I like what I like and don’t like what I don’t like. This is the same for most people, but I do not like anything that is popular. Or very few things. TV-wise, I hate Friends (though I did watch it for several years out of ennui, I think), Seinfeld (the people are awful), Game of Thrones (only saw The Red Wedding episode and was horrified. Read the first several pages of the first book, and the prose, it is so purple), Breaking Bad (only saw the penultimate episode and hated Walter White), and The Sopranos (saw a bit of an episode with the psychologist, and ughhhhhhhhhh).
I’m watching a video of one person who has never played Final Fantasy VII playing it for the first time with someone whose played it before and loved it guiding him (video included below). He’s made a few comments about feeling pressured about his choices and that he feels like he has to like the game, but he’s not really joking. It’s hard enough to stream a game beacuse there will always be backseat gamers in the chat.
I watched Ian play Dark Souls on stream and there was always someone who wanted to give him tips or spoil things. I once told him where a bonfire was, but he couldn’t find it and got really stressed. I think bonfires are acceptable to point out, but in general, I don’t want to spoil a game for someone.
I also remember watching someone stream Bloodborne when it came out and he had to flat-out say that he did not want backseat gaming or spoilers. There were people in his chat trying to argue with him about his rules for his own damn stream. As in why backsseat gaming and spoilers should be OK. Seriously.
If I ever stearmed a From game, I would be very firm about this. Then again, at this point, I would want spoilers from the games because I would be thrilled to find something different about the games that I hadn’t already known. I recently found out something about Dark Souls II….can’t remember what it was…anyway, I like to learn new things.
I don’t care that I like different things than most people, but it gets annoying real quick to have to say, “Yeah, no, I did not like X, Y, or Z.” I have talked more than once about how I got dumped once because I hated Pulp Fiction. Eevn though I told the guy I would not like it, he inisted on taking me to see it and that I would love it. Once it was done, he asked me what I thought. I naively told him what I thought and afterwards, he said that he could not be with someone who had that world view.
What did I take away from that incident? Never, ever, EVER to share how I really felt about a piece of pop culture with someone who really loved it–if I did not agree. It took me too long to realize that many people over-identify with pop culture that is significant to them to what I conside to be an unhealthy degree.
By the way, one of the fiunniest things I’ve seen is Johnny when they were at Eurogamer playing FFVII as part of their Late to the Party series with Aoife who’s Twitter handle is based on Tifa’s name. Johnny mentioned that there was no way they could win because they had to have the exactly right reaction or Aoife would pulverize them. Which was true.
I do understand wanting people to like what you like. Or really identifying with a piece of music, say, that has shaped who you are. but to take it to the extent that someone who does not agree with you is rejecting you as a person, well, that’s harder for me to digest. And if you don’t really want to know what someone thinks of something you love, don’t ask for their honest opinion!
It still astonishes me that my ex truly thought I would enjoy Pulp Fiction. But, I came to realize it was more that he couldn’t believe that someone would not feel the same way he did. He was like that in general, actually, and it made sense in retrospect that he dumped me for emphatically not likeing a movie I SAID I WANS’T GOING TO LIKE.
We tried to stay friends afterwards (only because I, shamefully, wanted to get back together with him), and he dragged me to two more movies. Titanic, which I KNEW I would hate even before we got there. And I did. So much. Even Kate Winslet’s naked boobs could not save the movie.
The second was Dangerous Beauty about a courtesan during the French Revolution. Or something like that. There was a scene in which the courtesan was spending an afternoon with her beloved (a nobleman who could not be with her because of his station, but they truly loved each other. Honestly!). My ex said it was the most romantic relationship he had ever seen.
I said indignantly, “Of course she can afford to be romantic with him–it’s what she’s paid to do! She doesn’t have to pick up his dirty socks from the floor or clean up after him!” My ex was not happy I said that, but what a wanker he was.
He scarred me, though, into believing that no one wanted my actual opinion. Which, to be fair, wasn’t that far from the truth. I get it. When people are passionate about something, they don’t want naysayers. Captain Awkward likes to say, “Don’t yuck other people’s yums.” Which, in general, is a good thing to keep in mind. But if someone asks for my opinion, am I supposed to assume they don’t really want it? I think the former is fine for a general conversation, but if someone says to me, “Hey, Minna, what did you think of Knives Out?“or is talking to me specifically about it, then I want to feel I can give them my honest (if not complete) answer. I’m not going to say I hated it (which I did. A lot.) But I’m also not going to say I love it (which I most emphatically did not). There should be room for me to asy that it wasn’t my thing.
(Oh my god I hated it so much. I wrote four posts on why I hated it so much. Except Jamie Lee Curtis. She was amazing in it. Plus most of the cast chewing up scenery. That was good, too. But everything else….ugh.)