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had an interesting conversation want to hear thoughts

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Patatitta
1,245 posts
Joined February 2020
Topic Starter
Patatitta
So both yesterday and today the topic of gatekeeping and popularity came out while in a conversation with someone, and I wanted to hear your thoughts

yesterday, someone I know IRL told me that they prefeer the things that they enjoy to be less popular, as they believe it getting more popular may it worse, either by getting so overexposed to it that they hate it or just it becoming more comercial. I personally disagree, I say that my personal enjoyement of something isn't really tied to how popular it is or whatever, and that I don't think that popularity has much to do in quality.

And today, I just had a similar conversation with someone online, they told me that it's good to gatekeep some stuff, as sometimes it's a better experience to discover something by yourself than to have it recommended to you. They pointed to the recent boom of lain as an example of something that should have been gatekept. I disagreed with this too, I said that gatekeeping isn't really a good think in most circumstances, and that I want the things I enjoy to become popular as I want more people to experience what is some of my favourite pieces of media of all time, and that it being recommended or self-discovered doesn't really change the enjoyemeny factor

what do you guys think?
Karmine
890 posts
Joined November 2015
Karmine
I pretty much agree with you, I'm happy when something I like gets more attention. Refraining from sharing what you like just to feel special makes no sense to me.

Although the concerns about something becoming more commercial do make sense it will only affect future stuff (new music of a specific genre for example) but the old stuff you like won't disappear and there will always be people keeping it "the old way" without really being affected by the changes in popularity.
Also since more people enjoy the thing, they are more likely to create and bring diversity to it (new music subgenres, new discussions/perspective on a movie...).

I've seen gatekeeping usually comes from people who want to feel superior/special for liking "underground" things as if something can't be good and popular at the same time, or something being less well known makes it better somehow.
WitherMite
1,599 posts
Joined August 2019
WitherMite
something being popular/commercialized doesnt ever affect my enjoyment of it itself, but it does often affect my enjoyment of discussing it online / engaging with its community. I tend to turn to smaller groups if I do still interact with it to avoid that obnoxious loud minority that always seems to pop up to make megapopular things unfun.

not quite to the extent that I would believe gatekeeping is a good thing though.
Manishh
2,093 posts
Joined October 2020
Manishh
^
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This


subjective in my opinion. Both opinions make sense, though depend on the person. For example, one of the reason for me to not start One piece was that it was annoying to look at people simping for it, I saw people recommending one piece every single time. it is a bad reason I know but that's me.
Last edited by Manishh , edited 1 time in total.
Nuuskamuikkunen
1,247 posts
Joined March 2013
Nuuskamuikkunen
I enjoy less popular stuff rather because I want to go blind on some stuff, wondering what am I going to find there. If something is way too popular it sort of ruins what am I going to experience, however, I wouldn't deny enjoying something popular or hate something because it became way too popular. Who knows? I might end up liking/disliking it but I prefer it to be by my own criterion.
B0ii
591 posts
Joined November 2021
B0ii
I feel like when something gets popular/commercialized, it doesn't get ruined, but when the creators because of said popularization/commercialization get greedy, that's when it gets ruined. Which is why I believe that some people choose to gatekeep the things that they like. I don't really have anything else to say about it so uh yeah enjoy this cat.

Behrauder
94 posts
Joined June 2021
Behrauder
It depends on what the thing in question is about, if it's a game, if it becomes more popular, the company will make more money and be able to invest more in the game, which is good.

If it's an anime, and it becomes more popular, figures start to be produced, and I'll want to buy them. Avoiding spoilers would be a challenge for most people, but I'm good at that.

But if it's something different to that, generally everything that becomes famous, many people start to like it just because everyone likes it, and this generates a lot of false fans and people who only understand the subject superficially, which makes it more difficult to filter people, and differentiate between those who really understand the subject, and those who just like it because it's the new trend. Furthermore, the thing in question may have its essence changed, and for those who don't like changes, and prefer how it was before, it's bad.

Sorry if I said something strange, I never thought about the subject before and just wrote what came to mind, without revision...

Last edited by Behrauder , edited 1 time in total.
synthwavesquid
206 posts
Joined February 2021
synthwavesquid
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Last edited by synthwavesquid , edited 1 time in total.
Kobold84
Global Moderator
1,250 posts
Joined September 2013
Kobold84
If it's a multiplayer or community-oriented media, then by all means it should be gatekept. But you have to consider that you yourself would probably not want to have some things get too popular.
For example, if your favorite manga gets an anime adaptation that is super popular, then it's not just the further seasons which would be affected, the manga itself might change drastically. For completed works I guess it doesn't matter at all unless you're a part of the fandom.
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