Just to clarify, this is not to suggest any issue with any of the talented creators who made the Backrooms videos featured in this episode! They are just used for visuals :)
I have to agree with the fact that too much things made it a bit stale. I like some of the expansions, but adding too much demystified the Backrooms when they started to make entire explanations for everything, rather than just a blurry cryptid that has 1-2 rules. It turned too much into an SCP-like thing. I used the Backrooms into my TTRGP stuff, and kept it rather mysterious, eerie, and too empty.
Some of it is very creative! But overall it just feels, as you said, far too demystified. I like the idea of incorporating that concept into a TTRPG game, I've done a similar thing in a game I have yet to have the chance to run lol
@@panopticontheatreIt’s not and it can’t be. It’s a different type of fear. Psychological vs inept fear. So it’s impossible for it to be the same for you. It can’t be. Lol Great video though! 👌🏾
At least the monster will make it quick. Hell, how about making the monster not kill the player, but instead incur some sort of disturbing consequence which adds up over multiple encounters?
I enjoy watching your content so seeing something like this on a premier , I PUSHED THAT 'notify me' BUTTON AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT (just love your videos, sorry for the broken English 😭)
So glad you enjoy the videos 💜 (no worries, your English is perfect! Always feel free to speak in your preferred language if you like, I can translate :) )
Yo i really liked this video! Also the thing that ruined the horror of the Backrooms for me is when there were those memes and shorts people. Like i feel like it got 5x less scarier. I could watch like 10 jumpscares of the Backrooms and not jump ONCE. like man why do these memes or shorts be like : wHat iF A tAnK gOEs iN dA bAckRoOmS??? those videos are cring af
I couldnt agree more its become wayy to diluted. What you cant see if always creepier than what you can. I started a little side project to try to generate so separate lore that is less over the top
100%. Kinda feels like people looked at the Backrooms and tried to turn it into SCP, which, whilst not being without some good ideas, took away from what made the original concept so good.
Yeah exactly, I do think a lot of the people who enjoy the new backrooms stuff would enjoy SCP, it really seems like the sort of thing they're looking for haha
Great video as always. With concepts as great as the backrooms there's always that temptation to adapt it into a game because humans love gamified experiences, but like you discuss that's not always the appropriate medium. Nonetheless I've definitely played some backroom games 😂
Just had your video pop up on my recommended page. Surprised your sub count is so low, actually, but glad I found ya. I've never been as scared of the backrooms as when i saw the first image and imagined what it would be like. it became less and less scary the more I saw games and videos and wikis about the different levels and things. I'm now mostly unmoved by liminal spaces because it's just been overdone to me. I am of the mind that some things do just work better as their original media. There are some books which simply would not work as a movie: House of Leaves, for example. There's no way to translate that into a movie, game, or show. Sure, you could maybe take elements such as a house which is bigger on the inside or has impossible rooms and make it work. The Doom mod My House did this very well, actually, but the total story told in House of Leaves just couldn't be redone elsewhere, in my opinion.
I very much agree! The first concept was really interesting and impactful and then as more and more was added it just lost a lot of that original feeling. I covered MyHouse a few videos back and I think I said very much the same thing, it might be the only truly effective adaptation of House of Leaves. I've seen people suggest adapting it as a Netflix show or something and I can't imagine something like that ever managing to even slightly capture the energy of the book. I think there could be ways to do it in more abstract forms, maybe some variety of ttrpg game or something, but I can't see it ever transferring well.
The original expansion of the backroom was beneficial, but the moment it became overpopularized and memey, and people started injecting lore, that's what ruined it for me. I liked the monsters, what ruined it for me is the disambiguation of them Perfection for me is the wiki, just level descriptions loosely connected, not the community
Yep, very much the over-description is the issue. 'monster might be there' is one thing, 'skibidi monster on level 420 who can be avoided by only stepping on black tiles with exactly two Werther's Originals in your left pocket' is just not it lol The wiki is pretty solid!
I empathize with your perspective, but like with music, I don't think an abundance of bad ideas takes away from the good ideas that come with wider adoption of a concept or genre. I'm actually really glad that The Backrooms has expanded conceptually and that multitudes of games are being attempted. I'm sure that I'll eventually find a Backrooms game that I'll really enjoy playing, and I don't think it will be too similar to the original amorphous concepts that appeared online.
