Why are things automaticly bad once they are popular?

[Corven]

Most people don't hate the thing that's popular , people hate the people who make it popular I.E. the rabid fan base.

Most of the time when people complain about a popular game, it's usually (not always but usually) about the multiplayer aspect being overrun with dickheads who only think of kill death ratios, rank and getting that next shiny multiplayer achievement.

 

[TiefBlau]

You start off by arguing that it's not that great. But after torrents of idiots begin raging and getting butthurt from your claims, the game begins to provoke negative stimuli, leading you to the ultimate conclusion that the game is shit.

People are simple like that.

 

[AcacianLeaves]

ITT: fanboys who can't comprehend why someone might have an opinion contrary to their own.

 

[Divine Miss Bee]

I for one think that this cultural phenomenon occurs because of an anti conformist attitude that runs deep within the hardcore gaming niche. It all comes down to certain individuals not wanting to accept anything mainstream in my opinion.

...or, as a group, we gamers are very pretentious. good news is, you've simply fallen into the old trap of letting a few raised voices distract you from the murmurs of the crowd. though there will always be some people who see it as a personal offense if the casual gamers like "their" games, most of us, i think, will try to bring them over to the dark side using the common ground. i personally don't care if a game is popular with a casual crowd or not-i'll still play if i like it, and embrace new players as i find them.

 

[Saraphim]

Because people care more about the associated crowd. Sad.

 

[Squilookle]

In my experience people usually hate things that are massively popular because they see the masses liking it for the wrong reasons. And generally, people don't 'decide' to hate something because it's popular, they do one of two things:

1. They experienced it when it first appeared, didn't like it, then felt they had to kick up a huge stink about it merely to compete with and be heard over the overwhelming positive feedback to something, or

2. They did not experience it when it first appeared, and gave it a go after hearing such great things about it, only to find that it... well... isn't so great.

 

[superbatranger]

It's mainly because some people can't think for themselves. Guy A says he hates Movie 1 because of the weak story. Guy B agrees. This continues down the line until we reach the point where Guy N says he hates it, not because of the movie's weak story, but because he doesn't want to be known as the guy who likes that movie with the crappy story. It results in everyone hating the movie, yet only the first few hate it within reason. Everyone else hates it..because everyone else hates it.

Sometimes it's the other way around. Sometimes people hate on popular things because they want to be different. That doesn't work at all when everyone else is doing the same thing.

 

[Angerwing]

With gaming in particular, I don't know. We spent so long being ostracised for our hobby. Back in the day (and even to an extent, now) gaming=bullybait. Now it's hitting the mainstream, and the MW2 kiddies have no respect for the medium as a whole, and that pisses us off. That's why games like Modern Warfare 2 aren't that popular in the serious gaming crowd, because the mechanics are decent, but the story is pretty crap. It's a pretty, mindless game. That's not to say that intelligent, experienced gamers can't enjoy it, it's just that that particular game was marketed to the mainstream. It's like an opera singer. Technically, they're far superior to a singer like Justin Beiber, but they don't have such a large following. And life-long opera fans are shocked that people bypass their trained and dedicated artists of choice to listen to some kid with a marketable image and a decent singing voice.

Our niche community isn't so niche now, and life-long gamers can't stand that.

 

[ninja51]

I dont think its necissarily that they are just popular and people are trying to be different. Im sure that is the case with some, but I think the main reason is just peoples tastes, and that we hate when things that dont fit our tastes, or are just plain bad in the first place become very popular. For instance, Halo, I played it for a while, it got very stale to me and once that happens you start seeing the flaws the base game had and what you dislike about it. Modern Warfare ended up frustrating the hell out of people, and that brief moment we stop having as much fun as we used to we kinda think about what rubs us the wrong way and people end up just sinking their teeth in for a kill. If we dont like it, it being massivly popular makes us hate it, because we feel that popularity should go to better products. Like Twilight, no one can dispute its terrible, the best praise it gets is "its alright I guess", we hate that something like that is popular instead of Let the Right One In. Another example is Justin Beiber, not many here are really into pop, and the kids not even original are that good in the first place. We feel that popularity should be reserved for some better more unique bands that we like such as British Sea Power, The Maccabees, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah to list a few. So back to the main point, we pretty much hate some popular things because they dont deserve it

 

[SinisterGehe]

B's of few things.
But if something old that is great becomes popular it still remains Good, but everything around it becomes shit, Example Nightmare before Christmas. A great movie by Burton, Hand animated with puppets, amazing music, and so forth. But in some point few years ago full blown emos took it as their icon for life, and make most of it shit.
Deviantards.
And the developers/makers/bakers start to do Fan services too much and start pushing out much as content they can for their Fans to consume.

