This is something I like to call the "Slenderman Effect" What started as something unnerving and with a vague but terrifying concept gets beaten into the ground mercilessly and milked dry until tons of unnecessary "lore" is added and the scare factor is totally gone What made it scary to begin with is dead and gone This is also what happened to things like Siren Head, because once kids get their hands on it and youtubers learn they can milk this audience they'll destroy it without caring about the original concept or the creators behind it
it's also beginning to happen with welcome home... the creator didn't even expect it to blow up and people are treating their work as a new ARG when he didn't intend for it to be seen that way.
It’s sad to see horror slowly mutate into something so… empty. Games try too hard nowadays to be scary without knowing what scary is. Scary isn’t a convoluted plot or sharp teeth, scary is a mood/atmosphere that any game can create when the correct elements are used.
I agree. My favourite part of horror is something called psychological horror, that uses no jumpscares. No surprises. Just atmosphere. Just creepy images. I love the way it scares me. Rather than a momentary jump, there is an oppressive fear that builds up inside you. This, in my opinion, is true horror.
That’s why I love old horror games like silent hill and all other games in that genre, the pure atmosphere and tenseness was amazing without all the “scary” modern stuff
I feel like liminal horror is hard to maintain. We naturally try to build on the idea but the more we understand the more it takes away from what actually made it scary.
I don't think it's natural, I mean maybe to children, I think people should allow an idea or story to exist without narcissistically hijacking it for their own dunning Kruger need for pride by association or just to latch onto an existing idea because they want to feel like they are a part of something better than them and in the process destroying it
In a weird way, I think the building on and lore-ifying of the backrooms is just a testament to how solid the original post was. It was so simple, so totally hopeless, it was horror in its purest form. It was less of a place and more of a distilled feeling, defined by its emptiness and hopelessness. When it went "mainstream" of course people tacked on new layers, creatures, and exits, because the *concept* of the backrooms is so compelling that it captured peoples' imaginations, but the *feeling* that it was meant to evoke was so uncomfortable that people tried to drown it out. The mainstream backrooms is like a fantasyland that people have invented in an attempt to distract themselves from the horror that the backrooms *really* is.
I think you are onto something. The original idea of an empty and hopeless, unending space was too strong and horrifying so naturally filled it up with monsters and memes. It's similar to Minecraft in many ways.
You're right about the backrooms being a feeling. Sure, you might think that a monster is just around the corner, but that's the horror of the imagination. What's more terrifying is realising that you're truly alone in this yellow prison.
I first discovered the backrooms after getting in SCP and even with a SCPs terrifying nature backrooms levels are a whole other level of existential dread, SCPs can be contained but if you no-clip into the backrooms it’s virtually impossible to escape.
yeah, it’s interesting to listen to the video because while I agree that the concept has been taken and run with, so to speak, he just sounds like a hipster complaining other people know about his favourite band now, lol. The original feeling is still there, you don’t have to focus on the new content if it doesn’t appeal to you… so while his point that there are now ‘layers’ of the backrooms that aren’t maybe _embodying_ the original concept of ‘the Backrooms’ as he and others define them, it falls flat when you realise he can just focus on what he prefers and ignore the content he doesn't… To each their own, but wanting content other people prefer not to exist, while wanting the content you prefer to exist, seems selfish and contradictory to me.
It feels.. refreshing to see someone talk out about what’s happening to the backrooms community, and not just support it while pocketing the cash for themselves. I’ll be sure to follow your content.
Dude, just say you hate kids in fandoms. We get it, they make cringy shit. I was one of those kids before when I was younger. You just gotta learn to ignore it.
@@four-en-tee I don’t have a problem with kids, more or less the content creators themselves. The more they make the content that they do and market it towards children, the more kids come on and the more the content creators ruin the community with colourful and famous characters in the backrooms. It decorates with happy music and brain dead videos, becoming more and more stereotypical kids content and making it “cringe”. I Apologise if I wasn’t clear enough, have a good day. (P.S Edited for Grammar fixes.)
The saddest part is knowing that any really exciting horror concept that fascinates the internet in the future will be watered down and ultimately ruined in this same way. It happens every single time.
It happened before the internet. Look at Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, pretty much anything creepy in horror gets turned into a joke at some point.
I've always hated trends for THIS reason. I don't follow trends and crap because, well it CAN be cool, but I'm just different. I do my own thing. Trends can honestly annoy me at times, at the same time they can kinda entertain me.
I went on VR chat and was browsing the games that had been made there. Found a backrooms game that seemed pretty popular. Pretty well designed. Some guy offered to guide us through so we were down, and then the children arrived. 45 minutes of non-stop SCREAMING down the mics every time a pixel shifted.
At this point every internet famous thing can be explained as -Thing is born -It starts being known -A little fandom is born -People expand the thing with their own ideas and stuff -It starts to grow big -Game Theory makes a video -A bunch of kids appear -Hijinx ensues
@@daeggman9141 it's more like 2 sides One side wants to bring something to the community and makes stuff that really is worth it The other side uses that stuff to lure kids into watching 30 minute videos filled with ads and weird thumbnails
Personally, I really like the idea of the backrooms being completely empty. No monsters, just you and an endless series of yellow hallways and corridors. It's the most normal, mundane setting you could possibly imagine, there might even be faint office noises in the background, except that it never ends and never changes.
Much more terrifying too. The paranoia and fear building up because at any second something might kill you, but in reality there is nothing there. It’s a much more interesting concept when there is no threat/monster.
It just got too popular and attracted people who didn't understand it. What made the original one creepy was how simple and mysterious it is, and now, with all the lore and a billion levels and monsters who are only really scary to children, the essence is lost
@@electricheisenberg5723 Lore is certainly an issue. SCP and Backrooms are two very different genres. One creates suspense by the fear of "it", another by the fear of "something".
this feels like what happened to creepypastas in the 2010s. What i loved about OG creepypastas were it was just scary stories with a photo or two to accompany it. Then I'd say that young online artists from Tumblr and DeviantArt took over and attempted to turn characters like Jeff the Killer and Slenderman into a cute ensemble cast. Kids/teens started creating OC characters and writing non-horror fanfiction. There was also a LOT of lude fanart/fanfiction created in some parts of the fandom, it really took away from the creativity Creepypastas originally had. This had real world implications on it's young fanbase when two children in America stabbed their friend in the name of Slenderman so that they could "live in his mansion". The mansion was a fanfiction trope used in a lot of newer stories about the characters. Children having so much influence on a fandom usually dumbs down the source material, which makes sense since kids ARE dumb, lol.
" This had real world implications on it's young fanbase when two children in America stabbed their friend in the name of Slenderman so that they could "live in his mansion". " of PA-LEEEEEASE
The thing is though atleast Those weren't really "brainrot" rather than kids wanting to make their own Storys about the characters while now The backrooms are essentially just really bad brainrot for children to watch. it isn't even children making them, its creators who want nothing but Cash so they milk the hell out of characters like huggywuggy, Fnaf character Fnf characters, but with the Creepypastas atleast Children were creative then rather just smearing cheetodust on the Ipad.
@@akuro_the_time_traveler4200 What are you talking about? They were brainrot even back then. Art pieces of Jeff the Killer drawn as some sexy anime emo antagonist, "Slenderman x Reader" fanfictions, and so on. I remember all of that stuff from way back in 2013-2014 lol.
@@ragingsaviorkami9862 True true But i remember the days where people would make storys up aswell with brainrot, which honestly, fair enough, But I'm blaiming the creators who Milk the fuck out of content Not adding anything to it
i like to think it has four different versions: 1. The raw concept. The idea of being trapped, alone in an endless hell 2. The community-made world with a whole level system 3. Kane Pixels’ version, with a full fleshed-out world 4. The child mind drugs
The scary part of the backroom is the fact that it's just a massive structure like incomprehensibly large and you're lost in it, everything looks mundane and normal but it's not, also you're just alone by yourself, no one to help no one to find, you're stuck.
Exactly, it's like a limbo, you're not dead, but you're out of the world you once knew, you can't get back, you are stuck with a damp carpet floor and sickening yellow wallpapers, alone with yourself, wandering for eternity. Your brain would create the horror for you, not actual monsters. The horror of true, eternal isolation is more than enough for a good horror concept like the True Backrooms
I wish more people took their inspirations from House of Leaves and NeissancE than from the mainstream Wiki. Wiki can exist, yes- but I don't like when people bitch at people who don't follow it, just because they want their Levels, monsters, the Almond Water.
@@masterzoroark6664 I feel like the "levels" as a concept is fine. Just think of let's say an Abandoned Mall but it's not all built for human traversal. It's still a liminal space like the yellow backrooms. It's just a different liminal space. The problem is when you over explain the exact properties of the Space. There can be descriptions and speculation like "You can unlock Sonic in Smash Melee" type shit just little to no explanation. Kinda like the original post if you wanna stick to "source material".
@@justcallmekai1554 Yeah After some thinking levels would also work with my interpretation of Backrooms being a "Space that hates you" kind of place- not dissimilar to House from Anatomy
you should talk more about the phenomenon of children taking over horror genres. I think it’s an interesting subject that needs to be talked about more
I think the key to not ruining something when it gains popularity is not leaving it open ended as the backrooms, come up with some consistent rules that don't change and such
for real man. FNAF started it all. Now we have Bendy, Poppy Playtime, Sirenhead etc. its so crazy how there are actual stuff toy of the abomination Huggy wuggy for KIDS
The fact that a game which 70% of the plot revolves around the death of children, being populated with a fanbase full of children is definitely something.
The same thing happened to the SCP Foundation (Something I'd never really bothered with as it's so convoluted) EVERYTHING that ends up on the internet that starts out as something vague and scary, winds up being a boring, overly complicated lore-fest. I was fine with the first few creatures, other things are going to "clip" into the backrooms after all, but once "Levels" started cropping up, that was it for me. I think the whole "Liminal Space" thing doesn't really seem recoverable to me, it's just people putting up any old photo of an empty room now.
It's as if people and children were so brainwashed by the "new era" of horror that relies on jumpscares and sudden noises that they can't grasp how horror can be anything but that
@@turtleofpride4572 The SCP foundation must have infinite money, resources, and manpower to contain all the world ending crap in their facilities. I liked the cynical disregard for human life the series had because I find stuff like that funny, but it just goes so far. It breaks the immersion when you consider all of the creatures and objects are impossible to actually keep from destroying all life.
@@dizzydial8081 One thing to remember, is that not every SCP object is supposed to exist all simultaneously. Some are potentially just red herrings. It's almost like a pick and choose for which are canon and which aren't that you get to choose for yourself. Every entry can be a standalone.
I'm fine with the monsters, I'm fine with the levels; but what really annoys me is the whole society thing in the backrooms. Having all of these survivors and factions with their own governments somehow living normal lives in these hostile environments is what really takes all the horror out of it for me.
@@thebaguettegod9769 but it’s more of a copy of SCP-3008 (I believe that’s infinite IKEA). Yes, it does make it more “realistic”, but remember, the Backrooms’ original goal was supposed to be NOT realistic. If you can’t understand something humans obviously will fear it. Especially, last time I checked it’s not really realistic to noclip into an endless backroom… That’s my opinion of course, but still.
Instead of civilization, it should be like a gas station for wanderers where they can trade shit but still not safe from monsters, the real magic is being alone with someone and its not human
I think it all began with trying to make "entities" that inhabit the backrooms. For me, just the fact of being lost and alone in a massive, seemingly endless labyrinth of nonsense architecture, trying to survive and find an exit with limited time to do so (before your frail human body crumbles), was enough to make an amazing horror experience. Instead, like you said, the focus got shifted to pointless entities. Nothing wrong with trying to add some spice to the backrooms, like some kind of animal that evolved being there that you need to watch out for or something like that, but please don't over explain the entity to the point we know it's favorite air freshener scent. Keep it simple, therefore scary.
I agree with this. The original concept is really creepy, and the fact that there could be something lurking that you don't know about makes it even scarier, like you are alone, but are you really alone? The uncertainty is so creepy. Honestly though, the addition of all the different levels and entities, when done right, is really interesting in its own right. It definitely is a lot less creepy, but it has its own complexity unique to the original concept that I find really cool. I agree that over-explaining entities really does this idea a lot of harm though.
i think if people really wanted an enemy in the backrooms, it should be other people who’ve noclipped and either *need* food or have gone insane/hostile due to the lack of human interaction- while it would lessen the isolation, i think it’d further the feeling of *you are alone here* but ya know, that’d require people to not reuse cashgrab characters -_-
For me- things can live there, but what broke it for me is the whole idea of everyone knowing what is what and from where it comes. For an eldritch abomination of a location- habbitats and creatures are way too explained. Hell- I always thought of Backrooms to be more like even more hostile XEN. Nothing is really native nor stays much in there, so noone knows what is what.
Nice to see that many people share the same thoughts, that don't want a cool concept such as liminal spaces being replaced by common tropes like "big scary monster chase". This makes me feel hopeful for the future of liminality :) thanks, y'all.
