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Overrated is the most creatively bankrupt term you can use

TheWordyGuy

TheWordyGuy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,623
The word exists for a reason - because many things in life ARE over-rated.

I've dined at restaurants that were over-rated, read novels that were over-rated, watched movies and television shows that were over-rated... the list is endless

Most times you can't even explain why something is over-rated. All you can do is point out the flaws, and wonder why so many people are overlooking those flaws, which are usually pretty obvious. Typically, over-rated things don't survive the passage of time. People tend to look back and realize that the over-rated thing was just a fad, and that people were over-rating it, at the time, in order to be a member of the club.

Let's face it, the Harry Potter books, at the height of their popularity, were ridiculously over-rated. Do kids today read those books with the same zeal they did back in the day - not a chance. And honestly if you were to say to me today, "Well, actually, no the Harry Potter books weren't over-rated at all," I'd probably just back out of that discussion immediately. I mean, people were literally pushing each other aside to buy those books at launch in the bookstores. Time has pretty much shown us that those books WERE over-rated.

There are millions of examples like that.

(And if I had to choose a gaming example, I'd probably say The Witcher 3 is over-rated, which I suspect is what this thread is partially all about.)
 

Deleted member 419

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,009
I've never really understood what the point of the word is. Why not just say the game is terrible? Or mediocre?
 
ShinUltramanJ

ShinUltramanJ

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,950
TheWordyGuy said:
The word exists for a reason - because many things in life ARE over-rated.

I've dined at restaurants that were over-rated, read novels that were over-rated, watched movies and television shows that were over-rated... the list is endless

Most times you can't even explain why something is over-rated. All you can do is point out the flaws, and wonder why so many people are overlooking those flaws, which are usually pretty obvious. Typically, over-rated things don't survive the passage of time. People tend to look back and realize that the over-rated thing was just a fad, and that people were over-rating it, at the time, in order to be a member of the club.

Let's face it, the Harry Potter books, at the height of their popularity, were ridiculously over-rated. Do kids today read those books with the same zeal they did back in the day - not a chance. And honestly if you were to say to me today, "Well, actually, no the Harry Potter books weren't over-rated at all," I'd probably just back out of that discussion immediately. I mean, people were literally pushing each other aside to buy those books at launch in the bookstores. Time has pretty much shown us that those books WERE over-rated.

There are millions of examples like that
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I agree.

There's nothing wrong with the word, or feeling something isn't as good as it's hyped up to be.
 
MegaManTrigger

MegaManTrigger

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
8,734
Burnburn said:
So stop using it. It doesn't say anything about the game, it's not valid criticism, it only means that you can't stand that other people like something you don't. It lacks context, anything can be overrated to anything, it doesn't mean anything it's just slapped on everything as a quick insult. You're just meta complaining, a game can't help that people like it, it's not a game's fault that people like it. Use actual real things to say why you don't like a game.

Thank you for listening
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The problem is when people say just "overrated" and don't explain why they think so. It's kind of like when people say "No it's not" as a counterargument to someone making a claim.
 
Metfanant

Metfanant

Member
Oct 27, 2017
189
There is nothing wrong with feeling that something is overrated...now if you're just throwing the word around with nothing to back it up you might have an argument...but that goes for just about anything...
 
GameChanger

GameChanger

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,935
Yeah it's overrated.

On a more serious note, I like using it. I basically use it to describe highly rated/praised games that I did not end up enjoying. The most obvious example that comes to my mind is GTA 4. I just cannot understand why it got the praise it did because of how mundane it was and how outdated the gameplay felt. The word "overrated" is just one of the easier ways for me to express my disagreement. I don't like it when it's used in drive-by posts. I think it's a perfectly fine term to use as long as you elaborate and explain why you think something is overrated.
 
Bhonar

Bhonar

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
6,066
FiveSide said:
I've never really understood what the point of the word is. Why not just say the game is terrible? Or mediocre?
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You seriously don't understand the general meaning of the word?

The restaurant analogy is perfect. If something is rated as 5-star average reviews all over the place, but then you try it and think it's mediocre, then you can use the term overrated.

It's a different situation than if a restaurant has middling 3-star average reviews, then you try it and think it's mediocre. You would not use the term "mediocre" for both scenarios, because one is different circumstances than the other.
 
Milk

Milk

Prophet of Truth
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
3,820
100% agreed. I've never liked the word. Most of the time I just see it used in this obnoxious high horse tone that can be boiled down to "Ew I don't like this thing, people that like this thing are wrong".
 

Deleted member 419

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,009
Bhonar said:
You seriously don't understand the general meaning of the word?

