I personally think a lot of the toxic positivity surrounding the Pokémon community specifically comes from the content space.
Nintendo and the Pokémon Company (which are different companies that I’ve seen people confuse as one) are notably ruthless against anyone who interacts with their brand. Mods, fan games, emulators, and other obscure related content are snuffed out with bullshit reasons in sporadic basically random sequences.
It’s fostered a culture on YouTube where people approach this content in a “don’t bite the hand that feeds” sorta mentality. It’s well known that if Pokémon Co doesn’t like your content for whatever reason, the response can range from having all your revenue cut off to being personally hit by some insane lawsuit out of nowhere. This leads audiences to repeat after their parasocial idols putting up a toxicly optimistic front.
The creator themselves for all intents and purposes are probably just trying to talk about a thing they enjoy while also not stressing out about getting whacked by the largest franchise in the world.
I tend to avoid gaming communities mainly to save myself from seeing annoying corporate worship on a scale that’s genuinely depressing. The rise of unionization efforts in development teams gives me some hope that consciousness is shifting, as I’ve seen a lot of “gamers” show solidarity towards worker abuse by game companies. Maybe the whole treat culture will actually be challenged in a few years, but that’s just anecdotal optimism.
I personally think a lot of the toxic positivity surrounding the Pokémon community specifically comes from the content space.
Nintendo and the Pokémon Company (which are different companies that I’ve seen people confuse as one) are notably ruthless against anyone who interacts with their brand. Mods, fan games, emulators, and other obscure related content are snuffed out with bullshit reasons in sporadic basically random sequences.
It’s fostered a culture on YouTube where people approach this content in a “don’t bite the hand that feeds” sorta mentality. It’s well known that if Pokémon Co doesn’t like your content for whatever reason, the response can range from having all your revenue cut off to being personally hit by some insane lawsuit out of nowhere. This leads audiences to repeat after their parasocial idols putting up a toxicly optimistic front.
The creator themselves for all intents and purposes are probably just trying to talk about a thing they enjoy while also not stressing out about getting whacked by the largest franchise in the world.
I tend to avoid gaming communities mainly to save myself from seeing annoying corporate worship on a scale that’s genuinely depressing. The rise of unionization efforts in development teams gives me some hope that consciousness is shifting, as I’ve seen a lot of “gamers” show solidarity towards worker abuse by game companies. Maybe the whole treat culture will actually be challenged in a few years, but that’s just anecdotal optimism.