Honestly the worst part of the original backrooms was the implication of spooky monsters. The scary part of the backrooms was that you were outside the intended playspace of reality. Have you ever noclipped out of a game map? Curiously enough the devs don't tent to place much out there, especially not enemies. The terror is in the infinite isolation. At least when you're lost in a forest you know there's a theoretical way back home. If people knew you were out there search and rescue will be deployed within a few hours of you not returning, and you can potentially just walk in a direction and find a road (bad idea if you're lost in the forest, btw. Just try to call 911 and stay put.) but the infinite isolation of the backrooms, left alone until you die of hunger or thirst, that is existential horror. I feel the idea of anything else alive back there with you just undercuts that a lot.
If the backrooms game was about wandering around trying to navigate a maze. With tools to map it out. Taking Multiple hours to find the way to the next level could have been interesting.
Changing it is fine. The problem is changing things for the worse. The idea of an infinite expanse of liminal space, every breath musty and uncomfortable, a constant electric buzz ringing in your ear, it's unique. The terror of isolation and starvation is novel. A maze with a hundred monsters out to get you? Not very. Labyrinths are typical horror monster location for a reason, but it's cliche. I don't think there's anything wrong with tweaking something to be more unique. Changing something to be more generic... It can be argued that it actively takes away from the idea
I found a bug in an RPG game that made me noclip out of the game map, and it was under the ground. Everything was so gray, nothing to see. I repetead the same bug a few times then suddenly, my character started bugging, it was all pixelised. And it started falling in the underground so low that the altitude was like -10000000 (more than that ?) it was so scary being alone and having my charcter glitvhing like that
The only thing I'd keep from the whole "oooh spooky monsters" iteration of the backrooms is *at most* the suggestion of "life" at random intervals, but nothing is actually there. Kinda like how you can still hear the sound effects of a game when you noclip out sometimes. This might just be me, but the idea of something possibly being there, good or bad, but never seeing it or finding evidence of it yet hearing the occasional movement in the distance or hearing people talking or something would drive me crazy after a while. Especially if you're already succumbing to the effects of isolation, at that point I'd be desperate for ANY interaction at all in the hopes of escape or even just finding *someone* else to talk to instead of being alone with my own thoughts. Idk, that probably has its own shortcomings and I'm kinda struggling to explain it well, but that's the furthest I'd go with any kind of third party/entity/creature bullshit for the backrooms.
I find it ironic that the horror of the Backrooms was ruined by... basic human nature: humans don't like when they don't understand stuff, that's why they either imagine explanations or add something comprehensible for them. They don't understand the idea of such loneliness in the Backrooms, so adding enemies or monsters let's people wrap their heads around the topic. Edit: But the whole topic is a double edged sword: do you expand the universe and allow "outsiders" to enjoy it so the community lives for much longer at the cost of it becoming like the Backrooms nowadays, Or you gatekeep the fandom to keep it as close to the original as possible at the cost of it never expanding and staying the same till it dries out.
I think that official backrooms entities (like partygoers or smilers) DO make it more fun because it adds more variety. Still, at the cost of that "variety," it could make it less creepy
Its like they dont understand the very concept of the fear of the unknown, the human imagination is wayy much more unique and interesting than a “canon” monster by some dude. Everyone’s interpretation of whats behind the corner will always be scarier than just a specific monster with a specific appearance. God, fk me and its people like this who are fking up horror films by showing the monsters, a literal writing mistake that even a child wouldn’t make.
@@himinthegulf8338 The Backrooms were creepy because they superficially resembled a familiar human environment that was twisted into an endless maze of nothing. There are few things as terrifying as the feeling of being trapped and complete loneliness. Adding lore and monsters kind of ruins the entire point.
Technically the only monsters in there are the people that go in, they're in your head as the loneliness and imagination begin to unravel your mind. Your brain begins placing things in the liminal space in an attempt to cope with the isolation as a social animal, however it backfires as it fails to create something truly human. There is nothing there, and you recognize the inhumanity of it on a fundamental level. The hallucinations grow more intense and your animal instincts of fight or flight kick in more intensely as they escalate. The Backrooms works in tandem with your mind, both are against you. Subliminal memories drawn upon as your mind degrades further until it becomes too much.
For me, just being alone in a liminal space is not creepy. It's actually comforting. But knowing that you could occasionally run into a mysterious threat, especially the very quick ones that give you very little chance getting away, with few exits or hiding spaces... That's what makes it terrifying to me.
@@Lone_Paladin I think the concept of starving to death realising the situation of the whole butterfly effect is a little more tortureous than running into some beast that will obliterate you, altho jus a personal opinion. I also love some liminal spaces, but original backrooms seems like something horrible to be at.
I think some levels do work well with entities, but with others it makes more sense to not have them. Also entities are much more rare in levels than people assume, thanks to all of the content based on them. Level 0 doesn't even have monsters anymore.
I remember when I loved liminal spaces and the backrooms. It was a very new thing and also super cool to see a place outside of our reality. But then little kids started flooding the fandom and destroyed it. They started making random things, and being sorta rude to people. You cannot keep kids out of everything, but when a kid sees something they like, there always is a chance they’ll ruin it.
It's the same problem with the SCP foundation everyone thinks they can just add anything to the lore and think it works with the initial concept. The idea that there is even "levels" in the backrooms completely ruins the point of the backrooms.
@@bugonboris6681 From what i know not much, the slight popularisation on the general media got some bad stuff specially in yt with some channels that farmed scp, but the wiki itself became a little bit elitist with the works, trying to stay true to the concept
@Hip005 its the opposite, have you seen the new scp articles? I wish it was elitist it fell very far from the times it was hosted by 4channers, quality diminishes when you don't gatekeep something good
I think one problem is that now there's, Ooh... Super Scary "Scarlet King" With God-Like Powers Even though what Really was Cool/Scary was the simpler monsters
I agree like 90% and made a satire animation that subtly made the points about backrooms content losing the plot and being very watered down and sprinkled in for search term recognition a while back, which may have accidentally just stoked the shitstorm further as it got a lot of views many of which may have been children who didn’t understand the implied message. However my one disagreement is that I don’t think it’s “ruined,” because the past good stuff was never erased, and I don’t think the kiddie stuff halted the progression of it as I think the whole allure of the backrooms is that it’s the pure unknown and infinite and you are never safe from no clipping , which means it can also be whatever you want it to be, and if that happens to be sonic amogus in backrooms fort nite poppy playtime then so be it.
I’m a mom, I love kids, I love when kids get creative. I hate when people water down adult horror for them, like the UA-camrs they mentioned. I hate when the “kid-version” of a horror/general Internet thing becomes the “popular” version. And that’s not to say kids don’t deserve horror, they do. But Goosebumps and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark didn’t make itself stupid for children. It scared them the way it scares us, AND it was age appropriate. And I still enjoy a lot of those stories to this day.
Exactly!! I grew up with internet horror and I was in love with it. I think that kids should enjoy horror just as much as anyone else but I just really hate the UA-camrs who water it down and talk down to their audiences and just add nothing. Thanks for your comment! It’s cool to have input from someone who actually has kids and enjoys the horror genre :)
@@Raymundo_2112 Of course! Love the channel, instant subscriber. It’s insulting that they think kids can’t handle getting scared. Horror for children exists and I-an adult-still enjoy some of it. Algorithms have been the death of art imo.
I’m 15 and I got into horror and weird core Ever since I heard about the back rooms, I wanted to know about the lore since I love lore Now I’m seeing this weird trend shit and my sisters watch stuff like that, it’s like they watch one of those gringe UA-cam kids videos
@@quit3118 and guess what? The kids version throws in other characters from games that get overshadowed by the kids version in reality I hate the creators that do the "OMG POPPY PLAYTIME BACKROOM CHOO CHOO CHARLES REAL BUILDERMAN" like even trollge is a better community then the kid version of the backrooms
No, kids can't create anything, they just enjoy it Now the older community, ones capable of creating and altering the horror are the ones who ruin shit
The same happened with some of Henderson's monsters such as Siren head or cartoon cat, however despite pixels basically started this, i dont think hes to blame
@@donomiroftroy2043 After looking back at Siren Head and Cartoon Cat..they had alot of potential, it makes me really really sad the fact that these 2 are ruined by internet.
I feel the oversaturation of the backrooms is kind of what killed it. You explained it well enough in your video. The SCP Foundation is kind of a mess currently, but they still kind of self-regulate through the community. A lot of the SCP's have really high-quality writing that makes it feel as if you actually stumbled onto a piece of hidden media that's not mean to be seen. A lot of the SCP's aren't really great, but the great ones do raise to the top and as such, a lot people first exposure to it are these really well written stories about anomalous objects. The SCP Foundation isn't as quaint and small as it used to be, but I still find it intriguing and go back to it every now and again.
I don't see SCP bad in any way. Sure entities are by no means written equally, but I've never seen ones that are really "bad". If you know any please tell me
Anyway here's my actual comment: SCP was fundamentally constructed to be canon-less, so if any SCP did hypothetically suck the usual amount of poopy diaper the internet loves to hawk out, then it can simply be ignored. With the backrooms, so many people became invested in the weird, pretentious amalgam that the original idea has been completely phased out, and that cannot be ignored. I think the fandom just failed to stabilize itself in its debu
the thing about SCP is it's *SUPPOSED* to focus on and explain anomalies that theyve contained. they also have a content filter through a voting system. you can't just post "scp 6666 - my poopy diaper". it will get taken down for being garbage. the backrooms were NEVER supposed to be fully explained, and were never supposed to have a fuck ton of "entities" with different ways to avoid them. it just game-ified the whole thing, along with the "layers" LITERALLY BEING CALLED LEVELS, as in the *LEVELS OF A GAME*. it's so dumb.
I remember when the Backrooms was new, my dad actually had a nightmare about it. He's not a horror movie fan, and has never been unsettled by horror films or shows or books. But something about the Backrooms and how real and understandable the concept is just hit it right. In fact, whenever I mention the Backrooms to him, to this day he shudders and gets an unsettled look on his face. I think I tried to explain about the other "levels" and locations to him once, but he wasn't interested at all. To him, the scariest thing is just those empty, unknown hallways with awful décor, just stretching out endlessly. It truly does work better when it's as simple and mysterious as the original concept.
I also had a nightmare about being in the backrooms, I was in this weird yet unsettling place, like a copy of somewhere I had been before. No monsters, just npc like people showing up once or twice, with endless darkness. I like the level Idea generally but its kinda ehh, just the thought of noclipping unsettles me alot.
It strikes a nerve, feeling like wasting and wandering through your life aimlessly that these homely or corporate spaces start making you feel trapped, while being endless at the same time. No matter where you go, no matter what you do, you're effectively still where you were. I'm sure anyone just coasting through life with no idea how to break out of it can relate, as this almost seems to manifest the idea.
The backrooms died as soon as the first entity came in, it killed the whole idea of the Backrooms. It's intended to be a scary mysterious place where the observer does not know what could attack them, but now it's so heavily documented that it's literally disgusting
Yeah, i liked the first 9 or 10 levels but now everything's documented, you know everything about the levels and it just lost it's potential. Don't get me wrong, i still like the backrooms, but not as much.
Too bad I guess... you clearly didn't read the original post there was never a point where there was no entities. The original post hints at this... so guess what... your ideal backrooms never existed. Too bad so sad go cry in a corner no one cares.
I cannot fathom how accurate and painful to watch that parody you did of kids UA-camrs is and it have me physical pain and cringe how right you are to what’s happened on UA-cam. One of the reasons everyone I knew and me drifted away from back rooms stuff
If it wasn't for the weird "Ok this is sarcasm" layer that my brain creates to prevent a tumor formation after seeing that so accuarate imitation, I would be 8 feets under ground and 40 into heaven
I don't think it's just about children. The scramble for making everything into something marketable is definitely what contributed to every horror series' demise well before kids UA-camrs learned about it.
@@djailsonfelipe84true. honestly i blame the parents. putting a screen in front of children expecting them to get off of it when they tell them to, pathetic.
I remember seeing people say there were only 10 levels in the backrooms. And personally, I liked it, since you were still always alone. Once the backrooms got popular though, people started putting entities and, the worse addition in my opinion, outpost and groups of people in the levels. Since the whole idea of the backrooms was that YOU WERE ALONE. And it really destroyed the scare factor that it had. And nowadays, the backrooms just feels like a format people use to create whatever content they want and gain some views. Rip backrooms May 2019-February 2022
I hate the colonies and outposts. I especially hate the research groups and governments and such as well. Takes away all the actual fear from the backrooms as well as the novelty of it. The backrooms should be so rare and so vast that the chance of even encountering ONE human should be next to impossible, let alone being able to form civilisations. Also, I don't like the idea of people just being able to hop in and out of the backrooms. Theres also this one level (I think level 9999?) thats an arcade with a bunch of amenities and friendly entities. If you reach it, you get a list of stuff to do in the backrooms that you must complete to escape, and if you're in danger you click a button and boom you're instantly teleported to that safe level. If I had full control over the backrooms universe, I'd keep most of the levels, thin down the entities a bit but keep some of them, keep the og found footage, and get rid of all the colonies and research institutes and stuff. The backrooms should be a mysterious and unknown place where information about it is scarce. Falling in is rare but if you do fall in theres not much of a chance of escaping. The vast majority of people shouldn't even know of its existence in the backrooms universe.
