I've noticed something about popular mainstream media

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AkaDad

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I think a lot of people, myself included, don't like Skyrim not because it's popular, but for the fact that fantasy rpg's are lame.

What bugs me, is when people insult or belittle others for liking certain games or genres.
 

dimensional

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Ordinaryundone said:
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.
Pretty much this I have no problem with someone actually liking or hating something if that is their opinion it just becomes hard to take them seriously when a few months or years later they change their opinion so they can fit in again, not everyone does this of course but lots do and it irritates me no end.

As for the mainstream popularity versus unpopularity it tends to follow a ying yang theme the more love for something on one side the more hate there is to balance it out as others have said and if something is almost universally loved at one time you can almost guarantee that sometime in the future it will be hated as long as it still has some presence of course. If its forgotten in just a few years it probably because it wasnt really loved or hated by many people and it was just a fad.
 

CarlMin

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Popular mainstream media? It's been like this since the dawn of time and it's pretty easy to explain. If you keep seeing something that you have no interest in everywhere you look, and people you know keep rubbing it in your face, then getting annoyed is the proper reaction.

In fact, if you don't get annoyed by this, you should probably have yourself checked.

Now imagine this lasting for not only days but weeks, maybe months, and the Skyrim Syndrome because very understandable indeed.
 

xitel

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Aug 13, 2008
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I actually readily admit to this. I hate things far more if they keep getting shoved down my throat as "BEAST GAME EVAR" than I do if it's simply "Oh yeah, I liked that game." Especially when the same people that give me shit for not liking a certain uberpopular game then follow it up with giving me shit for liking a game that is uberpopular to hate, i.e. Too Human, Kane and Lynch, Modern Warfare, so on and so forth.
 

FamoFunk

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The bigger something is, the bigger someone will hate it.

That's what I always find/feel.
 

Irishanime

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I don't know if I would call it Skyrim Syndrome. I don't like the Twilight Series. I am perfectly content never reading or seeing that crap, but I think the reason is because you are expected to like it because it is thrown out there so much. Then the "inner rebellious side" in all of us takes over and doesn't want to have anything to do with it.
 

GrandmaFunk

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I think it's an automatic reaction to your brain being filled with unrequested information..it feels like an invasion to be fought off.

ex: i have not played, read, listened or watched anything remotely related to Skyrim. I have nothing against it, I'm just not interested and have ignored it as best I can.

Despite all this, I still know all about that fucking arrow, because ppl won't shut up about it.

So every time someone tries to fill my head with more information I specifically chose to ignore, it gets aggravating.

which leads me to be pissed off at Skyrim and me reacting negatively whenever it's mentioned.

and of course I blame this discomfort on the fans because really they're the ones responsible for me being inundated by this mental spam.

This works for games, books, movies and most of all ...music.

ppl don't hate nickelback just because they're a mediocre bandk, there's thousands of shitty bands out there no one cares about. no, ppl hate them because at some point or another they were forced to listen to it.

---

I should clarify that I consider this process to be mostly subconscious and not actually based in real malice
 

loudestmute

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This is the internet age. Everything that is liked by someone has a subculture online, and there is another subculture devoted to pointing out the mental/physical/sexual flaws of the former group. My theory behind why opposing forces use stronger words for popular media is because of a perceived difficulty in conveying disapproval. The more voices joining a praise chorus, the louder one has to shout to get their anger noticed, that sorta thing.

But again, for this to take place, there must be some degree of challenge in getting the point across. Joining the "Kill Harry Potter" forums to espouse your hate doesn't seem anywhere near as significant as making 10 aliases on a fanfiction dump and proceeding to write snuff stories for everyone. Including Snape and Dumbledore because you can't be bothered to read spoilers.

This could also be the inherent "outsider complex" that drives a majority of geek culture, where we have to feel like we are willingly excluding ourselves from something because someone wearing a letterman jacket likes it.
 

HardkorSB

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erttheking said:
I have decided to name this phenomenon, Skyrim Syndrome.
You're too late. It's currently called the Bieber effect. Before that it was the LeBouf theory.
Personally, I first came into contact with it when "Titanic" became big. Then, it was the DiCaprio phenomenon.
 

