I've noticed something about popular mainstream media

[Erttheking]

It seems that when something is very popular and you dislike it, you dislike it with far more intensity than you would if it was not very well known. I have decided to name this phenomenon, Skyrim Syndrome. Symptoms include getting angry when you see a massive amount of discussions about it, being extremely eager to tear it down and short tempers regarding the subject. Has anyone else ever noticed Skyrim Syndrome? Why does it exist? Why does people getting excited about certain things and talking about things enrage some people so much?

EDIT Before anyone else feels like making this joke, yes I considered calling it Call of Duty syndrome, or Twilight syndrome or Beiber syndrome, but I thought that Skyrim would be better because it is more recent, the phenomenon has been taking place on this website, and it is a game that this community views in a much more positive light than Call of Duty and many consider it to be good if not decent.

 

[uneek]

It's probably just humanity's need to socialize. The more you disagree with a person about certain pieces of art, the less discussion there is to be had with that person. And the less you can socialize.

P.S. I think that condition needs a better name. Like Brony Syndrome.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

It could have something to do with the way popular things tend to lead to a follow the leader effect. I know I wouldn't have given much of a crap about the Battlestar Galactica reboot if its insane popularity hadn't led to (or at least made worse) the insane depressing darkness of just about every sci fi and fantasy show that was on the air at the time. There's a reason I love Doctor Who so much, and that reason is that it knows where it should be dark and where it should add in some comic relief. Heck, look at my avatar; as dark as Gundam occasionally gets, it always takes time out to show that the characters (on both sides) have something worth fighting for, and they aren't just committing war crimes for the sake of committing war crimes -- a distinct feeling I got out of mid-2000's science fiction.

Edit: This also applies to Halo and CoD. The issue was never that people liked the things. It was always that so many people liked them that they almost completely replaced the things that long time fans of the genre loved.

 

[Orange12345]

some people just have to be on the "outside" of things, because they think it makes them smarter then all the common sheep. they view themselves as above average and can't bring themselves to like something that the general idiot public likes. As to your question maybe people dont dislike it with more intensity, rather it just comes up more when its more popular and thus people have more opportunities to voice thier "opinion"

(Not to say this is the one and only reason for Skyrim Syndrome)

 

[Aurgelmir]

It seems that when something is very popular and you dislike it, you dislike it with far more intensity than you would if it was not very well known. I have decided to name this phenomenon, Skyrim Syndrome. Symptoms include getting angry when you see a massive amount of discussions about it, being extremely eager to tear it down and short tempers regarding the subject. Has anyone else ever noticed Skyrim Syndrome? Why does it exist? Why does people getting excited about certain things and talking about things enrage some people so much?

Well if you get something shoved in your face every time you open your eyes then of course you will start hating it more.
Very often over popular things get way to many memes, posts, focus that some people get fed up with it.

It's not surprising that so many people hate Ponies considering how much people love to post about them here...

 

[Erttheking]

I think that I need to own up to this as well. There is one thingthat I wish people would just shut up about how great it and I don't care about it but everyone is convinced that it is SO GREAT, when I find it to be completly overrated. The name of that thing? Half-Life.

 

[Neverhoodian]

I think that I need to own up to this as well. There is one thingthat I wish people would just shut up about how great it and I don't care about it but everyone is convinced that it is SO GREAT, when I find it to be completly overrated. The name of that thing? Half-Life.

Uh oh, now you've done it.

(personally I don't really care about the Half-Life series one way or another. I've tried playing both HL1 and HL2, but it never seemed to "click" for me. I'm okay with others liking it, though)

I think a big part of it is the exposure factor. It can be a bit tiring after a while to see references to a popular series over and over again, particularly if it isn't your cup of tea. It wasn't as big of a deal in earlier times, but it's much harder to avoid in this day and age of the internet and instant communication. There's also the rabid fans who go to absurd lengths to defend their interest in a series. Things inevitably get ugly as they draw the attention of the avid haters, and both sides come off as immature toss-pots.

As for myself, I have a high tolerance level for such things. I've been on all ends of the spectrum (liking/disliking something popular, liking/disliking something unpopular), so I like to think I have a fairly good grasp on where folks are coming from. I realize different people like different things, and certain themes and motifs may resonate with a much larger demographic than others. I'd be lying if I said I don't get somewhat agitated at the upteenth "the cake is a lie" joke, though.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

It's equal parts

1. A feeling of superiority for not liking something a bunch of people like
2. Annoyance that something they don't like is getting heavy exposure
3. A worry that the disliked objects popularity will eclipse and replace whatever it is they like.

All three have roots in selfishness and self-centeredness, but its easy to see where they come from.

 

[Henkie36]

Ok, you have a point there. But it also a thing that has to grow. Skyrim is a excellent example. At first I was like, whatever. Didn't care, so I just let it hang. But then all these Skyrim threads started to pop up and that started to annoy me. So now I do care about Skyrim. It's just that I hate it now.

But this of course also works the other way around. When nobody knows somthing, there is no discussion value. I heard both very positive reviews about District 9 as well as very negative ones. Both sides had their own good arguments to like and hate the movie and that's why it was fun to watch them both.

It needs a little bit of time, and it needs to be well known enough. Simple.

 

[Landshark1]

There's also the opposite effect. As something grows more and more popular, the fans start to more and more vehemently defend it (ie the Notch Defense Force), and both sides then just keep trying to one-up each other.

 

[michael87cn]

Indeed, it's rather silly and childish to hate something just because it's popular, and not on its own merits and faults.

