Poll: Is the Escapist mostly Anti-Mainstream? (Users more so)

[Aeshi]

Heck yes. If it's even remotely successful/mainstream and isn't made by Valve or Bioware then it basically becomes illegal to do or say ANYTHING that in any way implies that it is anything other than the spawn of the Anti-Christ.

And that can be applied to just about anything, not just games.

 

[Blackpapa]

The people behind the Escapist are as mainstream as you can get. This is of course a generalization - Russ Pitts falls into this category much more than the Extra Credits crew - because being a game designer, even if obediently holding opinions that are in line with the Game Industry Philosophy Of the Week, is not mainstream in itself.

The community is mostly mainstream. Again, this is a generalization, but it should come as a surprise to nobody. The Escapist is designed to attract as many people as possible and is focused around a very broad and mainstream topic itself - gaming.

More elitist places on the web would be SomethingAwful, bay12 (makers of Dwarf Fortess) forums or the glittering gems of hatred at No Mutants Allowed.

Not that mainstream is something negative while elitist is positive, in and my itself.

 

[Zhukov]

No, of course not.

Granted, there's a fair few people here who aren't into Call of Duty and Halo. But you might have noticed that a lot of people are anticipating Skyrim, Duke Nukem, Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3, Gears of War 3 etc etc.

 

[IndianaJonny]

Not anti-cultural but counter-cultural.

 

[Nudu]

This is a dilemma. Most people vote "Yes", so voting "Yes" would make me mainstream, but voting no and maybe also makes me mainstream. I think I'll just not vote. Polls are too mainstream.

 

[Blackpapa]

Heck yes. If it's even remotely successful/mainstream and isn't made by Valve or Bioware then it basically becomes illegal to do or say ANYTHING that in any way implies that it is anything other than the spawn of the Anti-Christ.

Thing is, I've seen very many games that were financially successful and that's an objective statement that I can't dispute. On the other hand I've played very few games which I can call subjectively good.

The thing to note is that being successful and being good are two completely unrelated things. As you pointed out this doesn't apply only to games. While not necessarily mutually exclusive, the film that wins the Golden Palm isn't very likely to be the season's blockbuster in terms of revenue.

We've learned to accept that bad movies (Fast and the Furious ect) can be a commercial success despite being outright bad. I wonder why can't we apply the same metric to games?

 

[Baneat]

I think 50% mainstream, 50% non mainstream

Considering that mainstream takes up like 90+% overall, it's under-represented overall.

 

[Davey Woo]

The thing about mainstream games is that you're very easily going to find someone that doesn't like it, sometimes it is because "they're mainstream" and it's cool to not like a mainstream title, though it might also be because it's "not the right mainstream title" or possibly that it's just not on the console that the user has.

Also whatever game you make a thread about you're more likely to get more anti-game X users than users that like game X, because everyone feels the need to show their dislike for the game, because the Internet is a hostile environment after all.

 

[Gigano]

Don't think so, but since primary draw of the site is a ruthless critic, and mainstream titles will be discussed the most, there's probably a lot of criticism of them flying around.

 

[Metal Brother]

I think that the users here tend to be younger (largely teenagers, whether chronologically or mentally) and as such want something against which to rebel. I chose "maybe" because neither of the other options seemed to fit.

 

[Continuity]

I am not talking mainly about the hosts of this great site, but more so the users. I have been her for a while now... Almost two years in a couple of months and more recently it's starting to show... Now I am not saying that its bad, but it just seems so often to the point that for some reason it's like Anti-Mainstream are attracted to this site for some unknown reasons...

What do you guys think?

Its simple, the people who come to this site tend to be gaming veterans, so they've (we've) gotten tired of the run of the mill type stuff and naturally prefer innovative, or original, or just plain different games.

 

[Friendshipandmagic]

The poll lies.

Yes, the site is very anti mainstream. This place just attracts misanthropes and being annoyed at popular things has been a misanthropic staple since the 80's.

As to why it attracts misanthropes? Well the common misanthrope likes to burrow themselves in a pseudo intellectual environment. And this place gave itself the undeserved title of 'last bastion of intellect on the web' (because apparently spelling things pretty well is equivalent to being smart.)

Also look who the posterboy for the site is... Yahtzee. He hates everything. Also Bob.

They probably brought like 90% of the users to the forums.

Does being anti-misanthrope make me mainstream? Just checking.

Seriously though, I don't see much more anti-mainstream bias here than I do anyplace else. Loads of "I hate humanity, I'm so dark and edgy." types though. But thats just one posters observation.

 

[Moromillas]

I'd say it's more anti-crap-game-mechanic.

 

[Moromillas]

Also look who the posterboy for the site is... Yahtzee. He hates everything. Also Bob.

Wha...??

Yahtzee doesn't hate any games. He loves each and every one of them, so much so that he wishes they were made a whole lot better.

 

[Laurents van Cauwenberghe]

but there is one thing almost EVERYONE forgets
most people bought the console version wich was worse ( i played ps3 and xbox360 at some friend's house and i bought it for pc) and PC has waaay better controls
i bet yathzee would have had less to complain about if he played pc (he admitted he only plays console games and some pc only games)

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

I believe we are all unique.

Just like everyone else.

I am not talking mainly about the hosts of this great site, but more so the users. I have been her for a while now... Almost two years in a couple of months and more recently it's starting to show... Now I am not saying that its bad, but it just seems so often to the point that for some reason it's like Anti-Mainstream are attracted to this site for some unknown reasons...

What do you guys think?

I'm anti-anti-mainstream.
I don't conform to this poll.

*gives weird look while reading response*

Are you a happy goth, by chance?

 

[pineapplewizzard]

Votings too mainstream.

 

[OliverTwist72]

I think people who dislike popular games just make their opinion more vocal. It's human nature to try and stand out.

 

[Dissolve]

I would say that escapist subscribers are more pro-innovation than anti-mainstream. Unfortunately, the two often conflict.

 

[BanthaFodder]

yes, which I think is utterly retarded. I judge something on whether it's good or not, not whether it's "mainstream" or not.
ugh, fucking hipsters...