The restaurant analogy is perfect. If something is rated as 5-star average reviews all over the place, but then you try it and think it's mediocre, then you can use the term overrated.

It's a different situation than if a restaurant has middling 3-star average reviews, then you try it and think it's mediocre. You would not use the term "mediocre" for both scenarios, because one is different circumstances than the other.
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If you're going to bother quoting my two sentences then at least read it carefully. I understand the meaning, I said I don't understand the point.

If I think a game/restaurant is mediocre, why do I care what other people think regarding its quality? If I say it's overrated or if I say it's mediocre, I'm saying the same exact thing. So why even bother saying it's overrated? What is the point?

EDIT: I suppose the point is specifically adding "not only do I think it's mediocre, but I also think you're wrong for having a different opinion about it," in which case there still is no point because it's an asinine thing to say.
 
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Kubricks

Kubricks

Member
Oct 31, 2017
913
Manu said:
I can dislike a game because it's just not for me.

I can also dislike a game and not get why everybody likes it so much, because its issues are so apparent to me that I can't see how anyone can disregard them. Hence, the game is overrated to me.
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But where do you draw the line? how do you define "everybody? Opinion from popular forum? Scores from the metacritic? How are they representative or accountable?

Just say you do not like the game, or it's not for you, or you do not understand why a certain thread praise the game so much without acknowledging a certain crippling aspect of it.

"Overrated" is often use as a strawman.
Your opinion is not different from the majority or anything, it's just another opinion carrying equal weight to all others.
Just say you do not like the game is more concise.
 
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Bhonar

Bhonar

Banned
Oct 31, 2017
6,066
FiveSide said:
If you're going to bother quoting my two sentences then at least read it carefully. I understand the meaning, I said I don't understand the point.

If I think a game/restaurant is mediocre, why do I care what other people think regarding its quality? If I say it's overrated or if I say it's mediocre, I'm saying the same exact thing. So why even bother saying it's overrated? What is the point?

EDIT: I suppose the point is specifically adding "not only do I think it's mediocre, but I also think you're wrong for having a different opinion about it," in which case there still is no point because it's an asinine thing to say.
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Regarding the bolded, then why do you care if other people say something is overrated? It goes both ways, you shouldn't care about either.

Regarding your final statement of thinking someone is wrong for having a different opinion -- I'm sure you're aware that people argue with each other against the opposite opinion in all fields of life. Why is that a big deal? So yes, some people do think another person's opinion is "wrong" sometimes. Whether that's asinine or not, is strictly another opinion.
 
TheSaddestSort

TheSaddestSort

Member
Oct 27, 2017
704
I agree, most of the time when people use it it means, "I don't like ____ thing." At bare minimum you should explain why you find something to actually be "overrated" if you're going to use the term.
 
FreddeGredde

FreddeGredde

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,905
I absolutely detest the word "overrated", because it implies that other people have rated it too highly. But how can YOU say that their feelings for this product/restaurant/experience were wrong? It's only YOU who personally liked it less, and you're free to say that and explain why, but "overrated" effectively says others have it wrong.

And yeah I know, common use these days is that it's just in your opinion, but it still has absolutely no weight or meaning then, as I see it...
 
MidiPour

MidiPour

Member
Oct 27, 2017
393
Texas
Overrated is another way of saying, "I don't agree with the majority held opinion.", but it's sometime misconstrued as having some objective basis, which is why people get defensive when they don't agree.

I'll instead stick with what I have been saying, "I actually like this game a lot.", and, "I ended up not enjoying this experience."
 
barit

barit

Avenger
Oct 28, 2017
1,163
What an overrated generic mediocre thread is that?

But you're probably right
 
GameChanger

GameChanger

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,935
FiveSide said:
If you're going to bother quoting my two sentences then at least read it carefully. I understand the meaning, I said I don't understand the point.

If I think a game/restaurant is mediocre, why do I care what other people think regarding its quality? If I say it's overrated or if I say it's mediocre, I'm saying the same exact thing. So why even bother saying it's overrated? What is the point?

EDIT: I suppose the point is specifically adding "not only do I think it's mediocre, but I also think you're wrong for having a different opinion about it," in which case there still is no point because it's an asinine thing to say.
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I don't think that's what people are trying to convey when they say something is overrated. It certainly is not what I mean when I use the word overrated. It's a simple way to express my disagreement with the prevailing opinion/praise about a game. I am not saying your positive opinion of a game is wrong. I am saying my negative or less positive opinion of a game is different from yours and I realize that my opinion is not the popular opinion.
 
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