For example, some things which are widely hated simply because they are popular or different:

Twilight
Harry Potter
Skyrim
Pokemon (in the past, this was hated on much more than today)

Half the people that make fun of these things would enjoy them if they had nothing else to do, or actually gave the products a chance.

When I was 14 years old, I was very much into the Lord of the Rings books and the movies were coming out. My little sister had borrowed a book from a friend: the first Harry Potter. I thought the name was silly so I never gave it a chance. A couple years later she had many of the books and out of boredom (and lack of anything else to do) I gave the 2nd Harry Potter book a try. I liked it, and eventually read the whole series.

The same thing happened with the Twilight books, only I didn't like them. But at least I gave them a chance before I came to that conclusion.

Likewise my brother would make fun of Skyrim calling it "Skrim" and such, but when he got the game he loved it and couldn't stop playing it. I smirked to myself when he started calling it by its proper name.

What's my point? Stop hating something because it's different, give it a chance first, I know many of you have never even tried to enjoy these products before being jerks about them.

 

[davros3000]

The above list is wrong; its more to do with the fact that you see something that is totally over blown in terms of popularity versus the actual quality of the work.

Twilight or Harry Potter; both examples of at best functional writing, poorly put together plot and just dire cliches. You want proper fantasy writing then read the His Dark Materials trilogy. If not, then please go play in the garden and stop bothering the adults (no matter what your age is). These series are disliked because fantasy fans think they're dire, shallow attempts to make money out of 'their' thing.

Skyrim on the other hand is disliked because its a popular game, though popular on merit. In this case the people who like it are unlikely to have liked it as they probably don't go for the FPS RPG thing, or the Elder Scrolls games. Theres nothing wrong with that, they just prefer different games. Then they see this thing getting rammed in their faces. I love Skyrim but I agree, all the threads and praise is getting old.

One final thing; if you think Half Life sucks but Halo is great you live in a mirror world. Pretty much every FPS since Half Life came out has copied it, and the people who made games afterwards played it, loved it, and have been influenced by it. The only possible exceptions are games where the series they are part of pre-dates Half Life. And they still played Half Life.

 

[Yopaz]

Of course. If you dislike something it's not going to get any better if you have to hear absolutely everything about it and the news continue to give you updates you don't care about, the commercials are telling you to buy it and you get to hear the same part of it over and over again.

 

[Erttheking]

One final thing; if you think Half Life sucks but Halo is great you live in a mirror world.

Well I just had to open my mouth on that didn't I? Yes but hereis the thing pal, I am allowed to enjoy other games more, just because Half Life was one of the earliest and most mechanic defining FPS doesn't make it better than everything else, that's like saying that pong is the best game ever because it inspired, things splinter off and evolve. I enjoy the atmopshere of Halo more than I do of Half-Life and that's all there is to it. Now if you wish to continue preforming the futile and stupid act of telling me how my opinion is flawed kindly continue, you're doing a good job so far.

 

[spartan231490]

It seems that when something is very popular and you dislike it, you dislike it with far more intensity than you would if it was not very well known. I have decided to name this phenomenon, Skyrim Syndrome. Symptoms include getting angry when you see a massive amount of discussions about it, being extremely eager to tear it down and short tempers regarding the subject. Has anyone else ever noticed Skyrim Syndrome? Why does it exist? Why does people getting excited about certain things and talking about things enrage some people so much?

I refuse to accept the name "skyrim syndrome". Bieber and Twilight both did this waaaaaaaaayyyy before skyrim did.


I have no idea why it exists. I don't really experience the phenomena myself. I don't even have any excessive dislike of the two super-hated things above me. I find that neither of them is worth true hatred. I don't listen to bieber, but I don't listen to a great many artists. I don't think twilight is good, but I won't flee the room in terror if someone is watching the movies. So, without anything to go on, I have no idea why this happens.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

It seems that when something is very popular and you dislike it, you dislike it with far more intensity than you would if it was not very well known. I have decided to name this phenomenon, Skyrim Syndrome. Symptoms include getting angry when you see a massive amount of discussions about it, being extremely eager to tear it down and short tempers regarding the subject. Has anyone else ever noticed Skyrim Syndrome? Why does it exist? Why does people getting excited about certain things and talking about things enrage some people so much?

While I agree with this I think the syndrome predates Skyrim. Granted, Modern Warfare Syndrome or, Call of Duty Syndrome doesn't roll off of the tongue quite as nicely but I just thought I'd put that out there.

---

I think another key component of Zelda Syndrome (yes, I'm going to keep changing the first-name portion of Twilight Syndrome) is the fact that it's much easier to tear down the big things because of a combination of A) it's the big thing! Come on man, it's popular so it's worth talking about weather or not you like it and, B) It's topical which I guess is the same as A only I bring it up again because while you may also hate Zork or, Captain Marvel (Marvel comics) there are far fewer people who know of those than say, X-Men Destiny. It may be a lot more entertaining to gush about how much you want to punch the people who thought teaming up Supergirl with Comet the Superhorse romantically.

 

[Rariow]

Because if it's more popular, more people are going to be shoving it in your face all the time, meaning you're going to be reminded more about it, meaning you're going to get pissed off more often, ergo, more.

I've encountered "Skyrim Syndrome" with Morrowind, actually. Don't get me wrong, it's a good game, but I'm just so freakin' tired of everyone telling me how great and wonderful it is and how much better than Oblivion it is and so on and so forth. If I had a penny for every time I've wanted to start a flamewar over Morrowind, I'd probably be able to buy the entire solar system, and throw in a couple of red giants. If I had a penny for every time someone told me off for liking Oblivion, I'd probably be able to buy the entire galaxy, and build enough Deathstars to invade the Star Wars galaxy. And honestly, I'm just tired.