Something Amyss

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erttheking said:
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.
Yeah, why on earth would you hate something more when exposed to it frequently than when not exposed to it?

I'm sorry, why is this a special "syndrome?"
 

shadu957

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AkaDad said:
I think a lot of people, myself included, don't like Skyrim not because it's popular, but for the fact that fantasy rpg's are lame.

What bugs me, is when people insult or belittle others for liking certain games or genres.
hehe oh nothing like a good irony joke :D. I want to add something about the topic here but everything I have to say has already been said :p
 

KrossBillNye

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Wow. Just before I was going to suggest Shad to perhaps reduce his 10X posts the mods got him. Nice work.

As for the Twilight syndrome or Beiber syndrome. I am sorry, we are all entitled to our opinions just like how I feel Twilight is a horrible franchise on so many levels in the Novels and Movies, and Beiber.... As a Canadian I just want to apologize for Beiber.

Everyone has different tastes and thoughts on subjects. There will always be critics in anything and everything. Much like how we judge the next person above our posts in what we write.

As well I am sure there are many subjects that arise at times that someone would say, I HATE BROCCOLI! then others would join in. It would not be mainstream at the time, but enough voices adding to the hate pile, it will turn into a Mainstream event. Look at the whole mess with Ocean Marketing for example.

TLDR: Haters gunna hate.
 

DEAD34345

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SmashLovesTitanQuest said:
Well, its kinda hard to ignore something when its getting shoved in your face no matter where you go. Thats what pisses me off about bronys so much.

But I know what you mean with Skyrim. I love that game, but I havent played it in ages, simply because im already sick of it since EVERYONE is talking about it, posting threads, videos, images, whatever. Waiting for the release of the creation kit and until the whole thing dies down before I play it again.
You see, I don't get this at all. Why does lots of people praising something stop you from being able to enjoy it? In fact, why can anything anyone does ever stop you from enjoying something?

You're certainly not the only person I've seen who has said this, and I just don't get it. For example, I was annoyed by all the unanimous praise Portal got, and I was really annoyed at the stupid cake jokes. Then I played the game, and I liked it. The annoying fans did not change my experience of the game in any way whatsoever, so why would they somehow cause me to dislike it?

I agree that this "syndrome" does seem to exist (even if I don't seem to be affected by it), but I don't understand any reason why it should exist. It doesn't make sense.
 

Erttheking

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Zachary Amaranth said:
erttheking said:
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.
Yeah, why on earth would you hate something more when exposed to it frequently than when not exposed to it?

I'm sorry, why is this a special "syndrome?"
It's a term I conned because I thought that it would be funny...geez lighten up.
 

TheDrunkNinja

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erttheking said:
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.
The massive amount of threads and overly-aggressive backlash because of said threads are very prevalent on this site specifically, so I believe you made an accurate diagnosis on that one. I say good call.

In any case, it's pretty simple. Picture that you're talking with your friend who mentions a game you don't like, so you simply voice your opinion with civility. Now picture yourself completely surrounded by hundreds of people packed together, all of them talking about a game you don't like. Some choose to abandon civility for their base instinct, which tells them that the person to be heard first is the one yelling the loudest... But ultimately it's your choice whether your own security in your opinion is based on how many people know it. If that is the case, guess who would be yelling pretty damn loudly?
 
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erttheking said:
Skyrim Syndrome.
I think the name is probably something like Olympus syndrome; you know, all those Gods, sitting up there being Elitist.

Otherwise the "Library of Alexandria" syndrome. All that great media stored somewhere? Let's burn it to the ground.
 

Erttheking

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The_root_of_all_evil said:
erttheking said:
Skyrim Syndrome.
I think the name is probably something like Olympus syndrome; you know, all those Gods, sitting up there being Elitist.

Otherwise the "Library of Alexandria" syndrome. All that great media stored somewhere? Let's burn it to the ground.
I would make a God of War joke if I had actually played it.
 

Something Amyss

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erttheking said:
It's a term I conned because I thought that it would be funny...geez lighten up.
Yes, you're making in-depth complaints about people "hating on" stuff, and I'm the one who needs to lighten up.

The point wasn't about you making up a name, for the record, but about why this is particularly surprising or even worth comment.

So "lighten up" yourself.