https://marco.org/2009/01/22/rory-marinich-jesus-christ-i-tell-you-people
Jesus Christ. I tell you people that a 5-minute game made me cry, that it’s one of the greatest and most beautiful things I’ve ever seen, and a total of one person replies. I post a picture of a camera lens coffee cup, and I get 87 notes as of this writing.
Here’s the thing:
- I passed by your sad-game link in my Tumblr dashboard while I was at work. I neither wanted to be sad nor wanted to play a game at work.
- I also accidentally read too far and got a good enough idea of why it would make me sad, and I did not want to experience that.
- I don’t like being sad. I don’t get pleasure from it. And the thought of being sad for that reason in particular is incredibly unappealing to me.
On the other hand, I saw the camera-lens mug mockup.
- Browsing a photo takes a lot less time than playing a game, and many can easily be skimmed by at work. This increases their appeal.
- The mug post has value to non-English-speaking audiences, further increasing its appeal.
- I like mugs. I associate mugs with happy things, like coffee and ice cream. Nobody ever hates things that are served in mugs.
- I like camera lenses. So do a lot of people who use Tumblr.
- I have that lens. And it’s excellent. It’s the single best lens to own, and the only one good enough to be your only lens, if you have a camera that it fits (Canon Rebel series or 20/30/40/50D series). A lot of people on Tumblr have those cameras and either have or want that lens. So it’s familiar and positive to us.
(By the way, it’s not new.)
This isn’t indicative of the decline of society or people having shallow taste. The lens mug has far better appeal to this audience than a sad video game. I bet the Shiba puppy cam got a lot more fans, too. Sorry, but people enjoy things that make them feel good.