Greentext

Yeah been saying 'Casuals Ruin Everything' for a while now

It's equally as bad when you discover you like something that has been around for a while and has lots of fans and you don't get accepted or realise you don't want to be part of the fans because of how shitty, toxic, dumb etc. they are. A relevant example for this is Assassin's creed for me. I never like any of the games until AC: Origins, even though I gave most of them a fair shake. AC: Origins is a 10/10 for me, I put in over 600h hours into that game, 100%'ed it and all its expansions/dlc. AC: Odyssey is good too, but I never got as into it, so a 8/10. Valhalla never looked good in any way so never even tried it. Started playing Shadows about a week ago and really enjoying it so far, not as good as Origins but mostly better than Odyssey. But damn do people not like when I mention this, like I'm not allowed to like it because I didn't like the earlier games. I have no issue with people liking them and not the ones I do, never said anything else. Music is a lot like this too. "Oh, you like their newer stuff? Fucking idiot, only the early stuff is good, I now see down on you as a person and hate every opinion you have".

Anime

I'm in the same boat with a few others here when it comes to some games like Halo and Fallout. But I feel like I'm on the brink with 2 new ones:

• Doom: I played the original when I was a kid and got bullied for it (or probably being a general nerd). 2016 and Eternal were really popular and the franchise took off; but Dark Ages feels off. I played Dark Ages for a bit, put it down, and haven't picked it up since. I think Doom is going down the shitter, especially what they did to Mick Gordon.
• Mother Mother (a band): My SO and I love their music for how unique and interesting it is; and we went to one of their first concerts at a small venue when they came into town ~10 years ago ish? Must have been <500 people. Generally no one else liked their music we shared it with, so we kept it to ourselves. Now? We went to another one a few months ago and it was at a HUGE stadium; absolutely packed. I think one of their songs went viral on TikTok - My Daddy's got a gun. We're proud of what they've accomplished, but really hope they don't lose their identity in trying to become even more popular.

I hereby name mine Mr. Law Yawnson, it's a total bore

Goddamnit yes. It’s why I’m very pro-gatekeeping. Because people who are new to a hobby because it got popular tend to ruin every-fucking-thing.

For example: flight simulator. That used to be an exclusively nerd domain up until the FS2020 version, which was released on Xbox. The result: a massive influx of new garbage payware and a decline in quality of established brands. While also making the sim worse in order to chase broader appeal. It’s gotten a bit better after covid went away and the normies dropped the hobby, thankfully.

Also: film photography. The popularity of instagram and YouTube ‘influencers’ got a lot of people into our hobby the past decade. It’s lead to increased gear prices, film being more difficult to get and the forums flooding with the dumbest possible questions, since these newcomers are allergic as fuck to reading manuals or watching any tutorial longer than thirty seconds. It’s also lead camera manufacturers to chase this new demographic by making their cameras shittier and more ‘instagram-friendly’. Here’s looking at you, Fujifilm and your shitty X-half.

Take it from someone who’s been around a bit: if you like a thing, keep newcomers away from it. Gatekeep it like the Berlin Fucking Wall, lest they completely fuck up your hobby.