"Nice Opinion you got there. What Youtuber gave it to you?"

[SalvaPot]

So, here is the deal. There is a looooot of media nowadays and it just gets harder and harder to catch up. There seems to be a need to have the "right" opinion on the internet, and also to pick and choose what media you are going to consume instead of taking a chance and finding you like something for yourself. So many youtubers and reviewers have made their names out of negative or positive reviews.

So, this thread is a question. How much do you let your opinions be influenced by critics? Do you like to give a chance to, say, a game or movie, going in blind. Or do you value your time and money so much that you'll rather watch a video to get a grasp of what to expect. And, if you watch that video, do you form your opinion on that media entirely on that review, or do you just decide to ignore it for now until you get a chance to form your own opinion?

Internet people means everything, really. Steam reviews, reddit reviews, youtubers, twitch streamers, tik tokers. Even Era counts , reading other peoples opinions on a media you have not consumed yet and basing your own opinion on that.

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[Jawmuncher]

I try to play/watch anything before watching anyone else's opinion of it. The most I'll typically check is if something is recommended or not on opencritic.

After I play something, that's when I'll watch a review to see if how they felt is something I agree with or not.

 

[Renna Hazel]

My opinion can be formed by people I trust, who know my taste and preferences. It's not really influenced much by internet circles, though I can't say they have no impact at all.

 

[Bradbury]

I have a few critics/youtubers/friends/podcasters/etc with similar tastes of mine. If they like something is easily for it to pick up my interest, outside of them I may check but hardly it will move the needle in any direction. I know my particular taste very well at this point

 

[Atom]

I basically tend to try anything to get my own opinion. With Steam's refund policy, the ability to get cheap games, things like gamepass and other subscription services, there's never been a better time to dip into something and see for yourself what you think of it.

I'll still keep track of reviews and whatnot, but I'll tend to look at them holistically or at ones that I know typically fit my tastes more. And if it's a game I've not played I'll basically never use reviews to make claims about what a game is like as if it was coming from me.

 

[Desma]

It can be an easy too fall into. People love to hear things they agree with.

 

[MidnightEquinox]

Yeah, it's something I notice a lot. Especially noticeable when people repeat things, and when people act like there's a "proper" opinion everyone should trend to, and people repeat each other. It's fairly disturbing. Death sentence for MMOs and other online games a lot of the time because the "crowd" gets an opinion and then it just feeds itself.

I can generally derive what a game is like from bits and pieces of various information, but how well reviewed a game is is largely orthogonal to my enjoyment of it. This seems to very much not be the case for a lot of people. Quite often I really enjoyed a game and it was apparently panned and I found that very confusing.

I consume things like Steam reviews, reddit comments, that's about it. I don't really know what an "internet critic" would be. Well, sometimes I read Rock Paper Shotgun.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

no... nor any single written review or think piece. If its someone I generally agree with it might at most slightly change my priorities.
if a large amount consider a piece of media to be great or terrible then its worth looking into why, rather than waste time and money.

 

[The Quentulated Mox]

I'll read reviews from publications, but I have not seen a single Youtube review channel that I don't think is at least slightly contemptible. Even the best ones (or rather, least bad) tend to exaggerate or get extremely reductive for the sake of views. At most I'll look at gameplay footage and trust my own judgement these days.

 

[eraFROMAN]

No, but I can tell when people do.

Castlevania 2 isn't bad. At all. ;)

 

[mopinks]

the terrible thumbnails scare me away from all youtube critics

 

[SalvaPot]

Yeah, it's something I notice a lot. Especially noticeable when people repeat things, and when people act like there's a "proper" opinion everyone should trend to, and people repeat each other. It's fairly disturbing. Death sentence for MMOs and other online games a lot of the time because the "crowd" gets an opinion and then it just feeds itself.