@@Singularian yeah. I forgot to mention that problem with leaving the backrooms. It was a scary concept with how you wouldn’t be able to leave the backrooms once you got yourself stuck, and would have to die alone and scared. But once people said that you COULD leave the backrooms, it just made the backrooms another one of those horror games/stories.
The scariest part of the backrooms to me was you just randomly getting put into it and slowly starving to death. Like for the majority of us, we would just wander around until death. That is way more scarier than getting warped to some stupud level where you are chased by floating emojis
@@fractalisomega9517 Honestly, I'd have a blast exploring endless liminal space like that. Also, the original post alludes to potentially hostile entities.
It’s usually more satisfying to know the monster’s limitations but not its abilities or the other way around. If you know both, it’s easy to make a plan to beat it.
The fact the fact that people go out of their way to explain and make stuff up about the back rooms in order to understand it goes to show just how terrified people are of the unknown
@@Raymundo_2112 Thing is, since it's fiction, the original concept can still exist on its own...really I blame YT for continuously failing to implement controls so that kids won't be exposed to this kind of stuff.
@@anerrorhasoccurred8727 mf's on a song with a specific name that has no lyrics as they somehow pull the dichotomy of sex in media being so accepted. As much as art is up to interpretation, there is interpreting. Then there is reaching in your ass and sounding deep.
As harsh as it sounds, I think the whole "Ruined by kid audiences" thing is pretty accurate. Kids don't have the same level of understanding, heck I was like that with FNAF back in 2015, but it really pains to see something actually interesting to lose all of it's original meaning because people milk it with unoriginal stuff
Im pretty sure we shoule only focus on kanes side, and just ignore all the other unoriginal crap, because kane is the only one who puts effort in his lore.
Fnaf gameplay back then: wow, night 5 on fnaf is hard as hell Fnaf lore back then: 2 purple guys? phone guy killer? Fnaf Community: yall how do I beat golden freddy? Fnaf Gameplay Now: 40$ for a game that cant even run that well on a standard PC! Sign me up! Fnaf Lore Now: THE BOOKS ACTUALLY SAY THAT WILLIAM KILLED 11 KIDS!!!! Fnaf Community Now: toy chica is hot roxy is hot draw R34 the usual stuff
I agree. It’s even worse when the developers start to cater to the children. Five Nights at Freddy’s and Spirit Halloween are examples of two things that fell victim to this. Everything is made to be kid friendly.
As a kid myself I do hate when people/or children like that will make things worse just to satisfy themselves. I may have my own interpretations of the backrooms, I do kinda prevent my thoughts from going online since I don’t wanna ruin the backrooms.
Your impression of the kids’ UA-camrs’ back rooms videos is all I need in order to imagine those videos. Your impression made me groan, and that just makes you really good at acting.
I totally agree man, Kane Pixels nailed the Backrooms horror and he only needed one entity, and then also gave that entity a very good origin story that’s still being told. Beyond that though? The hundreds upon hundreds of dumb levels is getting incredibly old. Edit: Also, you’ve earned a subscriber man, I thought not many felt this way, but It’s nice to know I’m not the only one.
@@quagmiregaming21 the over saturation is definitely the issue. It needs to be a quality over quantity thing if people wanna add levels and not make it so much more difficult to stay into the backrooms as a concept
@@quagmiregaming21 like hell one of the newer ones I really like is the Pool rooms, that carry’s the same kinda liminal horror that the first picture does. It’s honestly spookier cuz the sound of the dripping water echoing just sounds way more ominous, not sure where I’d rather be trapped, the yellow hum buzz rooms of the first pic or the water dripping of the pool rooms.
I completely agree. The OG Backrooms were genuinely creepy, *because* it was so simple. The simple idea of wandering through an endless maze of empty officerooms is pretty creepy. But then they added monsters and complex lore, and I just lost interest. EDIT: also fun fact: I've actually known about Kane Pixels even before he made the backrooms series. He made some really creepy fan films about Attack on Titan's ending
I feel the same on this. I miss the backrooms being mainly focused on solitude and the unknown, because now it’s pretty much like the SCP foundation with how perfectly documented and known pretty much everything is
Pretty much how I feel about it! I feel like what makes the original backrooms so good is the little to no information being given to us about the place, it's pretty much the fear of the unknown, but because now it's being treated like the SCP foundation, the fear of the unknown is pretty much gone due to how much perfectly documented information they added
@@diamondplums503 Another thing is that the SCP foundation still carries the fear of the unknown because they explain what the anomaly is but never fully explain how it works
@@fanatomic24 ye, it why they have a scientifique departement, becoz they dont know everything about them, also in the fondation you have what is called the neutral class winch is scps that is totaly controlled and knowed on how they work, and like u see, most of the scps arent neutral
It sucks too because I think what makes SCP great is, on top of the endless possibility of the community, the fact that it knows how to show restraint. While everything is documented in a scientific and generally knowledgeable way, authors know how to keep a fear of the unknown, either through in-text tools like redactions or expunging, or by just making sure mystery still surrounds the anomaly. But it seems, from my experience, like the backrooms levels and expansions have no restraint in this regard. Maybe it's because the SCP format is supposed to be in-world and thus limited in its perspective, while those adding onto backrooms lore are acting as omnipotent narrators pitching an idea for a cool zone, but it results in an environment where these lore additions feel less like horror and more like an exercise in world building. There's nothing wrong with world building, but if you want to make horror you can't just explain the stats and layout of the world you're creating. That's just from what I've seen though, feel free to correct me.
I am an old guy and I have to say that the concept of the back rooms and how people react to them is a bit strange and fascinating to me. I wonder if the original images and videos only seem creepy to people of more recent generations? Perhaps because their experiences are so content filled and saturated. They are less likely to be alone, bored, or left with their own thoughts. I believe that when I was young, being exposed to real places like what appear in the early back rooms media was more common, they just seem like the normal back hallways of any office building or mall I worked in over the years. In my late teens and early adulthood I was often completely alone in malls before they opened and after they closed (I even spent the night in a mall occasionally because the weather was bad and I could not ride my motorcycle home). These empty echoing spaces seem more comfortable than frightening to me. It would be interesting to see someone research how people of different backgrounds react to backrooms media. 😀
Yea I mean I’m not even that old myself, I was born in 99. I find liminal spaces that look like it’s coming from a old late 90s cam corder to be comforting, almost nostalgic. It vaguely reminds me of childhood and family members I remember somewhat but don’t have the name too
@@stuglife5514YEUP!! Liminal spaces are by definition transitional spaces, like the hallways of malls. They’re usually filled by people passing by so when they aren’t the brain freaks out a lil. I love the nostalgia that liminal spaces give along with that slight unnerve.
A quiet, empty, unfurnished office room? Comforting. An endless maze of nearly indistinguishable office rooms, no sign of doors or windows anywhere else, nobody to talk to? After the first week or so of relaxing with my thoughts, would become lonely and isolating. Of course unless the Backrooms are also given some sort of supplies to occasionally find just enough food and water to keep going, someone like me would die of physical deprivation before the social and mental deprivation could kick in.
Something I really appreciate in Kane Pixels’ interpretation of the backrooms is while there are monsters present, they aren’t really the main focus in the series, rather the uncanny nature of the backrooms as a whole
I like that he shows a hostile monster because if he didn’t then eventually you would just feel like its vast and creepy but relatively safe. The addition of a monster takes away that sense of safety you have. This makes you ask tons of questions like “Is this the only monster and if not then how many are there.” Not having the monsters be the focus helps build the correct atmosphere of being isolated yet knowing and fearing your not alone. At least this is what I think.
@@tapatio8080 i think its scarier without the monster. Cause actually the scaruest thing in the world is your imagination, and when you start to go insane in the backrooms, your mind plays tricks on you and mixed with the feeling of helplessness , its way scarier
@@ri13h44 i remember watching a YT channel that I don't remember the name playing a backroom game before it is popular, around mid 2019 From what I remember, the game have you trapped inside the Backroom and suddenly encounters a woman who also somehow got into the Backroom and then missing half of the game to be shown that she is being killed and eaten by another victim of the Backroom that gone insane. There aren't any spooky monsters but in the game, you will find yourself, the character that are played, slowly decend into insanity all along the hallway of Backroom Oh, and there's coin case in the game which help the player navigate a bit
Same thing happened with SCPs. Silver lining is most of those kids lose interest as they grow older, and the ones who stick around start to get a sense for what the core appeal of the premise is.
yup the whole thing with MEG ruins the unknown part of the backrooms like a whole wiki explaining everything about something that was meant to be unknown ruins the whole point
That’s sorta why I just ignore anything that isn’t a Kane pixels video, monsters done right can be effective, but things like partygoers does not scream done right, they and their level breaks the entire scaryness of the back rooms and every time I see them I can’t help but say “really?”
Anything involving the Backrooms and some sort of actual monster is simply ridiculous, it’s supposed to just be a single post with an image and allows you to imagine
I still like the ideas of other levels though ; it gets me curious of what the backrooms can look like without being yellow halls but still acting so much on your mind.
The backrooms as a concept was really something new and refreshing, it invoked a kind of melancholic feeling inside of me. Its like looking trough the world with a childs curious eyes where everything is new and mysteriuos to you and the world hasnt lost its magical charm to it. The world is so big relative to you and the line between youre fantasy and reality is not as clear as when you grow up. But this reincarnated feeling of wonder and urge of exploration also reminds you of the time that is lost, the world we once thought of as mysterious will never return, and whats left is an empty feeling. Its like exploring a lost dream that has risen up from the deepths of countless other forgotten dreams, and now, for a moment, you can once again explore the long abandoned halls where only the sound of youre footsteps will echo trough the endless halls. And when you leave, the rooms and their flickering buzzing light will once again sink into the oblivion of youre mind.
The current form of the backrooms is just another unorginal generic horror fandom and the core of the concept has been lost. Its of course a subjective matter regarding how you interpret it, but its sad to see something refreshing and new devolve into just another fandom with cheap tricks like entitys and monsters.
I genuinely love the version of the Backrooms without the monsters. The eerie and unsettling feeling of wondering whether you're alone or not really keeps the pressure high and it's really cool to me. I like the Backrooms with entities just as much as the version without, but I do believe that the children spoiled the fun a bit.
The good thing is that the children #$&* one is not official and you can find the actual official ones at the backrooms wikidot or the fandom one (the wiki and fandom are different)
The only exception I'll make about the entities is your mind playing tricks on you and conjuring hallucinations in the corner of your eye, making you slowly lose your mind as you question your sanity and if you're really alone in these never ending walls. Soon you won't even be able to trust your own judgement, wondering if you already walked this path or not. You'll lose not only your sense of direction, but also yourself.
Agreed. What I find most frustrating is a bunch of these kids are getting really excited by niche horror concepts that they really shouldn't be exposed to yet. Some of them are very young and shouldn't know what the Backrooms are. Where are their parents? It's even more frustrating is when parents will feed into it like parents buying Huggy Wuggy stuffed toys for their kids without bothering to find out what it's from . Parents just refuse to parent and let the Internet be their kids' babysitter, exposing kids to concepts they shouldn't be involved in and spoiling the fun for the rest of us
One thing that really drove me nuts was how much of the backrooms was based off the idea of creepy liminal spaces and things we've all seen, but firmly established that it was purely coincidental and just happened to look like things in "the frontrooms." Like, if your levels look like a suburban neighborhood, an infinite wheat field, an office space, or an indoor pool, and your entities look like combine harvesters, dogs, smiley faces, Satan, or torii gates, at least give us a reason. Insisting that there's no connection to the real-world look-alikes and that it's a coincidence because the backrooms are infinite is just really, really lazy.
I agree, this bothers me so much, while id rather them be just a completely empty inescapable space, i wouldnt mind the entities as much if it was shit like seeing a random janitor in the corner of your eye
i also agree though i don't really think much about it but an explanation will probably be added in the fandom because most people right now are busy adding more levels, entities etc. Maybe when the fandom has calmed down like the SCP fandom people will add lore to the creatures in the backroom but that's a maybe. Who knows maybe the backroom fandom dies and no more content will be made i may even lose my interest in the backroom.
Backrooms (in reality) is a place for a stuff that unused or that didn't find some use rn. So i don't see a problem with locations from real world - cause they are not alive, not real, twisted maybe like bad picture or damaged. At least i see it like that. But kids really got into it a bit too much and, while i like a lot of added locations, creatures, factions and locations, part of them suck a lor and a good chunk of Backrooms is in kids hands/creators of cheap content.
i don't mind if some kids go to the backroom fandom and make some level, entity and even new lore sure most may be stupid but thats ok i support new fans getting into the fandom what i don't like is the UA-camrs oh my god they're milking the backroom and making the backroom looks like the daycare
I like the idea of the monsters all being hallucinations; I personally really think the monsters ruined the liminality of the backrooms, but viewing them as hallucinations kind of builds up the idea of 'you're so lonely you'll imagine anything else existing in the space with you.'