 

[TheKillerCliche]

Don't watch yhatzze do you? He explains it all

I watch him off and on, could you possibly link a video or article where he fully expresses his thought on the topic?

 

[John47]

maybe your right but there are some reverse popular to hate incidents example halo the most overrated piece of shit with story that is shit gameplay that's boring and level design my god you don't wanna know all the guns in halo look more like sex toys then real guns and the aliens in the game are as ripped off than ever and for some rason people like the game although the other 50 percent of intelligent gamers who have a good taste in games think it sucks thank god im with the smart gamers halo is not "popular to hate" but "popular to like" everyone likes the game because some gaming site like ign or gametrailers says it's awesome
every reviewer that reviews halo sucks it's fat cock and gives a ten fuck halo any game that hasn't got halo in the title is considered obsolete fucking halo fanboys

 

[TomLikesGuitar]

Most things get worst over time.
CoD isn't bad at all; MW2, however, is.
Halo isn't bad at all; Halo: ODST is.
Pokemon isn't bad at all; Yellow, Gold, Silver, Trading Card Game, Crystal, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Mystery Dungeon, Dash, Trozei!, Ranger, Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Snap, Puzzle League, Hey You Pikachu!, and Colosseum are.

 

[Not-here-anymore]

Ever noticed how no-one just 'dislikes' the various mainstream things? The vocal ones have to proclaim it as a definite overpowering hatred (or love). Presumably there aren't actually that many 'lovers'/'haters' (I do not like that word, and I have no intention of ever using it again); they're just a lot louder than those who have only a neutral opinion/don't like or or dislike it too much.

Also, there's the whole counter-culture thing everyone else has said.

 

[gl1koz3]

This explains ALL: http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/IQ/1950-2050/

The more people, the more dumb people.

 

[8-Bit Grin]

Anyone here listen to the song 'Admit it' by Say Anything?
It pretty much bashes Anti-Comformist culture in an amusing way and sums up my initial feelings on this particular topic.

Substantially more OT:
Everything that can be said pretty much HAS been said so far.
All I have to add is that popular things tend to bring hype. When someone hears amazing things about a game, for example, they often expect more than the game actually delivers. When they finally experience the game for themselves they're often disapointed and develop an irrational hatred for it.

When I'd first heard of Halo [The original], it was in middle school. It was probably the most talked about thing there, outside of the growing hair on our male bodies. When I'd finally gotten an XBOX, it was the first game I bought because of all the good things I'd heard. After playing it though... it really didn't live up to my expectations.
I don't hate the game, but if my buddy's bring it up in conversation I usually slip out of the group. I just don't have any fond feelings for it.

I've learned that if I discover a gem on my own, it's much more enjoyable.
This may explain why I love Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Boondocks,Cave Story, and the like. None of my mainstream friends babble about it, so when I came across them I got to develop my own feelings for them.

 

[8-Bit Grin]

Anyone here listen to the song 'Admit it' by Say Anything?
It pretty much bashes Anti-Comformist culture in an amusing way and sums up my initial feelings on this particular topic.

Substantially more OT:
Everything that can be said pretty much HAS been said so far.
All I have to add is that popular things tend to bring hype. When someone hears amazing things about a game, for example, they often expect more than the game actually delivers. When they finally experience the game for themselves they're often disapointed and develop an irrational hatred for it.

When I'd first heard of Halo [The original], it was in middle school. It was probably the most talked about thing there, outside of the growing hair on our male bodies. When I'd finally gotten an XBOX, it was the first game I bought because of all the good things I'd heard. After playing it though... it really didn't live up to my expectations.
I don't hate the game, but if my buddy's bring it up in conversation I usually slip out of the group. I just don't have any fond feelings for it.

I've learned that if I discover a gem on my own, it's much more enjoyable.
This may explain why I love Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Boondocks,Cave Story, and the like. None of my mainstream friends babble about it, so when I came across them I got to develop my own feelings for them.

 

[8-Bit Grin]

[Accidental double post. I don't quite know how to delete it.]

 

[Jonny49]

With games, I think its a gamer and non-gamer issue. There are people like us who follow games, developers, systems almost religiously and there are people who just play games as something they do. They play games but they're not really "gamers" if that makes sense.

They play games that are popular because everyone has them. They wouldn't play something like Demon Souls or BlazBlue because they've never heard about them before or because they think it looks crap because it isn't "realistic" enough. So instead they stick to stuff that they know like Fifa and Call of Duty.

Now because some gamers are hate-mongering elitists, they don't want to be associated with them, so they hate on the games that they play because it makes feel "indie" or like a "proper" gamer. This is amplified by the fact that many "non-gamer, gamers" are total idiots.

It makes me sad that COD is treated this way

Well thats just my opinion, I could be talking out of my ass for all I know. xD