I can generally derive what a game is like from bits and pieces of various information, but how well reviewed a game is is largely orthogonal to my enjoyment of it. This seems to very much not be the case for a lot of people. Quite often I really enjoyed a game and it was apparently panned and I found that very confusing.

I consume things like Steam reviews, reddit comments, that's about it. I don't really know what an "internet critic" would be. Well, sometimes I read Rock Paper Shotgun.

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Internet people means everything, really. Steam reviews, reddit reviews, youtubers, twitch streamers, tik tokers. Even here on Era, reading other peoples opinions on a media you have not consumed yet and basing your own opinion on that.

 

[Dyno]

I dont read reviews or watch influencers etc so games pretty much release in isolation for me. I'm not even trying to dodge spoilers or anything either, just the content doesn't interest me.

 

[Deleted member 91227]

No. I barely consume reviews and never watch video reviews. I just watch trailers, read some previews and watch some gameplay footage to get a sense and then glance at how it's reviewing overall. No one persons opinion is meaningful to me and I know my tastes pretty well.

 

[Servbot24]

Sure if someone I trust says that something is a certain way I will general assume that they're not totally lying

Of course that generally applies to things that I don't care about enough to experience for myself. I don't care about Madden. If Madden 2023 gets a 100 on metacritic I will assume that it must be a really good one. But that new opinion of mine has literally zero consequence.

 

[Manu]

It's not just Youtube mind you. I've lost count of how many times I've seen an exchange in Era that goes like this:

Person A: "So I'm not caught up on [game/movie], what happened now?"
Person B: *proceeds to explain what happened in the least charitable, most negative way possible*
Person A: "Wow I'm glad I didn't spend money on this piece of shit lol, what a shitshow."

 

[dr.rocktopus]

To some degree yeah, some people have made interesting points or takes on games that have influenced me to check them out. I think to some degree we are influenced by our exposure to media.

 

[The Mango Sentinel]

Most won't admit it, but people love to just parrot shit they heard on the internet/podcast/whatever influencer they enjoy, despite never interacting with whatever media they're trying to discuss

 

[Mekanos]

I can't remember the last time I read or watched a review

I'm more likely to care about my friends' opinions, as I know their tastes and they know mine

 

[Hrodulf]

I don't look at reviews or watch YouTubers or whatever else. At this point in my life, I have a pretty good idea of what I will and won't like.

 

[Diogo Arez]

Nope, I usually only use reviews nowadays to see if games have major issues to look out for, everything else I gather for myself, if there's a thing I won't ever do is write a review or say something about a game just because someone else said it

 

[RiOrius]

If you haven't played Anthem yourself, you're not allowed to rag on it.

Spoiler

Don't worry, I have played Anthem, so this comment is legal.

 

[Crossing Eden]

You can absolutely tell who watches cinemasins based on the way they engage with media.

 

[Ex-Psych]

Watching Gameplay Trailers is usually the only make or break point for me.

If the game I'm interested in had a poor gameplay trailer, I would just wait for the metacritic review to finalize buying it or not (anything above 70 would be a buy).

So im in between sort of.

 

[Viale]

I try not to give a strong opinion on anything unless I've actually experienced at least part of it myself.

For instance, I have a friend who had pretty much written off TLoU 2 as only violence porn based on YouTube criticism at the time, and it felt off to have such a strong opinion based on something he had never played.

 

[Recluse]

Not at all, until I have enough information to form my own opinion I don't have one.
Far too often I've absolutely hated things that have had glowing recommendations, and enjoyed things that have been near universally panned.
While there are certain reviewers I'm more likely to agree with or trust the opinions of, I don't let them influence my conclusion.

 

[TheChungusAmongUs]

The only youtube reviewer I even watch now is Cosmonaut Variety Hour, but most of the times I have seen the thing he reviews before he makes a video on it.

 

[Ra]

Where is the line drawn? Is someone you know personally posting that something is not worth your time valid enough?

"Have to experience it yourself or gtfo" is an expensive and petty ideal to which no one lives up.

