Does Hype Cause An Unfair Backlash?

[windlenot]

Often when browsing "worst of" threads, I find people picking generally liked (and very popular) games to be the worst game of the year, or "most boring," something along those lines. And many times in addition to that, people will say it was too hyped up. If BioShock Infinite was too hyped for some people, is it fair saying that game is worse than, say Ride to Hell: Retribution?

Does hype create an unfair hatred? Or are people being purposefully flammatory?

EDIT: And to follow this up, does disappointment in a game warrant it being "bad?" Is it justified to say that a game is the worst of the year when it only disappointed you?

 

[Thaluikhain]

Well...to an extent...if people keep blathering on about how wonderful something is, they get annoying, and by extension, whatever they were talking about. This is especially true of non-stop advertising.

 

[krazykidd]

Depends on whos doing the hyping. If the devs/publishers are hyping up a game to be a certain way, and it isn't then it's deserved (like ME3 and choice matters and Aliens: CM in it's entirety).

If gamers hype up a game, then it's not deserved because then it's a matter of opinion.

 

[Elfgore]

I think it does. I am an offender of doing it too.

I refuse to read the Hunger Games books or see the movies. Only about 10% of the reason is I don't like books with female protagonists and the rest is all because my last two years of high school all I heard about was Hunger Games this and Hunger Games that. I was sick of hearing about it, that I refuse to read them. No matter how good they could be.

 

[Vegosiux]

No, any (reasonable) backlash to hype is fair. It might cause one to "miss out", but I think it's completely fair to go "OH SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!" when someone keeps gushing and gushing about something while there are other things and priorities on my mind.

 

[Weaver]

For me it does to a degree. I think a lot of problem for me is with language. People tell me, constantly, that Breaking Bad is amazing. As such I expect to be literally amazed when watching it. I expect it to be really and truly the greatest thing I've ever seen. Nothing ever is and nothing ever lives up to the hype.

People need to stop reaching to the top shelf for words to describe things that are above average or good.

 

[EternallyBored]

Eh I don't really get hype backlash, I don't know about anyone else, but I've never experienced this idea that just because people tell me about something they like means they are trying to push it on me. I've never had any problem completely avoiding popular stuff either, I have friends that like and love to talk about things I don't like, but its never taken more than a, "yeah I'm not really interested in it" to get them to either leave me alone while they talk about it, or talk about something else with me, I extend them the same courtesy if I talk about something they aren't into.

If anything I find the hype backlash more annoying than the hype, because it has a tendency to hijack and derail threads and conversations that were otherwise positive and interesting. Usually when there are conversations about media in general, someone feels the need to run in and start bashing whatever piece of media they view as overhyped. For example, when someone wants to create a thread to have a conversation about the newest Call of Duty, there's always a few people that feel the need to come in and contribute nothing more than, "Call of Duty is overhyped trash and shouldn't be played by anyone", regardless of what the actual thread is talking about, same with console threads, it's like there are people contractually obligated to come in and post about PC gaming, even if it has nothing to do with the topic, and derails the whole conversation.

Still, its a minor annoyance at best, I just think people seem to care way too much about how other people view the things they like or dislike.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

If someone is going to keep going on about how amazing a game is, only for that game to fall flat, that could definitely cause a lot of backlash it wouldn't have otherwise earned. I'm sure there's an alternate universe wherein Daikatana is exactly the same with the only difference being that John Romero didn't mention anything about making you his *****. It was still a turd but it was more along the lines of Superman 64 instead of sitting on a throne. I don't think Fable 2 or, Fable 3 would have been saved backlash though...people kind of learned how to ignore Peter's voice at some point between Black & White and, Fable.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

If what is promised is not delivered then yes, disappointment and thus backlash is multiplied. Believing what people say who are NOT the developers about what a game is supposed to do is your own fault. When it is the developer who fails to bring you the game they described, it is their fault. Add in the fact certain people like to revel in other people's disappointment and inflame the matter and you have the hyped game syndrome.

The only thing I can think of where I would be crushed by the hype not being true, developer or otherwise, is Star Citizen. I have faith but I know it will sting if I don't get what I want out of it.

 

[MysticSlayer]

If BioShock Infinite was too hyped for some people, is it fair saying that game is worse than, say Ride to Hell: Retribution?

Does hype create an unfair hatred? Or are people being purposefully flammatory?

There comes a point in balancing it. Sure, BioShock Infinite is hardly worse than Ride to Hell: Retribution, but also consider that:

1. Most people haven't played Ride to Hell: Retribution, and some of them may not have ever heard of it.
2. If either of those games is going to be setting a trend, it will be Infinite, and some people don't want it to set trends.

Just remember, though, there is also a thing called undeserved love. If a product keeps receiving it, it becomes very hard to not react more strongly to it than usual, especially when you have a game like Infinite where all the fans are determined to silence dissenters by calling them "hardcore contrarians with no legitimate opinion" and "idiots who can't enjoy a complex story."[footnote]Yes, those are actual quotes I've seen and have had thrown my way.[/footnote] It magnifies the hate quite a bit when you not only didn't enjoy the product that much but now have to deal with fans who apparently set logic and civilized discourse aside when they popped the disc in. Oh yeah, and the "Let me share my enlightened, God-revealed opinion to you," attitude doesn't help anything.

In short, though, yes, it can lead to undeserved hatred and a failure to ask how you can improve the product. Even I have to sometimes stop myself and realize that BioShock Infinite had a lot of great ideas, but it just didn't know how to work with them most of the time. However, I think we also need to equally question a game that receives undue love and whose fans wish to silence non-fans just as much as haters desire to silence fans.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Hype can blow out of proportion and "hurt" a lot of people if the finished product doesn't deliver. Remember Duke Nukem Forever? Aliens Colonial Marines and the list goes on.

I am currently hyped out of my mind for Witcher 3 and I really have high hopes that CDProjekt RED will deliver a fantastic game because they haven't failed me now so here's hoping.

 

[Tom_green_day]

I think it's odd when a really hugely popular game comes out and everyone is loving it, and then a while on people start emerging that pretend they didn't like it and think it was awful, when in reality they were joining in the hype when it came out. The main one I can think of is Skyrim, with GTA 5 doing this now (and it's one of the reasons I find people prefer Fallout New Vegas over Fallout 3) where the internet was united in love for Skyrim but now you get people saying "Am I the only one" (a phrase I HATE!!!) "who didn't like Skyrim?" And then goes on to list stupid reasons which didn't apply at the time and only do now, or ones that were dumb at any time. It's like Internet Hipsters saying they dislike what everyone else likes, except so many people say it that it doesn't really apply.