I mean, if ya want that, then level Zero of the wikidot is for you also all of the scary monsters on the backrooms wikidot are the ones that are more psychological horror anyway
@@leociresi4292 i like the wretched cycle (not the monster but the cycle its self) it adds even more fear factor to the cardinal fears that most if not all humans have like starvation, dying of thirst, darkness, ect
The backrooms as just an endless labyrinth to no exit is so mysterious to get lost in. Entities in the backrooms doesn't ruin it but it does morph the focus. Utter loneliness made it scary, because you would feel lost. Monsters gives you a destination, that is anwheres away from it. Which dilutes not only the feeling your alone but that aimless wondering. Moments that will force you to take your eyes away from a lifeless wasteland into a quirky closet monster. To a dread of loneliness and hopelessness to a chase from life-threating wierdo. Both concepts working on its own but when their mixed it resets the atmosphere and therefore weakens the horrifying mood altogether. However the variety that monsters do add to any level does make if feel like the backrooms is its own ecosystem. Due to some monsters interacting with other monsters. So that alone makes it more realistic and does increase the immersion so yeah less horrifying but much cooler and dare I say beautiful. The backrooms at this state is like landing on a dream-like alien planet with a ecosystem of enities whilst their are human scientists underground through researching accidently glitched reality into levels with human architecture and interiors along side it. All that just to realise that you actually didn't land there at all. You just got branwashed by a tribe of dreamwalkers, then waking up into level 143. Perhaps exaggerated but it highlights that there is a limit to how much can be added to a atmospheric horror before it just becomes an endless wild fever dreamworld that mashed all nostalgia, emptiness, and campfire monsters through an AI found footage filter. Yep, a concept that was supposed to get you lost, but got lost itself. But only got destroyed by those kids that loved to see a blue blur with horror mascots inside our beloved level 0.
What's happening with the genre right now is truly heartbreaking considering that I've been an active member of the community since early 2020. Back in the day, everything was simple. Small, unknown youtube creators who had an interest within the original concept of the backrooms were making absolutely phenomenal content. UA-camrs making detailed analogies of certain levels of the backrooms which were actively being made by a small group of individuals. Listening to their deep and interesting voices made those videos entertaining and fun to watch. Slowly as time was passing, the community had created such a beautiful fandom, but sadly everything doesn't last forever. Ever since kane posted that one video of the backrooms, it felt as if the original community was being overshadowed by this imaginary version of the backrooms which he had created. Even though the video which he had made was absolutely breathtaking and delivered a whole new point of view, it killed the traditional backrooms community. Ever since children got involved with this, I had no more hope left.
@@_IscreamThis. When they started making """lore""" the Backrooms was already ruined. The children shit was just a result of them trying to make it like SCP when the entire point is that it shouldn't be explained. Kane did it better. But his popularity is what finally killed it for real.
I feel like this exact same problem has killed the SCP Foundation as well. Several years back, I got into SCP because it felt like a much more refined version of creepypasta. There was more structure to it. Many of the entities, objects, or anomalies were interesting and unique. A lot of the entries were pretty self-contained; they didn't rely on other material and could stand on their own feet, so to speak. But then SCP got super popular, and now it seems like every new entry is either some absolutely derivative bullshit or stuff that's way too big. By "way too big," I mean that it seems like every new thing has got to be some reality-ending, universe-destroying, infinitely-powerful god or being, or something that is somehow the backstory of a dozen older SCP entries. It's over saturated. Everything just has to be bigger, more insane, or try to explain a bunch of stuff that works so much better when it ISNT explained. It drives me nuts.
The thing that finally turned me away from scp was when I was going through random posts and then suddenly the page was pink and it was a feminism scp which was basically a modern lecture on "man bad, woman good" and everyone was praising how amazing it was. I liked scp for the horror and mystery behind it, not being lectured on modern politics
I mean that's pretty much how Marvel movies work, or rather don't work. Nothing wrong with raising the stakes, but when you take it to Universe Ending then you can't raise the stakes any further, and so why should we care, especially when it's obvious that it'll be undone in the next one? Well same for SCP. Early on there were entities that did mundane things or nothing at all. Like a little gremlin that lives off car keys and socks but only when you're late for something.
Oh man, yes, this so much. I remember turning away when I kept reading about SCPs that were pretty much "same thing but not exactly!" and felt like 70% of them were giant Kaiju somehow all existing in the ocean and you couldn't help but wonder how tf the foundation manages to keep ALL of them secret. I think the "solution" was that there was different universes so the mutually exclusive SCPs could all somehow exist, but that made it even dumber in my opinion. And yeah totally screw the political stuff. That shouldn't be there at all.
I like scp, but there are some parts to it that’s just infuriating. Like 682 having such thick plot armor, as to come back after being erased from existence, I still love some like “the inevitable end of all but me” though. And there’s 096 that is meant to be indestructible dying to some acid and 173 in a tale, why?
I'm the developer of the game "Enter The Backrooms" and I completely agree with this video. My game released about a year and a half after the first wave of Backrooms popularity and about a year before the Kane Pixels stuff, which helped me stay motivated to make the game for its own sake, not for popularity. The Backrooms had enough time to build on the concept with levels and entities, which inspired me to make my game in the first place, but hadn't quite gotten too complicated, diluted, or saturated yet. After I released the game I continued updating it just for the fun of it. As soon as Kane Pixels did their series, my game took off in popularity since, at the time, it was the only fully-realized Backrooms game. Unfortunately, with Kane Pixels' series (which I quite enjoy) came a huge wave of game developers wanting to capitalize on a trend as opposed to making a game that tried its best to accurately reflect the lore of The Backrooms. If you look on Steam now there are TONS of Backrooms games, many of which don't even have the most basic element of The Backrooms: (virtually) infinite generation. Don't get me wrong, some of these games are well-made, but many of them are quick things thrown together in a game engine without much thought, and that reflects what most Backrooms content is now: loose ideas tossed together with the intent to make a quick buck. My game has a bunch of technical problems, I'm definitely not going to sit here and call myself a master developer, but like the original Backrooms, it has one thing that many other games don't: genuineness - and I think that's why The Backrooms are ruined. There's a point where something gets so big that the content surrounding it is just heaps of people wanting money or attention, and unfortunately, that's where The Backrooms is now. What's worse is these heaps of content overshadow the diamonds in the rough, that is to say the people who still have genuine intent with their work. I wonder how many fascinating Backrooms stories and experiences are out there that I'll never discover because they're buried too deep under everything else. All that to say I thought this was a fantastic video about something I dedicated a lot of time and energy to. Great stuff! :)
Agreed. I honestly think that *money* is the real problem. Once something becomes popular there are people who dont care about it a just want to get some money while its still popular. So many games a creepypastas were ruined by this a its honestly just sad.
@@gamingchickenstudios Yea and Poppy Playtime is the embodiment of ruining their own game by being greedy and money-hungry! Honestly i think it's kinda funny!
I really wish I want to play it and experience the backrooms when my heart started racing if hear a footsteps or horrifying noise from the distance your game development and the story is very great. And as for the family friendly channel, they really need to stop making clickbating videos and is incredibly cringed so awfully fustercluck from these Karen ideas.
@@supaplayerthat happened WAY before Kane. The back rooms wiki has been over explaining the back rooms for years. Kane just made an interesting story out of the original concept
The backrooms don't need monsters to be scary. Just the concept of being stuck for eternity in endless empty halls, rooms, and spaces, never seeing your family, friends, or another human being, is scary enough.
@@443MoneyTrees "if you go to the kitchen and scream (AMONG US SUSSY) 420 times a mysterious figure called "your mom" will appear and knock you unconscious"
I think some levels do work well with entities, but with others it makes more sense to not have them. Also entities are much more rare in levels than people assume, thanks to all of the content based on them. Level 0 doesn't even have monsters anymore.
As a kid I agree with this. I’m a super big fan of the backrooms knowing a lot of levels. And to see the backrooms just get turned into a cringe hub for every content creator just makes me sad. Most “backrooms” vids are just Gmod nextbots chasing vids or a new level added to the overwhelming stack of levels. I just want it to go back to the original, where there was only 2 levels and no entities, but now we have to deal with tons of dumb community made levels and entities that just ruin the whole point of the backrooms, to feel creepy and liminal. And this pretty much happens with everything that gets popular. It gets popular, tons of drooling kids find it, and then they make cringe unfunny memes about it, and then the thing loses popularity and the process repeats. It’s just sad to see most things just get found by 4 year olds and not any people with a brain. It’s the same with UA-camrs. Once they get too famous they do anything to get views and start getting mad at people who even inspire off of them. You just have to wait until the kids are gone, or find something else that isn’t controlled by kids and enjoy it until the kids find it.
I feel like the real fear of the backrooms can be perfectly described by the “Squidward gets trapped in white space” scene from SpongeBob. I’d personally be terrified if I was in the same situation.
the real issue with most horror stuff is that it gets described too much. The whole idea of the thing you are facing being already documented makes it less terrifying, even if it still results in your death. Stuff being documented also means that someone _has_ seen it and _has survived it_ and _escaped_ it in order to make it public.
I think it’s more of a “now you know what you have to be looking out for” instead of “someone survived it” because even with the first Kane Pixels video, the guy didn’t survive. It appeals more to the fear of the unknown.
The SCP universe navigates this pretty well I think, since it manages to still remain mysterious/interesting (especially the Safe and Euclid class objects) even though the entire premise is documentation and cataloging.
You just hit the point on why I hate niche media getting public attention, especially when horror stuff like these get famous. I miss when the Backrooms only had the office and nothing else, that's the whole reason why the atmosphere was scary, the decaying carpet, peeling wallpaper and the hum of fluorescent lights was the perfect atmosphere to make you feel alone. I don't need to know that I am in Level 69fun420 with the super scary ass molestor popping out everytime I blink.
The thing with the only office backrooms is that it would be boring, "OOOOH SPOOKY YOU GET TRAPPED ON THIS ROOM AND YOU CANT GET OUT AND YOU WILL DIE HAHAHA", except you can just explore but you still dont have anything new, Like you will only die of hunger or thirst, and i dont see anything scary in that honestly,if anything it is just a sad scenario, not scary, where as the kane pixels backrooms Is Interesting, Its fresh it keeps the best aspects of the 2 versions, it keeps the Quietness and Uncanny of the original( which i dont really like but i can respect people that like it), and the rich lore of the monsterfilled backrooms, which i find more interesting but it can get tiring
There are over thousands of levels if you count all the wikis. the backrooms arent scary anymore, its just people making their own level OCs basically. On their own, most levels as standalone concepts would be scary, but the sheer number of em just ruins it. (I still prefer the backrooms we have now over just the singular 4chan post because it would get stale quickly and the community would never form. It has it's flaws, though.) When i say standalone concepts, _just imagine falling into the floor one fateful evening to find yourself into an endless city where everyone you find has no face, there are these weird, terrifying creatures in some buildings that attack on sight, and the city just doesent seem to end. Nobody to talk to, you're driven insane as you keep wandering the city, trying to escape to no avail._ if your wondering what level this is, im talking about level 11
The main issue with the backrooms/liminal spaces being ruined is that it was scary due to the uncanny feeling of the unknown -- "where the fuck i am?" -- but that is quickly ruined when someone adds a 10 page description of each room and 'levels' with some stupid-ass monster that looks like a Indonesian bootleg SCP. This was one of my most fav things -- i could never bring myself to even call it a "theme" since it felt more to me than that, i was so connected to this (i know, i sound like a hippy lulz). I really liked the liminal spaces for as long as i could rember. As someone who has been evicted 17x growing up, it was always uncanny to move to a place and see no sign of life -- nor pictures of peeps on the walls, no furniture, nothing -- even tho i just came from a place that made it obvious someone live(d/s) here. I absolutely hate when peeps, who don't know what makes this thing good, make this thing bad. RIP to yet a another internet space that lost all potentional for stupid reasons -- just like SCP, Creepypastas, and so on. Sorry any bad English ^w^
People who are dunning Kruger affected because of their narcissism are the only ones willing to add garbage like this because they don't have any humility and care more about attaching themselves to an existing interesting idea rather than make their own forcing everyone to see it. It's just a severe concieteness to take someone else's concept and say "yeah I'm going to add stuff to it because I know how to make it better by adding some spaced out trash I spent a millisecond making"
I think it's the fact that younger audiences couldn't understand the effect and "horror" of the backrooms being completely empty, so when people added monsters, young people jumped on that stuff.
@@danielwoods3896 hearing a buzzing sound with fluorescent lights make you lose time which make you hear that make you go insane same thing a white room
@@danielwoods3896 It's not "scary", more like "eerie". It's the fear of the unknown. It's a strange place that we could get stuck in. And the entity was never really shown in the original post. Adding monsters just made the backrooms feel like another generic horror story.
