• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

What is a fad?

Kinggroin

Kinggroin

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
6,392
Uranus, get it?!? YOUR. ANUS.
Is there an explicitly outlined delineation that separates classic status from fad? Does context matter, or time —longevity? How much of a product or its service has to be carried over through time and perpetuated in future applications before the status of fad is eliminated?

What are gaming things that would fall into fad categorization? How about grey areas?


I ask, because the term is so callously and carelessly tossed around when describing innovations or disruptions (software or hardware) within the industry that it makes it hard to define (or build genuine discussion around).
 

Deleted member 2791

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
19,054
A fad is when you need to exclude something from your argument so it can make some sort of sense but you have no real reason to exclude it so you just call it a fad.
 

Deleted member 198

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
12,319
The only constant use of the word is by people who want to discredit something popular to feel better about themselves.

Of course nothing will be popular forever, that's how the industry works
 
L Thammy

L Thammy

Spacenoid
Member
Oct 25, 2017
50,041
Think back tot the '90s when there was a new, incredibly popular toy every other month, then schools banned them and everyone moved on to the next thing. Like when we dropped Pogs and moved onto Crazy Bones or whatever.
 
TheAvatar

TheAvatar

Member
Nov 4, 2017
695
We live in a culture that constantly wants to say "god you still play/watch that?" so they can feel better about themselves for being to intellectual for that past activity now.
 
BossAttack

BossAttack

Member
Oct 27, 2017
43,003
Shugga said:
Nintendo Switch ?
It's there, not a core feature, but it's definitely there.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

So, just Nintendo?

Kinggroin said:
Switch and PS4 both feature motion controls in there stock controllers. Our phones thrive on it.

Yes.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

No they don't. Touchpads are not motion controls. And, I'd argue the motion features of a phone are an entirely separate thing from what the Wii or Kinect were about especially since they came before the Wii.
 
Jimnymebob

Jimnymebob

Member
Oct 26, 2017
19,636
BossAttack said:
No they don't. Touchpads are not motion controls. And, I'd argue the motion features of a phone are an entirely separate thing from what the Wii or Kinect were about especially since they came before the Wii.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Dualshock 4 has gyro.
You wouldn't know, because absolutely nothing uses it, but it does.
 
Ereineon

Ereineon

Member
Nov 8, 2017
1,214
also pokemon GO is another fad... noone is playing that thing!

*goes to check/feed his gyms*
 
KiNolin

KiNolin

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,296
Kinggroin said:
It was supported for 5 years no? Had many multi million selling games. Motion controls are used today, even in the most popular platforms.

Fad?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Four years, support completely died off after 2010. In 2011 Skyward Sword was its only noteworthy release left and that one flopped by series standards (not to mention in contrast to the console userbase).
 
OP
OP
Kinggroin

Kinggroin

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
6,392
Uranus, get it?!? YOUR. ANUS.
BossAttack said:
So, just Nintendo?



No they don't. Touchpads are not motion controls. And, I'd argue the motion features of a phone are an entirely separate thing from what the Wii or Kinect were about especially since they came before the Wii.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Gyro controls and their applications on phones I feel were influenced by the Wii directly. But I don't have empirical data to back it up, only timelines and anecdotes.

Also, Switch is still a console, haha. Maybe you meant to say, "but that proves it never propagated outside Nintendo ecosystems"?

And the DS4 let's you do motion control typing. Am I imagining this?
 
zoukka

zoukka

Game Developer
Verified
Oct 28, 2017
2,361
Maybe an explosively popular design that gets copied to a point where the original intention is lost and the design doesn't translate to a longer lasting tradition of design principles.

Wii's innovations (pointer, gyro controls) are all now part of modern gaming devices so it's hard to call it a fad.
 
angel

angel

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,333
Something you look back on ten years after and say..ah, I can tell this game is from X period. Fortnite being the ultimate cash cow fad, burns fast and bright, and no one will give a fuck about it in a few years.

I do wonder if, like I play Super Mario World now and it takes me back, will todays Fortnite kids be hanging around on empty private servers in 20 years time, remembering their good times.
 
hotcyder

hotcyder

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,861
Something Immediately Popular with a short Longevity. I can't think of any VGs that fit the fad bracket.

Looking forward to this thread turning into another "Name a thing you hate"
 
BossAttack

BossAttack

Member
Oct 27, 2017
43,003
Kinggroin said:
Gyro controls and their applications on phones I feel were influenced by the Wii directly. But I don't have empirical data to back it up, only timelines and anecdotes.

Also, Switch is still a console, haha. Maybe you meant to say, "but that proves it never propagated outside Nintendo ecosystems"?

And the DS4 let's you do motion control typing. Am I imagining this?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I mean all that points to it being a fad. It's not something that ever really took off. And, I still don't consider gryo controls the same thing as full motion controls.
 
Jimnymebob

Jimnymebob

Member
Oct 26, 2017
19,636
I feel like graphical things are the big ones. So things like bloom, and realistic graphics=grey and brown colour scheme.

Pretty much every major game last gen had that colour scheme, but now, especially with the rise of HDR, we're seeing more natural looking games, full of colour, and I can't think of the last grey and brown game I saw.
 
Illusion

Illusion

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
8,407
Anything that blows up in popularity then dies out into obscurity due to lack of interest.
 
rochellepaws

rochellepaws

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,452
Ireland
Something with a strong surface level attraction that proves over time to have a lack of depth or complexity to keep the player engaged.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.