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

Not so much for media, but if I'm buying a product that costs more than $500 you bet I'm going to be watching a couple of reviews of the different options.

I do check out the usual recommendations when it comes to movies, but always avoid reviews of films I have not watched.

 

[Captain of Outer Space]

I can't form a personal opinion on something I haven't played, but I can make a pretty good guess at whether I'll enjoy a game or not from what's shown in trailers or details that are released. That's not hard.

I can see what the general vibes are from people I follow on SM or Content Platforms.

 

[RetroRunner]

I've watched a grand total of 0 YouTube reviews. If someone won't bother to write it down I'm not wasting my fucking life. It serves me well on political and religious bullshit too

 

[SalvaPot]

Not so much for media, but if I'm buying a product that costs more than $500 you bet I'm going to be watching a couple of reviews of the different options.

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That's fine. What I'm asking is more like, you see a few reviews of options on that product and pick one, and then you go and talk about the other products you haven't tried as if you know they are bad because a review said they are.

 

[Ruisu]

Where is the line drawn? Is someone you know personally posting that something is not worth your time valid enough?

"Have to experience it yourself or gtfo" is an expensive and petty ideal to which no one lives up.

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I don't think you need to experience everything yourself to have an opinion on it, but it also depends on the opinion. "I'm not into it" is fine even if you just watched a review/analysis of it without playing/watching yourself. If the opinion you're expressing is more on the hot-take side, it's inevitable that people will have a problem with it if you're just sharing that based on that indirect experience.

A certain youtuber criticizing the "The Boys" TV show comes to mind.

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

That's fine. What I'm asking is more like, you see a few reviews of options on that product and pick one, and then you go and talk about the other products you haven't tried as if you know they are bad because a review said they are.

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Yeah I do that too. Just in case I sometimes point to the source that gave the opinion, more often I do not.

In the PC hardware thread for example, Monitors, SSD, CPU coolers, etc. You might find me suggesting parts I personally haven't tried, but saw that Youtuber A or Youtuber B found to be the best ones.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

Pfft, I only get my opinions from top quality, free range, all organic Youtubers.

None of that processed, genetically engineered opinion garbage polluting my body.

 

[SteveWinwood]

View: https://twitter.com/JayBauman1/status/1530631097142362114

this is still very funny to me

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

I do not take the opinion of anyone as gospel until I try something for myself. Too many of my favorite things get shit on by people online for me to every trust anyone else. I'll hear what people have to say and consider it against my own experience, but there's no way to know for sure if something is for you without trying it. I imagine a lot of people have missed out on stuff they might like because they heard it was bad and moved on.

And also, it's super frustrating when I'm trying to talk to someone about something, they keep talking about how much it sucks, and I realize they just watchhed a popular youtube video without actually experiencing it themselves. I don't smugly call them out like the title of this thread or anything, but when someone does admit they just watched a video on why it sucks, I'll note it.

 

[AgeEighty]

A lot more people are going to vote "No" than actually are "no"s in reality.

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

Basing your opinion of media you haven't consumed on what other said is only normal.

The only issue is doing the same with media you have consumed.

 

[arts&crafts]

If a Meta score is in the red, in most cases I will not watch / play that, but that is rare. I dont follow any youtubers so I dont have any singular opinion.

 

[blueredandgold]

Not the last podcast thread, but one before that, there was something I think I said or read that was close to this - gaming podcasts (to narrow it down) when they were just itty bitty widdle baby things and there wasn't any real established 'formula' yet were rough.

This was what, probably around the time the 360/PS3 era was maybe a year old? So while there was 'enough' around there was still a lot of stuff that you either wanted to know about or just enjoy people talking about what you were playing.

One thing that was weird (just one) was recognition or acknowledgement of 'backlash' towards games generally agreed upon to be rather good. GTAV got a 10, and there was some point that any counter-points to this supposed fact was heresy. For example, the podcasts that would trawl through the yearly XBLA winter releases came to understand they were influencing conversations around those games moreso than the reviews were.

