The "Me Too" syndrome

[Random Argument Man]

Have you ever noticed it? The feeling when you see a good concept, you just want to do the same thing. Or when someone says I hate this, you say yeah me too. (But deep down inside, you know it ain't true).

Let me give you some examples that you could do.
- After the The world end with you review by yahtzee, did you notice that alot of people started saying JRPG's sucked? Perharps you didnt liked JRPG's from the start. You would probably say "Shut up RAM".
-Did you saw, how much people are insulting mainstream games. Just stating the constant A,B,C response... No personal experience mentionned?

Some you see in popular culture

-You probably saw the constant roll of superheros movies, cheap imitation of 28 days later zombie films, one new popstar with few talent sponsored by Disney, etc... (This look like an attack against USA, sorry guys).
-If you didnt see the constant WW2 games which only haves the Allies side of story.

Did you ever felt this effect? Do you feel it's present around you? AM I RANTING OR YOU FEEL I'M GOING WITH SOMETHING??????

I felt asking my number 1 intelligent community, but the university is closed. Ok I'm joking, i'm gonna ask you guys. What do you think?

 

[The Broodlord]

your right. The world is just interested in making money. why would they risk a game/movie/singer/clothing/hamburger/car... flopping if they could just copy an existing success and make lots.

 

[Saevus]

-Did you saw, how much people are insulting mainstream games. Just stating the constant A,B,C response... No personal experience mentionned?

Probably because mainstream games are the worst offenders of the 'Me Too' syndrome. Make a shooter with ridiculously good graphics, don't make any innovations, keep it around 10 hours long, give it a sci-fi theme, and you have nearly every game that has been a worthwhile success in the past few years.

We live in a society that, although it is ostensibly individualistic, still goes by the rules of majority. So people try to fit in. The fact that we're a capitalist society means that unless you want to make a very fucking big gamble, you're damn skippy going to follow the trends.

 

[Saskwach]

- After the The world end with you review by yahtzee, did you notice that alot of people started saying JRPG's sucked? Perharps you didnt liked JRPG's from the start. You would probably say "Shut up RAM".
-Did you saw, how much people are insulting mainstream games. Just stating the constant A,B,C response... No personal experience mentionned?

Some you see in popular culture

-You probably saw the constant roll of superheros movies, cheap imitation of 28 days later zombie films, one new popstar with few talent sponsored by Disney, etc... (This look like an attack against USA, sorry guys).
-If you didnt see the constant WW2 games which only haves the Allies side of story.

Re: JRPGs: I hate them, have always hated them, and will hate them till death. I didn't need Yahtzee to convince me of this. If anything, I think all Yahtzee has done is shown a lot of JRPG haters that we won't get dogpiled by FF7 fans (you want to talk about mob rule...) for admitting we have a problem.
Note: I have nothing against FF7 (besides not liking it) or its better fans.
A lot of mainstream is terrible shit, but it probably gets more crap than arthouse drivel because it's very visible, its pushers are few and also very visible, and because 90% of everything is shit; so that 90% is much more visible, and it's (arguably) taking up space and money that could go to better games/movies/music, etc.
Re: your last two points: forgetting that entertainment industries like easy money so will go with what's selling, isn't this exactly the kind of crap "mainstream" games and movies get called out for by those "me too" types you're rebelling against?
You have a point, but the me too syndrome isn't a new discovery; we're herd creatures at heart.

 

[BlazeTheVampire]

Big industries just go with what sells, and if for some reason an idiotic musical produced by Disney channel is what sells, then by god they're going to milk it for all it's worth like it's a damp rag in the middle of a desert. As a note, the Disney trend is geared towards younger audiences, and since when haven't you seen kids try to emulate their heroes? As much as I hate looking at that stupid Hannah Montana game at the wall at work, there are much worse things the kids could be doing, so I don't really argue with it.

It's the same thing even with older audiences; Harry Potter, Twilight, etc. (By the way, I thoroughly enjoyed Twilight before every high school girl in America found it and started comparing their boyfriends to Edward Cullen) And then the original fans are left in the dust because they don't feel a need to wear a t-shirt with Robert Pattinson looking like a guy just waking up from a bad one night stand. (I swear, that's what he looks like on half of this stuff) But I'm not bitter or anything, lol.

