I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with having issues with a game and voicing those issues. My problem comes more from the volume and toxicity surrounding the way in which some of these people voice their issues (as you said).
Can they present their stream in any way they want? Of course. But I do tend to wonder how much of it is ranting as entertainment, which I find to be both uninformative and destructive to the very ecosystem they’re trying pontificate within. It ceases being valued, informative critique and it becomes noise.
If you actually enjoy the game and you want it to succeed, one would hope that you’d take an informed approach with positivity and constructive criticism, maybe even brainstorm solutions, not because you think that you can make a better, more balanced game, but because it helps give a better overall picture of the problem and why the solution makes sense / would improve the game.
Yet we live in such a hot take, knee-jerk culture right now where nuance is less entertaining than taking a few issues, blowing them out of proportion and arriving at a conclusion (ie KI is not fun anymore) that seems hardly congruous with the actual argument presented once all the hyperbole, pontificating, straw-manning, etc are stripped away.
It’d be wonderful if some of these people had the self-awareness to realize that something’s simply not for them anymore and that while complaining might help, it won’t help to such an extent as to make the experience what it once was for them and that it’s okay to move on to something else.
Of course, people have been complaining about this game since season one. It’s not like the old games. It’s too bright. It doesn’t capture the “KI aesthetic.” Whatever the hell that means. Season two’s not nearly as good as season one. It’s too complicated. I hate my character now after the rebalance and so on and so on.
Sometimes, opinions change, I get that. So feedback can obviously be useful to the devs. But when you spend so much of your time, day after day, stream after stream, doing nothing but ripping on the game and the developers? At that point, you have to ask what you’re even doing and why.
I don’t understand people that want to present such negativity to others, and to do it on a consistent basis no less. I almost wonder if it’s a cathartic experience, like a “nothing helps a bad day like sharing it with others” type of deal.
Maybe they just do it for the subs? In that case, I definitely don’t understand the people that would want to continually tune in for that, unless you really hate something too and you want to see someone tear it apart. Even then though… I don’t see how someone could keep tuning in for that.
Who knows, maybe it’s like Yelp reviews. Most people only leave them when they have a really good experience or a really bad experience. So either many of these streamers love the game and want to share it with the world, or they despise what it’s become and they have to eviscerate it and scream at the developers as loudly as their stream follower count / influence will allow.
Either way, I think it’s a rather garbage aspect of our culture right now and it turns me away from a stream, no question. I’d rather watch someone play a game I have no interest in, who loves it and shares that positivity (along with information, compelling gameplay and critique) or even someone that sucks at a game, but who’s having fun learning it, than watch someone rage through a game that I love and trash it nonstop, and for me, that choice isn’t even close.
I dunno, maybe that’s my own issue. I simply can’t relate to people that enjoy hate watching something or want to play a game just to trash it. Life’s short enough as it is. You really want to spend minutes or even hours doing something that makes you angry? What, so you can make others angry too?
I agree that the game has issues and I’d never want to hush people that are voicing those opinions. Would you agree that there’s a bit of a difference though between critiquing while you play and simply ranting for the entertainment of others?
If you love a game and you want to share it with others, would you agree that there’s a difference between frustrated but constructive criticism and destructive criticism that trashes the game, trashes the developers, etc?
I don’t think it’s a matter of saying that these people need to shut up. But I’d personally watch their streams more if they altered their tone to come off more like they want to share and inform, even when their opinion doesn’t align with the developers and less like they hate the game and could develop it better than the idiots making it. But that’s just me.
I do think that there’s a level of toxicity around some of the streamers and I also think that has an effect on others. Now, how many others and how influential any of these people really are is CERTAINLY open for debate.
But while opinions are something everyone’s entitled to, a cluster of constant negativity can, I’d argue, contribute to a culture of increasing toxicity, and that can spread throughout a fanbase, or at least give that fanbase a reputation (COD anyone?).
I’ve read that the KI Facebook group is an utter pit of toxicity. I’ve also seen enough comments sections in MS streams and enough actual streamers themselves bash this game in to oblivion to feel a compulsion toward minimizing those kinds of interactions with the game and the community.
When I have to put on that many blinders to keep myself insulated from so much negativity, I think it’s at least worth asking some questions, like where is it all coming from and why? How much do these places reflect a kind of general sentiment? How much of an effect is this having on both the community as a whole and outsiders perception of the community? Is this a problem that should be fixed? Can it be fixed? If so, how?
I don’t think that calling people crybabies or telling them that their opinion doesn’t matter is a solution (sorry, OP 
) But I understand the desire to give it back to some of these people.
For my part, I just wish that we could all enjoy this game while maintaining a critical eye, voicing our concerns/opinions and giving feedback, yet still having a fun and positive environment, not as a group of obedient sheep, but as a community of people that are doing something that they enjoy and sharing that enjoyment.
) and I got some things to say.