I haven't played GTAV (but I do have on my Steam backlog) and it's interchangeable with whatever popular game you want to name from that time to now, but it's amazing that with the rush of content that's here now (everywhere you look, any platform, even games themselves are bottomless content buckets these days) that it's more difficult than ever to find a consensus on something.

Apart from IGN who else started toying with the concept of re-reviews?

 

[Chance Hale]

I don't follow a single gaming critic or channel outside of digital foundry which is mostly tech. For better or worse

 

[Sephiroth]

Cornbread78 :)

 

[AndrewDean84]

No. No one on the internet knows better than me.

 

[Deleted member 34949]

Nope. I generally know what I'll like from doing my own investigation, and what outside opinions I consider usually come from friends and people I know (that aren't Youtubers/critics) that share similar taste to mine.

It gets brought up in retro gaming threads here in particular that it feels like there's a generation of people whose opinion of NES games are purely informed by people like AVGN and co. where you get okay games with a handful of admittedly egregious segments (TMNT 1 on NES is what I'm thinking of, but this applies to a lot of games) that get dismissed as total shit because a bunch of YouTube people said they were.

 

[diablogg]

For movies I generally like to go in almost completely blind. Movie trailers seem to give away some of the best moments of the film so I generally look at the movie poster image and maybe the genre tags and decide off that.

For games, I guess if it's a new IP I know nothing about I'm cool with a couple trailers, hopefully solely gameplay trailers just to get a vibe/peak at how it plays. Or with known IP / sequels I know for sure am going to play I'll usually watch the very first trailer that releases for it and then nothing after.

When it comes to reviews, I don't like to watch video / read anything. At best I'll look at an aggregate number on open critic and as long as it's over say I dunno a 60 it generally tells me the game isn't at least fundamentally broken. (Even when I ask for opinions on stuff from my friends I always qualify just give it a 1-10 rating with no other info.)

edit: I do enjoy going back and watching/reading reviews after I beat the game or shelved it indefinitely.

I guess I have OCD tendencies so if I read something about a game that's like this game is great but the combat sucks or Chapter 2 is amazing. I can't get those thoughts outta my head and just end up obsessing over them instead of enjoying the experience. I find it's better for me to avoid that stuff entirely (other than strictly numerical scores, they don't seem to bother / affect me.)

 

[icecream]

Almost all the people voting No are lying.

Unless you live in a bubble, there is no way you are only exposed to new media from direct promotions. You read comments, get referred to things from friends who color it with their own opinions, follow what your favorite influencer when they name drop it… and likewise no one reads the first post of an Era news announcement thread and pops off.

Everyone is influenced as soon as they read one opinion.

 

[Elfgore]

I try my best not to have it influence what I tell others or say online. It will obviously influence my own personal opinions on if I should buy it or not.

For example, I've not played Pathologic, I've only watched two YouTube videos tell me it's good. I'll say it has some neat story elements, but I won't call it good or bad until I play it. I did buy it though because of those videos.

 

[The Shape]

For games I check some videos, no particular YouTuber, and no let's play. Just some random opinion videos.

For movies, never. I always go in blind. In fact I don't even watch trailers for horror movies, which is the genre I most watch.

 

[Mupod]

I've always trusted my own impressions over others...I bought games like God Hand and Deadly Premonition right when they came out despite miserable reviews, because they looked super interesting to me. Likewise most of the gaming streamers I watch are people like Nextlander whose tastes in games could not be further from mine, lol.

It's not like I'm stubborn about it or anything though. I just tend to look for impressions more from people I actually know. There have been a few occasions where a certain critic taking interest in a specific game has made my ears perk up, like STALKER fan Rob Zacny being positive on Death Stranding. But for the most part I can tell if I'll like a game just by watching some gameplay and I'm very, very rarely wrong.