Thoughts: Is liking something uncool now?

Do we even still know how to write about something positively?

In articles prefixed with “Thoughts” I share some ideas or commentary on stuff I have seen in the gaming industry / community rather than a review of a game.

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Before I start, I am not sure where this is going to go, or what the “message” or conversation around this will be yet.

On my recent walks to and from the gym, I have been listening to some of the new podcast suggestions from my post here and in one of the most recent episode of “Side Story” recommended by Alex Antra there was a line that reminded me about something I have been thinking about a lot. I now of course cannot find the line but it touched on being positive about something or liking something. The subtext was that, liking something or writing about something without critique is sort of uncool and not good for business.

Growing up I was always “different”, it sort of came with the territory of moving country when I was 13 years old, but it in a way it gave me permission to just like what I like and be enthusiastic about those things. The most obvious “weird” thing about me I couldn’t change anyways to fit in, so why try with the things I liked. When you can’t fit in, why even try?

I therefore did get bullied for liking stuff like German punk music, and dressing mostly in black, but it also didn’t matter that much. I now feel like there is a bit of a resurgence of being positive about something or liking it being negative. We are seeing it with the Switch 2 coming out. A smaller creator who does a lot of handheld coverage that I follow on youtube, recently showed Mario Kart World on his channel and he got actual hate comments own his video, directed at him giving Nintendo exposure and enjoying the game. He seemed to genuinely like the console and game and not just do it for his channel. It was quite shocking and obviously stands out more on a small channel which has a lot less comments.

These thoughts around unashamedly liking and supporting something, always remind me of Taylor Swift. I don’t know much about her or her music, but throughout the parts of her career that I have seen, she is seemingly the only one standing up at music awards and dancing to the people performing and cheering them on. She loves music and her peers and shows it unapologetically whereas others seem to be “too cool” to do so? It always struck me as weird.

I like supporting each other and while sometimes that means constructive criticism or dialogue, supporting each other for putting our thoughts out there is a special thing to me. I don’t mean to not be critical or something we like but sometimes it is of course also ok to say “I really love this thing and I am excited by it”.

I kind of thought the “console wars” are kind over. I used to get a lot of stick for being a playstation owner rather than an Xbox owner, but I don’t really see the discourse around that anymore, however it seems to have been replaced by by the handheld gaming debate of Steam Deck, vs Windows handheld vs Switch 2. While discussions are great I disagree with trolling and outright hateful comments. I know the internet will unfortunately always have these but I want to encourage you to be enthusiastic about the things you like and enjoy. Be that retro gaming, board games, a game that was rated low by critics, or a game that people call overhyped.

Let’s share the things we are most excited and enthusiastic about in the gaming world regardless of if it is cool or the next thing. Show me what you like and loved in the last 5 years or more.

I’ll go first. (These might not be controversial but here they are)
I am throughly enjoying the Switch 2 and Mario Kart World. I always will have a soft spot for Skyrim and Stardew Valley. Playing Avowed got me excited to play more RPGs again and gave me the confidence to try. (Hence I am playing Zelda).

How about you?