@@danielwoods3896 “implied that it wasn’t empty” you summed up exactly why an empty motel is scary. You don’t know if it’s actually empty, it’s the feeling of paranoia that makes you restless
Facts. Absolute facts. While I'm not a fan of the "Official Backrooms Lore" with Partygoers either, the inevitability of "horror for kids" these days is so annoying.
I love the backrooms as an endless maze with separate areas or “levels” that have no monsters, no humans, no life in general, just pure emptiness and some levels being so quiet you’d hear your organs functioning inside you, levels so confusing and twisted that you’d get lost for years.
As another said it always had things in it... that original post even noted 'if you hear something, it certainly heard you'. There were always things in the back rooms. It was never empty.
@@destroyerofturtles5024 And? It flat out says 'if you hear it, then it's heard you'. Clearly saying that there is SOMETHING there. They were always there like it or not them's the breaks.
It happened to Slender, it happened to Creepy Pasta, it happened to SCP, and now it has happened to the Backrooms, of all things. I can't help but notice a pattern
4chan and something awful make something amazing,, then normalfriends who don't care about the quality and what made it good destroy it to get in on it because of their dunning Kruger narcissism
The backrooms downfall began as soon as monsters took the forefront of the equation. The concept of being stuck in an endless maze of rooms where essentially no other form of life exists aside from yourself is horrifying. You will die a slow and painful death due to starvation. Okay, so now we add big scary loud monsters that chase you down the halls and remove any and all subtlety! In all fairness, as described in the original 4chan post, there *was* something living in the backrooms, but it was simply "something." It was scarier to not know what it was, what it looked like, or what it would do.
Definitely it seems like SCP foundation 2.0, Something that started off simple and easy to add your own ideas. Ends up becoming extremely convoluted with its various rules and such. To me it seemed for more eerie when you’d be completely alone in the backrooms. Now I don’t blame Kane pixels what he did was extremely creative. The problem occurred when people started taking his idea on the story. And essentially making it the default.
@@mccringleberrytha3rd at least the scp foundation has some decent scifi/fantasy fiction, even if it isn't what was originally intended, the backrooms on the other hand are just bloated to hell with lowest common denominator bait
@@sierra1513 agreed SCP definitely had some good sci-fi elements. But also is SCP foundation even really popular anymore? I recall it was quite active a while back idk about now?
@@mccringleberrytha3rd still quite, multiple verses, versions even has a off shoot in several languages, just 3 months ago the english and spanish branches had a fight because they don't agree on everything and I kinda agree, People don't have to agree on everything, the foundations is popular because each entry is selfcontained unless it comes from a larger narrative which usually is harder to follow. But each thing is self contained unlike the backrooms where its all a single thing. The backrooms is a single space. And filling it with content saturates all it has going on.
Kane Pixels is the only person that's keeping the Backrooms intact. He doesn't put silly things like other game characters or quirky dancing people in it. He keeps the backrooms like it should be, mysterious and dangerous, and I give him the utmost respect for it.
Backrooms wiki fandom: Sure, sure, it's not like I've been here since the beginning of the backrooms keeping it intact and creative before newer fans from K pixel ruined it with false info and countless headcanons played off as facts😒
Kane Pixels and a few others do a great job on building tension and atmosphere without cheesing it up. They take their time, are patient, and play off the imagination of their audience. They do a great job at presenting the backrooms as a living entity, as it's limitless space and corridors create both dread and fascination through the unknown.
The idea of Backroom itself is about existential dread, and fear of knowing that you're possibly the only one person trapped in some strange maze that you can't ever get out. It's simple, it's mysterious, but it works like a charm. And Kane's version of it just expand the original version without never adding anything else than necessary. Just lore about a dangerous unknown entity, expedition and research on how Backroom is existing in the first place. When people started to expand it by adding 'levels' and somehow, 'human colonies' of all things, it has been ruined. It has become the second SCP fandom at this point; "Oh, people thought that this level is dangerous and crazy? Wait until I add my own level called '69420 TotAL cARnaGE' with human colonies and local mosters waging war against one another for eternity!" It's just dumb.
I think the Backrooms wikis are fine, as long as they have reasonable quality control. There is no established backrooms "canon" so if you don't like the existence of a wiki with levels, you can simply ignore them. But they can be good in their own right, even if not necessarily as a purely "liminal" or "horror" thing anymore. The thing is, different Backrooms wikis have different levels of quality control, so your experience with them can vary a lot depending on which one you subscribe too. I'm pretty sure that anyone can write whatever they want on the Fandom, with little to no quality control. The Wikidot, on the other hand, has (in theory) got even stricter quality control than the SCP Wiki, since you need to be greenlit to write *any* level, no matter how many levels you have written before.
@ValiantFlamez just because you can make something doesn't Mean you should, when you flood a community with garbage because you are so narcissistic that you feel the need to make everyone know about your totally original not scp idea, the good parts of it are overshadowed and completely mutilated, like have some humility, or just write your own story and don't parasitically attach yourself to something that was good until it's completely drained then discard it's completely desecrated corpse
@@Nikotheleepic Like I said, there is no established Backrooms "canon", so if you don't like the wikis you can simply pretend they don't exist. Rather than going around attacking them and everyone who supports them for no reason. While I can't speak for the Fandom because idk what the process is for writing an article there, the Wikidot has very strict quality control. Sure, some of the older levels are a bit trash, but those ones are being rewritten to get them up to standard with the others. If you really think you can just publish "garbage" on there, you are mistaken. All new articles have to be critiqued (often by multiple people) before you're allowed to publish them. If you show the critics garbage, there's no way they'll allow that on the site. Don't believe me? Try it for yourself, f*ck around and find out 🤣 Also, the wikis probably don't have as much power as you think they do, because there are multiple of them that compete against each other. People don't write articles expecting them to become canonical parts of "Backrooms lore," in fact most probably won't be read by anyone outside the wiki they're contributing to. And the authors know this. Have you ever considered there may be another reason why people write these articles instead of narcissism? It's called "having fun"🤣
@@ValiantFlamez I think actually people should make more videos like this then you guys can be pushed to a corner of some wiki somewhere instead, no problem right?
What I mostly like about Kane Pixels' version of The Backrooms is that, while there are threats and levels residing inside The Backrooms, there is still an ominous and foreboding sense of loneliness, fear, and isolation to be in the series. That is the only Backrooms-related channel that I actually love because of it.
i respect your opinion, but the kane pixels one is arguably worse then any of the wiki's, at least the wiki's kept that sort of fear of endlessness, not ever being able to escape, no matter how much progress you make you will not escape, kane pixels just turned it into "iT wAS aN ExperIMEnt ALL ALong" rather than the backrooms being a mysterious dimension seperate from earth with only a few documented things like a few entities and levels.
@@nuggetgod2618 I’m pretty sure Kane said the back rooms in his lore were discovered and not created so it’s still a mystery what exactly the back rooms are
@@nuggetgod2618 I mean that from what we’ve seen in his videos, all the things you’ve said about how you can’t escape no matter what you do and the back rooms being a separate entity from earth still applies to his videos when it comes to normal people falling into the back rooms, and sure when it comes the the async guys walking around and trying to document and mapping everything I see where you’re coming from but the only real “experiment” was them opening the back rooms and much of what the back rooms are still remains a mystery
@@nuggetgod2618 This is untrue. Both wikis are filled with levels that offer ways to escape into the "Frontrooms"(Our world) The wikidot for instance, has that one arcade level, for one example.
Honestly what ruined the backrooms for me were the entities. I like learning about the different levels because I find the thought of exploring an endless liminal space really creepy and cool, but when I learn about the entities I just cringe. Skin stealers? Smilers? I know the original post hints at something being in there with you, but it’s the mystery of what it could be and if it wants to hurt you or not that makes it good.
exactlyyyy ! its so annoying how like... every horror series needs to have super extensive lore, trever henderson ripoffs, and be a vhs found footage or analog horror
So you like learning about things in the backrooms that we don't know anything about, but you also don't like learning things about the backrooms that we don't know anything about. Your entire point is an oxymoron.
I don’t mind the entities but it would be nice if horror games now days stopped focusing on making a “scary” backrooms game and focusing on making their games more liminal
I was gonna say the backrooms has become a meme. At least something where all the fear has been taken out of it and boiled down to where the version of the backrooms my eldest niece knows is not the same as the one I know. Just like with FNAF. She'll never know how frightening the first 4 games were or that Markiplier was king of FNAF. All she knows is Security Breach.
BRO EVERYONE HATING ON FNAF WHEN IT WAS JUST 1 GAME THAT WASNT SCARY. Steelwool didnt even fully finish the game. They wanted a completely different story and they didnt finish because of the contract with sony that it had to be out by 2021. Around 50% of the game didnt even get finished. Steelwool knew this and are making a dlc called "ruins" which is centered around being scary. Just look at the poster for the dlc, no vibrant colours, just darkness and even scarier robots.
Honestly, atleast the Backropms isn’t dying silently like the Alien franchise, the new Predator movie was okay, they just need to replace the shitty coward fur trapper with the real black pirate Rapheal who was literally ready to die fighting his entire former crew and a fucking Predator all at the same time on his own.
I feel like the absolute golden version of the backrooms was it's simple original post. It's like a one-two sentence horror story, you can imagine just how insane a victim of that no-clip will go. The level concept is something that began to give some sort of hope to the whole situation, yet I find it more scary when the situation is just an inevitable death. Original backrooms isn't just scary but also really sad.
Tbh death is a boring way to make something scary. Imo it's far better when there's something else (that ISN'T just eternal suffering or smth), something like becoming the creature and trying to help other ppl but they're afraid of you or your help does more bad than good, etc.
I think Kane Pixels "explanation" of the backrooms is actually really creative and suits it, experiments with quantum tunnels/saving billions in infrastructure/something going horribly wrong. It's one of the few instances in horror where the explanation gives you just enough material to chew on and make sense in concept without tarnishing the original concept or horror.
I dont really get how anyone else can find out about it if no one makes it out alive or when they do, they die a few seconds later. Let alone being able to just go in and out, they cant even know its existence.
@@Happy06853Someone had to have made it out at some point, no matter how low the chances. It's very random to get in so I imagine it would be to get out as well, but like getting in, not impossible.
@@Happy06853 In Kane's videos, they went through a lot of extremely volatile experiments to open up a door way into the backrooms, doesn't mean they can always get out though.
@@Happy06853 You clearly didn't watch the series of Kanes then. It's not the internets job to hold you hand at everything open a book, watch a video, do some of your own research... quit piggy backing off of everyone else you're not helping anything/anyone.
I always like the idea of the original story for the backrooms, where what lurks is unknown. I think it works better if the creatures are unknown, makes it more unsettling, the ambiguity of whatever lurks brings both curiosity and fear. I personally prefer the original story, I love that fear of the unknown, the fear that there is no documented creatures, the fear of what's out there to get you. I kinda just ragged on about this but I will say that I honestly do not care for the "documented" entities (i.e. Partygoers, "Kitty"), interesting? Yes, definitely, but do I care for the backrooms having documented entities? Absolutely not. I may be ragging on about this but I thought I'd like to share my thoughts.
Absolutely. I think adding a lore for the backrooms ruins it. I love the concept of these creepy empty rooms just existing without any explanation or reason
It works with SCP, but with the Backrooms is just lame, I lost it with the whole survivors taking their time to analyze particles and the governments thing, just became silly, in essence is such a simple and effective horror concept that got spoiled with George Lucas: "I have to explore the behaviors of the Green Goblins in Level 188 and how they survive eating light bulbs"
I honestly don't mind the idea of there being different entities and an endless amount of weird levels. I actually admire the creativity from it, but it goes downhill for me once youtubers start turning the backrooms into a cesspool filled with childish characters and memes, turning the whole concept into an unfunny joke.
I think a lot of what the backrooms thrived off of was the fear of the unknown, so when you take that away, you get a hollow husk of what was originally something fun. Turning the idea and passion itself into a liminal space in a sad turn of irony
I don't mind liminal spaces being turned into the backrooms because liminal spaces have always given that weird uneasy feeling. However with the research institutions and overall people trying to humanise and familiarise the backrooms it takes away all of the charm.
@@Singularian I completely agree with that. The additional liminal spaces were pretty interesting, but I really digged the simplicity. It gave room for fans to think of it how they wanted it to be
This cycle of “Children’s Internet Effect” is causing horror as a concept to just become polluted, no longer can I enjoy something as scary as an existential crisis without thinking “How would a child think about this” or “How could this be ruined” Edit: when I said “How would a child think about this” I meant what could be put into this beautiful idea that would make it more accessible to children (the inclusion of cartoon characters, ECT) not that I thought children liking something was bad.
@@chaosbeam4654 have you seen the evolution of the fnaf games? what started as a truly disturbing atmospheric game ended with a complete mess of lore and far less scary ambience. what audience would you guess caused this to happen?