I think that's fair! I definitely don't think that just because I personally don't like it, people shouldn't engage with it or make stuff with it haha. I presented this video a bit overdramatically but in reality, it's just my opinion about the two different takes on it.
couldn't agree more, I really love the backroom original concept rather than the "current" backroom. It feels like now the original concept has slowly diluted since a lot of new ideas coming from fandom. Not hating on the ideas, but just somehow makes me really disappointed with the current backroom.
I do miss when Backrooms was a creepy labrynth with 0 explanation. It just.. is, it's something manmade looking and creepy and endless. That's it. The monsters ruined the vibe and removed the scary aspect.
"Backrooms" is a blank canvas and you draw whatever you want on it. The first painting made from it was existantial crisis and loneliness ... than came the child horror. You watch and consume whatever media you want.
One of the major things that irks me about backrooms content is people seem confuse the terms “backrooms” with “liminal space” - as in they see a liminal space and assume it’s apart of the backrooms, when really it’s the other way around. It’s kinda annoying see people call liminal spaces such as the pool rooms (unless I’m wrong about this) as part of the backrooms and recognizing it as it’s own separate thing (like trevor henderson creators supposedly being scps). This in turn leads people to physically connect the backrooms to other liminal spaces - which isn’t a problem on its on, but a problem when the over arching thing is described as just the back rooms. Another thing is the de sensitivity of the horror aspect of the back rooms - mainly introducing mascot horror and other child like elements into it. In the end it’s kinda clear they do it for the clout and money, and it’s clearly worked, even if viewed negatively. However, it was just another nail in the coffin for the backrooms concept at that point. In the end, there will always be bad horror. It’s a hard thing to understand and get right, and takes some experimenting. But no matter how much bad horror exists, there will be the few who really truly understand fear and how to bring it out in people, and often sadly it is buried under the rubble of bad , over saturated horror.
Very much so. I think it's likely due to the backrooms and the idea of liminal spaces emerging at very similar times and both sort of boosting and contributing to each other's prescence online. The original backrooms is itself a liminal space, but not all liminal spaces are the backrooms. In recent times, it seems like mascot horror and similar concepts have gained a great level of popularity. I think it likely stems from the popularity of FNAF, but bought to greater extent with things like Poppy Playtime and Garten Of Banban. Honestly it's very stale at this point, but it's definitely the current 'popular' form of horror. I wonder if it's due to the prevalence of younger creators in the genre? Either way, you're very correct.
@@panopticontheatre with the mascot horror thing, younger creators could be adding fuel to the fire, but it’s primarily just the amount of cash/views that could be gotten out of it, since children now a days are just put in front of a screen for hours and will literally watch anything. Will it change? Maybe, it might take some time, as everyone will grow tired of it eventually, but it definitely won’t be going away any time soon unfortunately. The best thing that can be done right now is to keep having ground breaking horror media be produced to attempt to change the landscape I suppose. At least, one positive with younger creators is that they’re all learning blender and animation and what not for their backrooms vidoes, which I fully support and think is really cool.
That's true! Honestly if that's what they enjoy I have no issue with it haha, although it does nothing for me. But it is nice to see that they have a creative output, and maybe it will lead to more unique horror creations in the future :)
Not exactly - to de-dramatise what I'm saying in this video, my opinion is essentially that the problem is caused by overuse of complex levels, entities and lore taking away from the original vagueness of the concept. It's nothing to do with the media form (found footage videos, games, etc!) and I think some of both the found footage and the games I've seen are very creative and interesting :)
Just to clarify, this is not to suggest any issue with any of the talented creators who made the Backrooms videos featured in this episode! They are just used for visuals :)
I have to agree with the fact that too much things made it a bit stale. I like some of the expansions, but adding too much demystified the Backrooms when they started to make entire explanations for everything, rather than just a blurry cryptid that has 1-2 rules. It turned too much into an SCP-like thing.
I used the Backrooms into my TTRGP stuff, and kept it rather mysterious, eerie, and too empty.
