about them and set it in stone, THEN go out and interact with the greater outside view regarding the game, all the while remembering the way you feel about it. I take it as a lack of strong will or low levels of attachment to the game in the first place to be this easily swayed by other people's views.
 

JohnnyDelRay

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Naw man. Although I love to read/watch reviews to learn about games in general, it doesn't affect me. There have been games that were obscure that I loved, and now are freaking famous (Witcher series) and I'm all the more happy about it. In fact, I welcome the community feedback and more stuff to read about the story, character builds, modding, etc.

There are other games that have been hyped and *then* smashed to pieces, like Kane & Lynch, which I actually had a grand ol' time with, and even replayed. So I'd say largely unaffected by it all.

If anything, the only thing that makes me lose interest that can be related to popularity is the yearly releases that don't seem to add anything, wear out the formula, or just go down in quality, in my eyes at least (See: Assassins' Creed, Call of Duty)