This is why it's so bittersweet that the SCP fandom (my favorite online horror fandom) got stuck at semi-mainstream. Not too big not too small. The SCP fandom had gradual growth, not explosive growth. People make animations, games and even low budget movies about it! Of course crappy SCP content is still present but the really good stuff makes it all worthwhile and its a real online treasure I hold dear🙏
SCP is also centralised under the Wiki who have a firm grip on what actually goes up, and a whole section to divert people who want to write nonsense. Beyond that, there are more immutables in the SCP setting that no randos can reasonably change.
I hate it when people make unoriginal SCP’s like ‘siren head’ and ‘cartoon cat’ these aren’t original SCP’s you took Trevor Henderson’s creatures and slapped the word SCP on them
The fundamental problem with Liminal Horror is that at a certain point, you have to let it die for it to become good. It can't be developed upon (too much), otherwise it ceases being about the Liminal Space. I feel like Kane struck the perfect point of developing upon the concept while keeping the concept still terrifying enough. In one video there's an entity hunting a guy, but in most of his videos it's about the infinity of the whole thing, the trap of just being there. We know the videos are connected, but we can't fathom how big the place actually is, so those scientists that managed an entrance to the place could be thousands of miles away from the guy that was getting chased in the first place. But since the place noclips into itself, and you can fall into a hole somewhere and be at a different point of the whole place entirely instead of where the fall should logically take you, those same scientists can find that tape. The connection between the videos exist, but within the lore itself it's flimsy at best. The problem is, how do you keep the concept of an infinite place that never changes appearance interesting? You add things to it. So games, and other lower tier creators, went the easy route and added "challenges". More monsters. They made infinity finite, because you keep finding thresholds (ironic, considering the concept is exactly about that) in those creatures.
Man as someone who was super into the backrooms and it's lore, and expecting it to become something similar to the SCP wiki once it got itself sorted out, seeing this happen in real time over the past year was heartbreaking.
I was hoping for the same thing. Hopefully there'll be a Renaissance out of this saturated money pump limbo it got itself stuck in, like FNAF with VHS and Battington. Or hopefully it lays to rest.
@@sn5806 SCP did used to get an insane amount of content back in the day it is likely once the trend of the backrooms dies down the ones who are left will make it more similar to SCP
scp did not "get itself sorted out" for more than maybe three years anyway. What exists now, and the people in charge of the wiki leaves it similarly a shell suffering from bloat and whatever you'd call feature creep of a concept.
There's a difference between _fear_ and _terror,_ and for that reason I keep the two "forms" of the backrooms separate. The original 4chan post version I'll call the Backrooms and the second "modern" version with all the levels I'll call the Maze. The maze is based off of fear. Fear is defined as _a very unpleasant or disturbing feeling caused by the presence or imminence of danger,_ and is not induced by the person experiencing the emotion. Fear is caused by imminence, knowing that something is there and knowing that it's after you specifically. All of the entities in and different levels reduce the terror of the original backrooms to fear, as you know something is there. The backrooms are based off of the idea of _terror._ Terror is defined as _a cause of dread or extreme fear,_ and instead of hinging on knowing that there's something there, it relies on the opposite. The inherent unknowability of an infinite mass of hallways makes us wonder. Is there something there? The scary part is that _we don't know._ The original post only _implied_ that there's something else with us, and has nothing to prove it. We just don't know, and that makes it scarier than the maze. Another thing to note is that a liminal space (what the original backrooms is based off) is a _transition._ A hallway, an elevator, or a daycare. A place to be for a short time, but not a place to linger. That's what made the original image so terrifying, an infinite mass of hallways with no actual starting point or destination; you must linger in a place not meant to be inhabited for more than a few hours at most. The total emptiness and the monotony of the wallpaper and damp carpet, with just the sound of buzzing lights is a horrible idea. _Because there's no way in, and there's no way out._ The yellow is all you knew, and it's all you ever will know. I don't believe the backrooms were "ruined". They were never intended to be something that stayed static, that's why it was scary. Nobody knew what it could be. Nobody destroyed it. The two versions have different ways of scaring us, and while one is more effective than the other, it doesn't make them _bad._ Calling an idea "bad" because it just isn't as effective as its predecessor isn't a good way to look at games or things like the backrooms. They're _supposed_ to evolve. Seeing all of the comments wishing that "little kids didn't ruin everything" is making me increasingly sad for the future of horror. It's a genre. People are going to have different ideas of what's scary. *_Don't be a jerk because you don't find something scary, it's not a good look for you or the community._* EDIT: if you'd like a better explanation of my point, I recommend Pastra's video "Why BATIM Is My Favorite Horror Game". Pastra explains why games like this are effective in an awesome way. :)
@@ineedzemedic5810 EXACTLY. I don't have the willpower to go through and tell people to get it together myself. We literally have an ENTIRE SUBGENRE developing right in front of our eyes (I.E: Security Breach, Poppy Playtime, etc) and all people have to say is "I hate that kids ruined things". Like we are watching a completely new thing evolve and that's all you have to say??
@@goldenmeadows5046 God, seeing people like this just be so negative makes me make me so mad. People can no longer just move on and enjoy the things they like "oh well this person ruined this for me" WHO CARESSSS GET A JOB!!!! Honestly thank you for making this comment, again and thank god it got the attention of the op of this video and it gets more attention and makes people open their eyes more. I genuinely do hope you have a good year.
I think part of the issue might be that liminal space/backrooms type stuff is meant to play with nostalgia and uneasiness. It's made for people who have been around for a bit. That's part of what makes it creepy. It feels familiar but it shouldn't. Little kids do not feel nostalgia, as they haven't been around for a long enough time. To them, the backrooms are scary because "it's big and it has monsters", whereas to us part of it is creepy due to the whole nostalgia/"I've been here before" typa thing. Hope that makes sense.
It makes perfect sence and I 100 percent agree with you, that feeling of entering the liminal space which felt foreign but familiar is a terrifying concept.
I'm 14 and I still find liminal spaces, found footage and "nostalgic horror" terrifying, in the nostalgic way. I'm also one of the people who thinks all the monsters and levels added by the fandom makes it all convoluted, over complicated and just not scary. So idk why people think most children can't experience liminal horror.
Oh I definitely agree. To me, the backrooms look similar to the empty departments and store outlets I saw in the mall when I was younger. The backrooms instill that sense of familiarity within you which makes the concept creepy. Take that away and it becomes a hollow concept devoid of any real substance.
The absolutely powerful Atmosphere of Purgatory The Backrooms emenates paired with the Isolation you eventually feel is what makes it so horrifying. I've never lived rural, but I imagine living super far away from anyone and letting your mind wander, or do drugs just to fill the void of the empty fields has a similar feeling. But The Backrooms have that sense that something SHOULD happen, because it's in an office building. But nothing does. And that's what's so irritating to the psyche. Adding characters and enemies destroys the feeling of dread, which is to be expected by mall kiosk youtubers.
Little kids overtaking the backrooms is something that I absolutely agree with. I remember seeing in one of my classes at school a bulletin board with self portraits of kids from somewhere around fourth grade. One of the children drew himself with the backrooms
oh my god for real. like there are kids who UNDERSTAND the concept, what makes it creepy, and how to not ruin it. (im referring to myself and my friends we adore the backrooms and what it is lol)
@@kylesimone6140 I was one of the people that didn't undertstand the true concept of the backrooms at least until now. I wasn't really engaged with the community the entire time but it still hurts seeing such a nice idea get ruined by kiddies
I partially disagree. I still sense some... rudeness towards children, even with politeness regulating it. Felt like the message is still "Children ruin everything, specially horror!". This might be true, but that doesn't mean that I won't pin on the rudeness.
I mean, not really. It was pretty weirdly mean-spirited to basically blame it entirely on kids while also saying it was because of popular youtubers (who aren't children).
@@JSSMVCJR2.1 Children do ruin everything. How many PG-13 horror movies would have been SO much better with an R rating? Dozens if not hundreds of them. Instead, Studios cut down really good movies and ideas because they want to make more money off of kids who can see them by not rating the movie R. A good example of this is the movie Stay Alive which was a great concept but had a really poor and confusing execution because a whole part of the story had to be cut to get a PG-13 rating. It was done for the need to make more money and get a younger audience. Teens and children have ruined what could have been great horror movies.
Honestly, one thing I hate about the new Backrooms that you didn't talk too much about is that the wiki is very much trying to be SCP 2.0, instead of something original. Now it's all documented in articles written by some research group that sends people in there (like the SCP Foundation), documents the results and how to get out (like the Special Containment Procedures and Testing Logs/Addendums of every SCP article), and even rates rooms based on how dangerous they are (like the SCP object classes). The way creatures are detailed is very simmilar to the SCP aritcles themselves. And don't get me started on the page about groups that is both redundant (since, as you mentioned, the fear of being alone is a major scare factor) and is basically a copy-paste of the SCP Group of Interest hub.
I find it cool, perhaps it's because i've never been much of a follower of SCP content, so... when i see the Wikidot about backrooms i think it was pretty cool all that lore.
@@Ench1L0ver In my opinion, it's different since the SCP Foundation has a concept that works with overexplaining things things while still being scary, while the primary thing that makes the Backrooms scary is the fear of the unknown, of not knowing what lurks behind the yellow walls, wether the maze has an end and wether you're truly alone. Which gets thrown away if there's entire articles detailing in great detail what the monsters are and how to avoid them. And, as I've said, the presence of armed groups that try to help survivors diminishes the fear of being alone and stranded. But, then again, horror is a subjective thing.
Man, you're right. The wiki is kinda like a double-edged sword. On one hand, it gives writers the opportunity to show off some of their ideas about the Backrooms, such as levels, entities, etc, which allows for discussion and creativity in the community. On the other hand, is what you just described (Which isn't anything new by the way). It's really a shame y'know, it could very easily be it's own thing.
I hate so much the fandom wiki of the backrooms, some levels are just random ass pictures from google, heck, there Even is a level that is just a fucking pink house with a Monsters inside of it that just wants to be your friend, that shit sounds like something a random ass 12 year old would write. Shit doesnt Even look like the backrooms anymore, there Even is a level in wich You have to do random fucking quests and if You complete them You escape the backrooms, and the only person who escaped the backrooms is a random fucking Reddit user, like the backrooms have Lost it's identity, it doesnt feel like the backrooms anymore, this is just SCP v2
A lot of the charm of Backrooms I feel has to do with isolation and being separated completely from people you love, family, friends, and so on. I for one have a fear of claustrophobia so it works on me the most, and I feel that's what strengthens it: no "entities", no jumpscares, no "levels" - it's like waking up and finding yourself locked inside a deserted shopping mall and no means of getting out. I'm not bothered by people expanding on the concept, and to be honest I think it's cool, but to get the most out of it is that it's literally just... You (the one who fell in) and nothing else: there's only one way out unless you happen to find a miracle. Frankly though I kinda see Backrooms now as-- the entire world is a GMod server and we are all merely users, lol.
In my opinion, the best interpretation of the Backrooms has to be the free steam game "The Complex: Found Footage". It has an extremely eerie and dreadful feeling throughout the entire game because of something that was present in the original backrooms: Nothing. All you do is wander, turning every corner with fear that something might attack, yet nothing does. There is an entity present in the game, but it doesn't hunt you or attack you. It just stalks you, and you can rarely ever see it. The game doesn't get mundane either, because something is always catching your interest, but never too much that it takes away from the feeling of dread and anxiety.
The game is so big you find random but interesting stuff there. Did anyone found a toppled police car in a small room? I sure did on my 3rd playthrough.
The Backrooms for me were at their peak when there were no monsters at all. The idea of someone falling into a sub-layer world that comprises of unfathomably endless mundane rooms and hallways to me is a perfect blend of that classic Twilight Zone style creepiness and a modern horror perspective.
I really liked the implication of monsters and occasionally finding things out of place in the backrooms, sort of what kane pixels did in his first few videos. While it's nice the backrooms has gotten more popular it just resembles the creepypasta mansion now :(
There were always monsters and entities in backrooms but they weren't cliché, boring, and overall unoriginal. Every OG monster in the backrooms had odd and original properties, behaviors, and looks.
The 2 channels that didn't turn backrooms into a cringe fest are Kane pixles, and frag 2 because they just make found footage. I will say the inclusion of entities and levels isn't inherently bad, they can sometimes make it better, but it gets bad when they are oversaturated and overused
@@quagmiregaming21 As being an SCP fan of early 2012, when I saw the backrooms take works and art from Trevor Henderson to make entities categorized but level number and level floors, and hazmat people I sat there like " Oh God I know what's coming at the speed of light towards this community and it [redacted] and [redacted]"🤣
yes, but the lore will take away the mystery and make it more of just a SCP foundation thing, which used to be something awesome, it still is but now it's full of [redacted] and [data expunged] destroying the lore of SCPs by those who do it
@@lilkittyanime same here lmao, i miss the old days of SCP stuff, now it's all [redacted] and [data expunged] ruining the idea of reading files about mysterious anomalies and entities, i had thought however does that should be forever banned from ever setting foot in the SCP foundation again but the damage is done
i was there for the very first 5 levels of the backrooms. no partygoers, no complicated safezones, just a few monsters sprinkled here and there, and the feeling of being alone, and helplessly lost. now it just feels distorted, and watered down.