Some of it is very creative! But overall it just feels, as you said, far too demystified. I like the idea of incorporating that concept into a TTRPG game, I've done a similar thing in a game I have yet to have the chance to run lol
The idea of being trapped somewhere seemingly empty forever is a lot more scary to me than monsters trying to kill you! A really great video 💛
It's the same for me! So glad you enjoyed :)
@@panopticontheatreIt’s not and it can’t be. It’s a different type of fear. Psychological vs inept fear. So it’s impossible for it to be the same for you. It can’t be. Lol
Great video though! 👌🏾
Ah no you misunderstood me, I was agreeing with ScorpioDog, not saying the fear is the same lol
Glad you enjoyed the video :)
At least the monster will make it quick. Hell, how about making the monster not kill the player, but instead incur some sort of disturbing consequence which adds up over multiple encounters?
@@0neDoomedSpaceMarine No.
I’m literally so ready for this fr. Not fond of “modern” backrooms discussions compared to the liminal roots of the genre
That's how I feel too haha
I enjoy watching your content so seeing something like this on a premier , I PUSHED THAT 'notify me' BUTTON AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT (just love your videos, sorry for the broken English 😭)
So glad you enjoy the videos 💜 (no worries, your English is perfect! Always feel free to speak in your preferred language if you like, I can translate :) )
Guess I have to subscribe now. You are really good at explaining things and I like listening to you.
Also I do like your avatar. Cute.
Thank you for the support! I'll keep trying to make entertaining content :) and thank you haha I'm glad you like it
Yo i really liked this video! Also the thing that ruined the horror of the Backrooms for me is when there were those memes and shorts people. Like i feel like it got 5x less scarier.
I could watch like 10 jumpscares of the Backrooms and not jump ONCE. like man why do these memes or shorts be like : wHat iF A tAnK gOEs iN dA bAckRoOmS???
those videos are cring af
I'm glad you enjoyed the video! Yeah absolutely, the memeification really drained any remaining horror from it all
@@panopticontheatre Memes ruin most things.
I couldnt agree more its become wayy to diluted. What you cant see if always creepier than what you can. I started a little side project to try to generate so separate lore that is less over the top
Exactly... it loses a lot of impact when so much is added
Best of luck with your project!
100%. Kinda feels like people looked at the Backrooms and tried to turn it into SCP, which, whilst not being without some good ideas, took away from what made the original concept so good.
Yeah exactly, I do think a lot of the people who enjoy the new backrooms stuff would enjoy SCP, it really seems like the sort of thing they're looking for haha
Great video as always.
With concepts as great as the backrooms there's always that temptation to adapt it into a game because humans love gamified experiences, but like you discuss that's not always the appropriate medium. Nonetheless I've definitely played some backroom games 😂
I've played a few too and some have been reasonably fun! But I think the only one that really hit for me was The Backrooms 1998 lol
yeah i always thought it was so corny for backrooms games to have a monster chasing you
Corny is definitely the word for it lol
Just had your video pop up on my recommended page. Surprised your sub count is so low, actually, but glad I found ya. I've never been as scared of the backrooms as when i saw the first image and imagined what it would be like. it became less and less scary the more I saw games and videos and wikis about the different levels and things. I'm now mostly unmoved by liminal spaces because it's just been overdone to me.
I am of the mind that some things do just work better as their original media. There are some books which simply would not work as a movie: House of Leaves, for example. There's no way to translate that into a movie, game, or show. Sure, you could maybe take elements such as a house which is bigger on the inside or has impossible rooms and make it work. The Doom mod My House did this very well, actually, but the total story told in House of Leaves just couldn't be redone elsewhere, in my opinion.
I very much agree! The first concept was really interesting and impactful and then as more and more was added it just lost a lot of that original feeling.
I covered MyHouse a few videos back and I think I said very much the same thing, it might be the only truly effective adaptation of House of Leaves. I've seen people suggest adapting it as a Netflix show or something and I can't imagine something like that ever managing to even slightly capture the energy of the book. I think there could be ways to do it in more abstract forms, maybe some variety of ttrpg game or something, but I can't see it ever transferring well.
The original expansion of the backroom was beneficial, but the moment it became overpopularized and memey, and people started injecting lore, that's what ruined it for me. I liked the monsters, what ruined it for me is the disambiguation of them
Perfection for me is the wiki, just level descriptions loosely connected, not the community
Yep, very much the over-description is the issue. 'monster might be there' is one thing, 'skibidi monster on level 420 who can be avoided by only stepping on black tiles with exactly two Werther's Originals in your left pocket' is just not it lol
The wiki is pretty solid!
Nice vid, goes to show that horror midia could get ruined when going mainstream
Glad you enjoyed the video!