From the American point of view, I think it's okay that they're pushing the "me too" syndrome. Our economy (at least in Ohio) is dreadful because nobody's buying anything. If milking something that wasn't that great to begin with spurs people into buying things, then I say let them go. Though that is sort of a conundrum, seeing as most of us around here can't make enough money to spend on rent, let alone crappy merchandise.

 

[Frybird]

The "Me too" mentality makes german television suck.

Thanks to the high ratings that shows like "Grey's Anatomy", "CSI", "Lost" and "Cold Case" get, another TV Station comes up with the idea to just take the themes of these Shows and make thier own, cheap show that is more or less stolen from the "american imports". And along with that, about every game show or casting thing gets thier own german version (The only original thing from germany that was stolen elsewhere was "Wetten dass" wich is called "Wanna bet?" in the US i think...and that's just a very weak concept that only works in germany because lot's of stars get invited and interviewed during the show)

It makes german TV hardly bareable.

On a side note: I hate all JRPGs, EXCEPT the world ends with you. Take that, Yahtzee fans!

 

[PurpleRain]

How many people started using the words 'immersion' after Yahtzee said it on these forums. Too many goddamn times!

In another topic: After the Transformers hit, every other movie had to have a street battle with giants, flinging cars, wonky and out of focus camera as if being filmed by amatures, big CGI effects, etc, etc. The Hulk, Ironman. Okay, enough with that. It got old fast.

 

[Fire Daemon]

Probably because mainstream games are the worst offenders of the 'Me Too' syndrome. Make a shooter with ridiculously good graphics, don't make any innovations, keep it around 10 hours long, give it a sci-fi theme, and you have nearly every game that has been a worthwhile success in the past few years.

And then you have Halo 3... and that's it. Honestly, that is the only recent Sci-Fi FPS I can think of and even that is set mostly on earth. All of the other popular FPS (Bioshock, Half-life 2 episode 2, CoD4, portal etc) have not been very "Me too", each of them bring something very new to the FPS table. Some more than others but that depends greatly on the developer.

Saying a game is "Mainstream" is a weak way to criticize a game, usually made by someone who has not played the game and is looking for anything bad to say about because of personal prejudices.

I also agree with Purple, far too many people "suddenly" wanted to talk about immersion, the funny thing was that too many people didn't really know what he meant by immersion.

I also find that when Yahtzee hates a lot of people start hating the game, Oblivion for example. Before that review I don't think I had seen Oblivion written here but after that the review everyone suddenly hated it.

 

[Novajam]

People are always looking to be accepted, and if an authority figure says something and it strikes a tone, then everyone's bound to follow. It's a bit sad that some people just follow all the time like a sheep and don't make their own minds up but hey, they're missing out.

-If you didnt see the constant WW2 games which only haves the Allies side of story.

It's hard to impliment WW2 from the German point of view. The production team would have to tread a fine line between the game being politically correct and Glorifying Nazi Germany. It's the same reason we don't have games where you walk into office buildings and blow yourself up.

However in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts there was a campaign where you played as the Germans defending against the allied Operation Market Garden.

 

[Wargamer]

On an individual level, the "me too" syndrome is in part to try and retain the coolness of an experience.

Case in point, why has "The Cake Is A Lie" become an internet meme? Because Portal is cool, and we all want more Portal. This means we resort, on occasion, to remarkably unoriginal actions, but it does mean we all get a little more Portal, in some small way.

The fact people can pretend Halo 3 is a half-decent game is just Fanboyism, and should not be confused with emulating coolness.

In terms of videogames, movies and so on, it's a bit of both; the makers take something cool, and try and copy it. This can be done because they want their product to be equally as cool, but equally they're just ripping it off.

 

[zen5887]

How many people started using the words 'immersion' after Yahtzee said it on these forums. Too many goddamn times!

Agreed XD

I see it a lot in music (and people..)

Man I hate this band!
Why?
Ugh cos they are lame..
Yeah.. Me too...

 

[Cyclomega]

It's the same reason we don't have games where you walk into office buildings and blow yourself up.