I can't help but roll my eyes whenever I hear about "monsters" or "levels" when it comes to the Backrooms. What makes the Backrooms so creepy is it's endlessness and it's isolation, which you could easily see driving someone crazy. Its so simple yet so effective. But if you put some spooky monsters in it, then it just ruins those traits, you're no longer focused on the horrific loneliness, and the sense of being lost and stranded, and especially understimulated. You're just focused on running away from an obvious threat, which could happen anywhere, not just the Backrooms, which makes the entire point just completed redundant. It's a shame
This literally sums up everything I hate about it now, anything past the original concept from 4chan just kills it and ruins it imo. People took it from a cool scary concept about isolation, liminal space and the fear of the unknown to some dumb SCP wannabe with lore and tons of different goofy monsters and "levels", completely ruining the point and charm of what it was all originally about
To be fair, the original 4chan post does imply the existence of some sort of creature(s) being in the backrooms. But I definitely feel like the monsters are focused on way too much.
@HolyApplebutter I think there it's the thought that there *might* be something in the backrooms with you. Theres no encyclopedia of room dwellers, theres no rules they have to follow or even a defined shape or if you are truly alone. It goes back to the fear of the unknown.
Personally, I like the idea that there are undefined creatures that stalk you, instead of expanding catalogues. I also think the liminal spaces being incorporated was a positive
Creator of The Partygoers here! I'm flattered you like them ^^ As someone that's been involved with the community since the beginning, I will say that it IS really frustrating to see how much soulless and clickbaity content is being made to milk The Backrooms to the point its at right now. But I don't think they have been ruined-- not by a long shot. This same thing happens to other horror media all the time, we've seen it happen with SCP, with Trevor Henderson's works, with FNAF, its inevitable that child-orientated content will be made about these medias because that's just what's profitable. But these properties still exist, and they still have thousands and thousands of people beside them that genuinely love them, and want to make amazing things with them. I don't like the idea that the backrooms is over just because it's going through a phase like this, and I really believe it'll get back to a point that we all have been desiring soon enough. In the mean time, I'm sure we'll have plenty of fun shit talking 'partygoer vs huggy wuggy' type videos XD Great video man!
It’s crazy, because I was an “original backrooms fanatic” (lol) and I absolutely loved it so much that I would tell all of my friends in school about it. They used to quite literally think I was weird after reading all of my notes and stuff on it. Now they all post on tiktok about it and literally call EVERY room that’s empty the backrooms…. Sucked the life out of such a fun time. *Also how do you only have 54K subs. :(*
Imagine those poor guys who were literally assaulted and bullied endlessy gor being "nerds" in the 90s and the people who used to laugh at them are now huge comic superhero fans and phone "gamers". At least in the late 2000s it was pretty much accepted in schools to play video games. I wouldn't be in place of those poor 80s and 90s "nerds"
i think that the main problem is floors and monsters. although I love what kane pixels is doing with the monsters and stuff I think the back rooms is most terrifying when it's just nothing. just you, yellow walls, old carpet, and buzzing lights. with nothing but your own thoughts as you are forced to spend all eternity alone and slowly going insane. for me at least that is terrifying. being forever alone and there's nothing you can do. different floors and monsters take away from the creepiness of forever repetition and loneliness.
yeah, the thing that made the backrooms terrifying is the simple yet affective design and the fear of the unknown. So as soon as all of these New, overly explained levels were created it took away the reasons what made the backrooms so existencial (dont get me wrong, i love most of these levels its just that they dont fit the backrooms).
The floors arent even a real thing in the backrooms. And the monsters arent the ones we made up. I stand by the original post, and the original post only.
Exactly. The true horror of the backrooms is dealing with the endless solitude and being lost. For all I know the only monsters are the ones you imagine in your desperation.
That was never the backrooms tho even in the fist post about It you were not alone you all act like you know the original backrooms but you didn't even read the original post
I completely agree. The backrooms should've stayed as that single set of rooms that was shown and described in the original post. I despise how people have tried to make into a new SCP which completely goes against the type of existential horror the original post was going for. I think having multiple levels with different monsters completely ruins the appeal.
I used to like the backrooms, as what I was introduced to was the whole “Check out this cool endless reality thing. It has a wiki and stuff.” Then Some wikis started changing what they had, and then it got really confusing Eventually I found the whole non wiki backrooms. Or the rooms backrooms, the backrooms focused on the mystery and atmosphere. So I have decided to organize backrooms content into three groups. Follow these if you want The backrooms The whole anomaly, not muck known kind of deal The monster rooms The backrooms that focuses on intricate lord rather than the rooms themselves And the playrooms Kids content that burns braincells
@@SuperduckMusic i mean I wouldn't doubt that they have several intricately worded direct rips of either videogame monsters, or gaming history. Iirc, they got several 'haunted games' in the foundation's care.
Its really funny because when I first saw the original post I thought it was a good joke. I just thought being trapped in a place with the horribly annoying combo of the lights, smell and color was hilarious.
My bad guys
it's ok
It's not your fault
Noo don’t blame yourselfff
its not your fault bro
no way it’s the guy
6 minutes ago
This is something I like to call the "Slenderman Effect"
What started as something unnerving and with a vague but terrifying concept gets beaten into the ground mercilessly and milked dry until tons of unnecessary "lore" is added and the scare factor is totally gone
What made it scary to begin with is dead and gone
This is also what happened to things like Siren Head, because once kids get their hands on it and youtubers learn they can milk this audience they'll destroy it without caring about the original concept or the creators behind it
the slenderman effect is also what killed the horror genre edit:holy fuck I never got that much likes
the slenderman effect ruined trevor hendersons art
its not necessarily "gone", its just harder to find among the shitposts
@@bibstyr a good example of a community that doesn't have 48485848 levels is the wiki
it's also beginning to happen with welcome home... the creator didn't even expect it to blow up and people are treating their work as a new ARG when he didn't intend for it to be seen that way.
It’s sad to see horror slowly mutate into something so… empty. Games try too hard nowadays to be scary without knowing what scary is. Scary isn’t a convoluted plot or sharp teeth, scary is a mood/atmosphere that any game can create when the correct elements are used.
Horror isn’t horror anymore.
Horror is a kind of atmosphere, definitely NOT a category for builds
I agree. My favourite part of horror is something called psychological horror, that uses no jumpscares. No surprises. Just atmosphere. Just creepy images. I love the way it scares me. Rather than a momentary jump, there is an oppressive fear that builds up inside you. This, in my opinion, is true horror.
That’s why I love old horror games like silent hill and all other games in that genre, the pure atmosphere and tenseness was amazing without all the “scary” modern stuff
that's why iron lung stays as my favorite horror game
I feel like liminal horror is hard to maintain. We naturally try to build on the idea but the more we understand the more it takes away from what actually made it scary.
well spoken…
This is why the original Candle Cove more or less works, but the Candle Cove Wiki is bloated cringe.
I don't think it's natural, I mean maybe to children, I think people should allow an idea or story to exist without narcissistically hijacking it for their own dunning Kruger need for pride by association or just to latch onto an existing idea because they want to feel like they are a part of something better than them and in the process destroying it
@@Nikotheleepic especially when the narrative practically RIDES on its ambiguity
it's like a doorway that moves further from you the faster you run to it
In a weird way, I think the building on and lore-ifying of the backrooms is just a testament to how solid the original post was. It was so simple, so totally hopeless, it was horror in its purest form. It was less of a place and more of a distilled feeling, defined by its emptiness and hopelessness. When it went "mainstream" of course people tacked on new layers, creatures, and exits, because the *concept* of the backrooms is so compelling that it captured peoples' imaginations, but the *feeling* that it was meant to evoke was so uncomfortable that people tried to drown it out. The mainstream backrooms is like a fantasyland that people have invented in an attempt to distract themselves from the horror that the backrooms *really* is.
I think you are onto something. The original idea of an empty and hopeless, unending space was too strong and horrifying so naturally filled it up with monsters and memes. It's similar to Minecraft in many ways.
I think people just saw a cool horror idea(that’s all it was let’s be real) and expanded on it.
You're right about the backrooms being a feeling. Sure, you might think that a monster is just around the corner, but that's the horror of the imagination. What's more terrifying is realising that you're truly alone in this yellow prison.
I first discovered the backrooms after getting in SCP and even with a SCPs terrifying nature backrooms levels are a whole other level of existential dread, SCPs can be contained but if you no-clip into the backrooms it’s virtually impossible to escape.
yeah, it’s interesting to listen to the video because while I agree that the concept has been taken and run with, so to speak, he just sounds like a hipster complaining other people know about his favourite band now, lol. The original feeling is still there, you don’t have to focus on the new content if it doesn’t appeal to you… so while his point that there are now ‘layers’ of the backrooms that aren’t maybe _embodying_ the original concept of ‘the Backrooms’ as he and others define them, it falls flat when you realise he can just focus on what he prefers and ignore the content he doesn't… To each their own, but wanting content other people prefer not to exist, while wanting the content you prefer to exist, seems selfish and contradictory to me.
It feels.. refreshing to see someone talk out about what’s happening to the backrooms community, and not just support it while pocketing the cash for themselves. I’ll be sure to follow your content.
Dude, just say you hate kids in fandoms. We get it, they make cringy shit. I was one of those kids before when I was younger.
You just gotta learn to ignore it.
@@four-en-tee I don’t have a problem with kids, more or less the content creators themselves. The more they make the content that they do and market it towards children, the more kids come on and the more the content creators ruin the community with colourful and famous characters in the backrooms. It decorates with happy music and brain dead videos, becoming more and more stereotypical kids content and making it “cringe”. I Apologise if I wasn’t clear enough, have a good day.
(P.S Edited for Grammar fixes.)
@@Onetruefreeman damn, how are they gonna recover from that?
@@four-en-tee Do you think people want to learn that. Why learn to ignore things when you have a scapegoat?
I hope this video becomes viral in itself help brining awarness about the issue. I have hope that this can be solved.
The saddest part is knowing that any really exciting horror concept that fascinates the internet in the future will be watered down and ultimately ruined in this same way. It happens every single time.
Remember that we can keep enjoying it anyway, random internet users can't ruin an artistic idea.
@@theRPGmaster yes exactly, just because "bad" versions of a thing exist, doesn't mean "good" versions are mandated to end
It happened before the internet. Look at Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, pretty much anything creepy in horror gets turned into a joke at some point.
Like siren head
I've always hated trends for THIS reason. I don't follow trends and crap because, well it CAN be cool, but I'm just different. I do my own thing. Trends can honestly annoy me at times, at the same time they can kinda entertain me.
I went on VR chat and was browsing the games that had been made there. Found a backrooms game that seemed pretty popular. Pretty well designed.
Some guy offered to guide us through so we were down, and then the children arrived.
45 minutes of non-stop SCREAMING down the mics every time a pixel shifted.
Same
actually sounds like he's a cool dude I feel bad for you
Kids should not be able to own a VR set in the first place 💀
Now I understand why anakin killed the younglings
😂😂😂😂
At this point every internet famous thing can be explained as
-Thing is born
-It starts being known
-A little fandom is born
-People expand the thing with their own ideas and stuff
-It starts to grow big
-Game Theory makes a video
-A bunch of kids appear
-Hijinx ensues
The problem is always kids.Random adult just think use popular game to make content for 💰
@@daeggman9141 it's more like 2 sides
One side wants to bring something to the community and makes stuff that really is worth it
The other side uses that stuff to lure kids into watching 30 minute videos filled with ads and weird thumbnails
@@D1gi4rs true
this is why we gatekeep things kids
It all comes back to Matthew Patthew
Personally, I really like the idea of the backrooms being completely empty. No monsters, just you and an endless series of yellow hallways and corridors. It's the most normal, mundane setting you could possibly imagine, there might even be faint office noises in the background, except that it never ends and never changes.
As a game tho, if nothing happens, I’m shutting it off.
Much more terrifying too. The paranoia and fear building up because at any second something might kill you, but in reality there is nothing there. It’s a much more interesting concept when there is no threat/monster.
@@whaleping Why does it have to be a game, though?
@@WretchedRedoran What else could it be?
@@whaleping It could be what it is. A horror concept, a fun thing to think about. I think the backrooms would work really well as just a short story
It just got too popular and attracted people who didn't understand it. What made the original one creepy was how simple and mysterious it is, and now, with all the lore and a billion levels and monsters who are only really scary to children, the essence is lost
Lore is not an issue, I would point you to SCP.
The issue is SCP wannabes whose articles got rejected and children.
The scariest thing about it is because we know nothing about it, but now...
@@electricheisenberg5723 Lore is certainly an issue. SCP and Backrooms are two very different genres. One creates suspense by the fear of "it", another by the fear of "something".
@@lau6438 if you’ve seen the wikidots, you know what I’m referring to. Apparently you don’t, though.