I empathize with your perspective, but like with music, I don't think an abundance of bad ideas takes away from the good ideas that come with wider adoption of a concept or genre. I'm actually really glad that The Backrooms has expanded conceptually and that multitudes of games are being attempted. I'm sure that I'll eventually find a Backrooms game that I'll really enjoy playing, and I don't think it will be too similar to the original amorphous concepts that appeared online.
I think that's fair! I definitely don't think that just because I personally don't like it, people shouldn't engage with it or make stuff with it haha. I presented this video a bit overdramatically but in reality, it's just my opinion about the two different takes on it.
couldn't agree more, I really love the backroom original concept rather than the "current" backroom. It feels like now the original concept has slowly diluted since a lot of new ideas coming from fandom.
Not hating on the ideas, but just somehow makes me really disappointed with the current backroom.
Yeah, it's good people are being creative but I think it's a shame how much the original concept has been lost
I do miss when Backrooms was a creepy labrynth with 0 explanation. It just.. is, it's something manmade looking and creepy and endless. That's it. The monsters ruined the vibe and removed the scary aspect.
Yeah the vibe of the new one is so different
"Backrooms" is a blank canvas and you draw whatever you want on it. The first painting made from it was existantial crisis and loneliness ... than came the child horror. You watch and consume whatever media you want.
Of course. I never intend to say people can't enjoy the new form of the backrooms, only that to me, it is less impactful.
One of the major things that irks me about backrooms content is people seem confuse the terms “backrooms” with “liminal space” - as in they see a liminal space and assume it’s apart of the backrooms, when really it’s the other way around. It’s kinda annoying see people call liminal spaces such as the pool rooms (unless I’m wrong about this) as part of the backrooms and recognizing it as it’s own separate thing (like trevor henderson creators supposedly being scps). This in turn leads people to physically connect the backrooms to other liminal spaces - which isn’t a problem on its on, but a problem when the over arching thing is described as just the back rooms.
Another thing is the de sensitivity of the horror aspect of the back rooms - mainly introducing mascot horror and other child like elements into it. In the end it’s kinda clear they do it for the clout and money, and it’s clearly worked, even if viewed negatively. However, it was just another nail in the coffin for the backrooms concept at that point.
In the end, there will always be bad horror. It’s a hard thing to understand and get right, and takes some experimenting. But no matter how much bad horror exists, there will be the few who really truly understand fear and how to bring it out in people, and often sadly it is buried under the rubble of bad , over saturated horror.
Very much so. I think it's likely due to the backrooms and the idea of liminal spaces emerging at very similar times and both sort of boosting and contributing to each other's prescence online. The original backrooms is itself a liminal space, but not all liminal spaces are the backrooms.
In recent times, it seems like mascot horror and similar concepts have gained a great level of popularity. I think it likely stems from the popularity of FNAF, but bought to greater extent with things like Poppy Playtime and Garten Of Banban. Honestly it's very stale at this point, but it's definitely the current 'popular' form of horror. I wonder if it's due to the prevalence of younger creators in the genre? Either way, you're very correct.
@@panopticontheatre with the mascot horror thing, younger creators could be adding fuel to the fire, but it’s primarily just the amount of cash/views that could be gotten out of it, since children now a days are just put in front of a screen for hours and will literally watch anything. Will it change? Maybe, it might take some time, as everyone will grow tired of it eventually, but it definitely won’t be going away any time soon unfortunately. The best thing that can be done right now is to keep having ground breaking horror media be produced to attempt to change the landscape I suppose.
At least, one positive with younger creators is that they’re all learning blender and animation and what not for their backrooms vidoes, which I fully support and think is really cool.
That's true! Honestly if that's what they enjoy I have no issue with it haha, although it does nothing for me. But it is nice to see that they have a creative output, and maybe it will lead to more unique horror creations in the future :)
Hello I got an question for you?
Yeah what's up?
@@panopticontheatreis the downfall of the backrooms because of the found footage videos and no actual game of the backrooms?
Not exactly - to de-dramatise what I'm saying in this video, my opinion is essentially that the problem is caused by overuse of complex levels, entities and lore taking away from the original vagueness of the concept. It's nothing to do with the media form (found footage videos, games, etc!) and I think some of both the found footage and the games I've seen are very creative and interesting :)
downfall lol
😶