*ahem* Postal 2 *ahem* (more or less, and to some extent GTAs with the Police Station)

 

[dodoman1]

Let me give you some examples that you could do.
- After the The world end with you review by yahtzee, did you notice that alot of people started saying JRPG's sucked? Perharps you didnt liked JRPG's from the start. You would probably say "Shut up RAM".
-Did you saw, how much people are insulting mainstream games. Just stating the constant A,B,C response... No personal experience mentionned?

I have always loved JRPGs, and find it amusing how Yathzee nitpicks all their little flaws. I can listen to people ***** about something I love. I think it's funny.

Mainstream games, that's you're problem. Mainstream games are terrible! It's obscure PS2 titles that really have the innovation. Psychonauts, Alter Echo, Brave: The Search for Spirit Dancer... three really good games no one has ever heard of.

 

[HuCast]

Im totally different I never agree with anybody and "cool stuff" is just for the masses-I prefer the "hot shit"

 

[H0ncho]

I very much agree with the OP (me too ). As Oscar Wilde put it: When people agree with me, I feel that I must be wrong.

 

[H0ncho]

Edit: sorry, double.

 

[blank0000]

as fr as the yahzee thing goes, their will always be fans, willing to related to their idol. Besides, JRPG's really do suck . And often if someone brings up a point to something you don't often think about but agree with, your probably going to want to express it.

Movies= their hath been a lack of funding and originality in this department. It takes less time to to make a movie when you have a wealth of source material as prevalent as those foudn in only comic book franchises, it's just a cheap and clever way to appeal to the masses while putting in less effort. "coughrealitytvcough"

 

[Random Argument Man]

I got another example, if you say this one can be explained other by "we just want to be in the cool crowd"

The other day at work, I was taking my break and while I was at the employee lounge. 5 women started a conversation, each time they started a topic, you would hear the word "Me too". Basicly, it's the same exact story, except they're the protagonist. You know that at least 3 are lying.

 

[Clain]

the "Me Too" syndrome has been a plauge for far too long

alot of games, music, movies, shows ect. are loosing creativity and their uniqueness. in gaming it is obvious... but if you listen to the some of the music (particularly mainstream) nowadays theyre repeating the same base as many of the songs we heard long ago

when at work last night i was listening to the radio and i heard one of the old classics come on... 5 seconds later it turned out to be some random piece of crap new song... im not saying all of the new ones are bad... just the bad ones (most of them)

anyway back to the "Me Too" syndrome

we live in a world where ripping off is everyday... and that you need to "follow the crowd" to fit in... the reason most people do it is to fit in and increase their popularity

the trouble is when the people that have a unique view of their own and dont "follow the crowd" have a particlar view or way of doing things and that idea becomes popular for whatever reason. that person is then considered to be "following the crowd", lacking in originality and uniqueness.

the easiest example to give is yahzee and JRPGs... those that hated them before are given remarks like "your only saying that cause yahzee did"... and ive found those that say it because he did rarely experence the same

ive always been able to spot flaws and stupidity in almost anything... i do it to movies, games, books, and real life and have been giving yahzee like reviews and rants for a long long while now... but the second i try that online or around some people im instantly concidered a ripoff (something which i despise, which is probably why i have yet to play bioshock)

but despite what u might be thinking i still enjoy zero punctuation and look forward to watching it... the jokes are funny, he sometimes reviews games i have yet to play and occasionally he points out flaws that i might have missed (or vise versa)

the point i am trying to shape here (right before i jam it into some ones eye) is that the "me too" syndrome is a double edged blade with a homicidal mind thirsty for the blood of the ignorant and stupid but occasionaly wanting some from the individuals (that might be trying to use it)

 

[CatmanStu]

How many people started using the words 'immersion' after Yahtzee said it on these forums. Too many goddamn times!

In another topic: After the Transformers hit, every other movie had to have a street battle with giants, flinging cars, wonky and out of focus camera as if being filmed by amatures, big CGI effects, etc, etc. The Hulk, Ironman. Okay, enough with that. It got old fast.

Being a bit of a Marvel geek, I feel an irrational need to come out in defence of the two movies quoted. Although I agree that ideas and techniques are cloned to the point of boredom, if those two movies hadn't had the level of CGI driven mayhem that they did, they wouldn't have felt like the characters they were based on.

C'mon, the Hulk has to throw a few heavy objects around.

EDIT: I almost forgot. It adds to the immersion.