Don’t hate the haters. Hate (extremely specific elements of) the game.
Typically if someone calls you a “hater,” they mean it in a pejorative sense. You’re indiscriminately raining on other people’s parade. You’re yucking their yum just because you can. You’re the perpetual party pooper. But in truth, a functioning society requires haters—and I don’t mean people who larp at the idea of hating. I’m talking dedicated haters, those who know the objects of their derision more intimately than so-called fans. With scalpel-like precision, they cut through bullshit and explain—in the clearest terms—why something is Bad. You don’t have to agree with them, but you do have to respect them.
In an era of toxically positive AI, companies serving up vapid slop and acting like we’re supposed to be excited about it, marketing buzzwords suffusing daily parlance, and every content creator under the sun tripping over themselves to sell out, haters are more needed than ever. They’re the last line of defense between us and the hollow existence that the powers that be are trying to sell us. Moreover, in a time when it’s considered cool to hate for hate’s sake—to dismiss something out of hand because some mob or another has turned it into a target—true haters set an example. They invite us to consider both our actions and our thoughts. Why is a game, show, book, movie, or even person worthy of hate? Is it actually, or are you just following the herd?
Also, it’s fun to hate on things that suck. Everybody knows this.
This week on Aftermath, we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same. We’re painting an especially big target on the back of something we all despise, AI, with the debut of our continually updated list of game studios that refuse to use it, as well as features about defiance against AI in the workplace. Lastly, each day we’ll take aim at a very specific element of games we dislike, but with a twist to hopefully quell accusations that Aftermath is too negative all the time: Another writer will be publishing a counterpoint about why they love that same thing. Remember our great double jump debate? Or the one about parrying? Get ready for a whole week of that.
If you’ve been with us through other theme weeks like Woke Week and Inside Baseball Week, you probably know the drill by now: We’re having a sale on subscriptions, so if you’re not already a supporter, there’s no better time than the present. You can get your first month of our Reader tier for $1, or you can get an entire year of our higher Member tier for 25% off. We’re hoping this will allow us to smash through even more of our subscriber goals (we’re so tantalizingly close to the return of You Are Error), which will allow us to bring you the biggest, best website in all of human history.
And if you don’t end up liking what you read, watch, or listen to, well, you know the concept of a hate follow? Do that, but with your money.
It's Hater Week here on Aftermath. This week we’re letting the hate flow through us by examining what it means to be a hater (and… a lover?), venting about some of our biggest pet peeves in games and life, and giving others a space to do the same.