@@electricheisenberg5723 I haven't seen what you're referring to, and frankly, it doesn't matter. Wiki's ruin creepypastas in 99% of cases.
this feels like what happened to creepypastas in the 2010s. What i loved about OG creepypastas were it was just scary stories with a photo or two to accompany it. Then I'd say that young online artists from Tumblr and DeviantArt took over and attempted to turn characters like Jeff the Killer and Slenderman into a cute ensemble cast. Kids/teens started creating OC characters and writing non-horror fanfiction. There was also a LOT of lude fanart/fanfiction created in some parts of the fandom, it really took away from the creativity Creepypastas originally had. This had real world implications on it's young fanbase when two children in America stabbed their friend in the name of Slenderman so that they could "live in his mansion". The mansion was a fanfiction trope used in a lot of newer stories about the characters. Children having so much influence on a fandom usually dumbs down the source material, which makes sense since kids ARE dumb, lol.
i miss the tumblr and wattpad creepypasta fanfic days more than the actual stories honestly lol
" This had real world implications on it's young fanbase when two children in America stabbed their friend in the name of Slenderman so that they could "live in his mansion". "
of PA-LEEEEEASE
The thing is though atleast Those weren't really "brainrot" rather than kids wanting to make their own Storys about the characters while now The backrooms are essentially just really bad brainrot for children to watch. it isn't even children making them, its creators who want nothing but Cash so they milk the hell out of characters like huggywuggy, Fnaf character Fnf characters, but with the Creepypastas atleast Children were creative then rather just smearing cheetodust on the Ipad.
@@akuro_the_time_traveler4200 What are you talking about? They were brainrot even back then. Art pieces of Jeff the Killer drawn as some sexy anime emo antagonist, "Slenderman x Reader" fanfictions, and so on.
I remember all of that stuff from way back in 2013-2014 lol.
@@ragingsaviorkami9862 True true But i remember the days where people would make storys up aswell with brainrot, which honestly, fair enough, But I'm blaiming the creators who Milk the fuck out of content Not adding anything to it
i like to think it has four different versions:
1. The raw concept. The idea of being trapped, alone in an endless hell
2. The community-made world with a whole level system
3. Kane Pixels’ version, with a full fleshed-out world
4. The child mind drugs
I personnally find the 1st and 3st concepts the best ones.
5.limnal archives
the second one is just the first one but you get the feeling of progress being made yet there's no escape
bruh
I like the second one. It keeps the mystery and relative simplicity of the first, but also keeps the larger community of the third.
The scary part of the backroom is the fact that it's just a massive structure like incomprehensibly large and you're lost in it, everything looks mundane and normal but it's not, also you're just alone by yourself, no one to help no one to find, you're stuck.
Exactly, it's like a limbo, you're not dead, but you're out of the world you once knew, you can't get back, you are stuck with a damp carpet floor and sickening yellow wallpapers, alone with yourself, wandering for eternity. Your brain would create the horror for you, not actual monsters. The horror of true, eternal isolation is more than enough for a good horror concept like the True Backrooms
It's like dream-like scape, you don't know where you are and if you're dreaming
I wish more people took their inspirations from House of Leaves and NeissancE than from the mainstream Wiki.
Wiki can exist, yes- but I don't like when people bitch at people who don't follow it, just because they want their Levels, monsters, the Almond Water.
@@masterzoroark6664 I feel like the "levels" as a concept is fine. Just think of let's say an Abandoned Mall but it's not all built for human traversal. It's still a liminal space like the yellow backrooms. It's just a different liminal space.
The problem is when you over explain the exact properties of the Space. There can be descriptions and speculation like "You can unlock Sonic in Smash Melee" type shit just little to no explanation. Kinda like the original post if you wanna stick to "source material".
@@justcallmekai1554
Yeah
After some thinking levels would also work with my interpretation of Backrooms being a "Space that hates you" kind of place- not dissimilar to House from Anatomy
you should talk more about the phenomenon of children taking over horror genres. I think it’s an interesting subject that needs to be talked about more
I think the key to not ruining something when it gains popularity is not leaving it open ended as the backrooms, come up with some consistent rules that don't change and such
autism
for real man. FNAF started it all. Now we have Bendy, Poppy Playtime, Sirenhead etc. its so crazy how there are actual stuff toy of the abomination Huggy wuggy for KIDS
The fact that a game which 70% of the plot revolves around the death of children, being populated with a fanbase full of children is definitely something.
Why do children like this in the first place?
The same thing happened to the SCP Foundation (Something I'd never really bothered with as it's so convoluted) EVERYTHING that ends up on the internet that starts out as something vague and scary, winds up being a boring, overly complicated lore-fest. I was fine with the first few creatures, other things are going to "clip" into the backrooms after all, but once "Levels" started cropping up, that was it for me. I think the whole "Liminal Space" thing doesn't really seem recoverable to me, it's just people putting up any old photo of an empty room now.
It's as if people and children were so brainwashed by the "new era" of horror that relies on jumpscares and sudden noises that they can't grasp how horror can be anything but that
The first two series of SCP were good. Everything went to crap when they mixed high fantasy an sy-fy
@@turtleofpride4572 The SCP foundation must have infinite money, resources, and manpower to contain all the world ending crap in their facilities. I liked the cynical disregard for human life the series had because I find stuff like that funny, but it just goes so far. It breaks the immersion when you consider all of the creatures and objects are impossible to actually keep from destroying all life.
@@dizzydial8081 One thing to remember, is that not every SCP object is supposed to exist all simultaneously. Some are potentially just red herrings. It's almost like a pick and choose for which are canon and which aren't that you get to choose for yourself. Every entry can be a standalone.
@@kauskeyeah, the point to SCP is that there is no canon, it’s whatever you personally want it to be
The backrooms electricity bill must be insane. Especially in this cost of living crisis
RI Energy bill, The Complex, $♾️
The real horror of it
I've been saying the same thing
That's where all the missing funds from the Pentagon goes lmao
thats why the monsters or whatever kill people, so that they can steal their wallets
I'm fine with the monsters, I'm fine with the levels; but what really annoys me is the whole society thing in the backrooms. Having all of these survivors and factions with their own governments somehow living normal lives in these hostile environments is what really takes all the horror out of it for me.
Also all those ridiculous videos with wanderers dancing and stuff like that ruined it
Bro the society thing makes it realistic the idea of finding other survivors and not knowing if they were hostile or not is a very fun concept
@@thebaguettegod9769 but it’s more of a copy of SCP-3008 (I believe that’s infinite IKEA). Yes, it does make it more “realistic”, but remember, the Backrooms’ original goal was supposed to be NOT realistic. If you can’t understand something humans obviously will fear it. Especially, last time I checked it’s not really realistic to noclip into an endless backroom…
That’s my opinion of course, but still.
Instead of civilization, it should be like a gas station for wanderers where they can trade shit but still not safe from monsters, the real magic is being alone with someone and its not human
@@thebaguettegod9769 No. Just... No.
I think it all began with trying to make "entities" that inhabit the backrooms. For me, just the fact of being lost and alone in a massive, seemingly endless labyrinth of nonsense architecture, trying to survive and find an exit with limited time to do so (before your frail human body crumbles), was enough to make an amazing horror experience. Instead, like you said, the focus got shifted to pointless entities.
Nothing wrong with trying to add some spice to the backrooms, like some kind of animal that evolved being there that you need to watch out for or something like that, but please don't over explain the entity to the point we know it's favorite air freshener scent. Keep it simple, therefore scary.
I agree with this. The original concept is really creepy, and the fact that there could be something lurking that you don't know about makes it even scarier, like you are alone, but are you really alone? The uncertainty is so creepy.
Honestly though, the addition of all the different levels and entities, when done right, is really interesting in its own right. It definitely is a lot less creepy, but it has its own complexity unique to the original concept that I find really cool. I agree that over-explaining entities really does this idea a lot of harm though.
i think if people really wanted an enemy in the backrooms, it should be other people who’ve noclipped and either *need* food or have gone insane/hostile due to the lack of human interaction- while it would lessen the isolation, i think it’d further the feeling of *you are alone here*
but ya know, that’d require people to not reuse cashgrab characters -_-
My thoughts exactly, thank you 🤩
For me- things can live there, but what broke it for me is the whole idea of everyone knowing what is what and from where it comes.
For an eldritch abomination of a location- habbitats and creatures are way too explained.
Hell- I always thought of Backrooms to be more like even more hostile XEN. Nothing is really native nor stays much in there, so noone knows what is what.
Nice to see that many people share the same thoughts, that don't want a cool concept such as liminal spaces being replaced by common tropes like "big scary monster chase". This makes me feel hopeful for the future of liminality :) thanks, y'all.
Honestly the worst part of the original backrooms was the implication of spooky monsters. The scary part of the backrooms was that you were outside the intended playspace of reality. Have you ever noclipped out of a game map? Curiously enough the devs don't tent to place much out there, especially not enemies. The terror is in the infinite isolation. At least when you're lost in a forest you know there's a theoretical way back home. If people knew you were out there search and rescue will be deployed within a few hours of you not returning, and you can potentially just walk in a direction and find a road (bad idea if you're lost in the forest, btw. Just try to call 911 and stay put.) but the infinite isolation of the backrooms, left alone until you die of hunger or thirst, that is existential horror. I feel the idea of anything else alive back there with you just undercuts that a lot.
If the backrooms game was about wandering around trying to navigate a maze. With tools to map it out. Taking Multiple hours to find the way to the next level could have been interesting.
Ok but that is not the original interpretation of the backrooms you are doing the same think other people have done by changing it
Changing it is fine. The problem is changing things for the worse. The idea of an infinite expanse of liminal space, every breath musty and uncomfortable, a constant electric buzz ringing in your ear, it's unique. The terror of isolation and starvation is novel.
A maze with a hundred monsters out to get you? Not very. Labyrinths are typical horror monster location for a reason, but it's cliche.
I don't think there's anything wrong with tweaking something to be more unique. Changing something to be more generic... It can be argued that it actively takes away from the idea
I found a bug in an RPG game that made me noclip out of the game map, and it was under the ground. Everything was so gray, nothing to see. I repetead the same bug a few times then suddenly, my character started bugging, it was all pixelised. And it started falling in the underground so low that the altitude was like -10000000 (more than that ?) it was so scary being alone and having my charcter glitvhing like that
The only thing I'd keep from the whole "oooh spooky monsters" iteration of the backrooms is *at most* the suggestion of "life" at random intervals, but nothing is actually there. Kinda like how you can still hear the sound effects of a game when you noclip out sometimes. This might just be me, but the idea of something possibly being there, good or bad, but never seeing it or finding evidence of it yet hearing the occasional movement in the distance or hearing people talking or something would drive me crazy after a while. Especially if you're already succumbing to the effects of isolation, at that point I'd be desperate for ANY interaction at all in the hopes of escape or even just finding *someone* else to talk to instead of being alone with my own thoughts.
Idk, that probably has its own shortcomings and I'm kinda struggling to explain it well, but that's the furthest I'd go with any kind of third party/entity/creature bullshit for the backrooms.
I find it ironic that the horror of the Backrooms was ruined by... basic human nature:
humans don't like when they don't understand stuff, that's why they either imagine explanations or add something comprehensible for them. They don't understand the idea of such loneliness in the Backrooms, so adding enemies or monsters let's people wrap their heads around the topic.
Edit: But the whole topic is a double edged sword: do you expand the universe and allow "outsiders" to enjoy it so the community lives for much longer at the cost of it becoming like the Backrooms nowadays,
Or you gatekeep the fandom to keep it as close to the original as possible at the cost of it never expanding and staying the same till it dries out.
I think that official backrooms entities (like partygoers or smilers) DO make it more fun because it adds more variety. Still, at the cost of that "variety," it could make it less creepy
@@tikihard I don't know, I feel like having monsters/entities just turns it all into a generic "stuck in a haunted house" kind of thing
Its like they dont understand the very concept of the fear of the unknown, the human imagination is wayy much more unique and interesting than a “canon” monster by some dude. Everyone’s interpretation of whats behind the corner will always be scarier than just a specific monster with a specific appearance. God, fk me and its people like this who are fking up horror films by showing the monsters, a literal writing mistake that even a child wouldn’t make.
@@himinthegulf8338 The Backrooms were creepy because they superficially resembled a familiar human environment that was twisted into an endless maze of nothing. There are few things as terrifying as the feeling of being trapped and complete loneliness. Adding lore and monsters kind of ruins the entire point.
@@glitchedoom Exactly
I always preferred the idea of there being absolutely nothing in the backrooms. No monster to chase you, no exit to find, only Immortal loneliness.
Technically the only monsters in there are the people that go in, they're in your head as the loneliness and imagination begin to unravel your mind. Your brain begins placing things in the liminal space in an attempt to cope with the isolation as a social animal, however it backfires as it fails to create something truly human. There is nothing there, and you recognize the inhumanity of it on a fundamental level. The hallucinations grow more intense and your animal instincts of fight or flight kick in more intensely as they escalate. The Backrooms works in tandem with your mind, both are against you. Subliminal memories drawn upon as your mind degrades further until it becomes too much.
Unless someone comes with you
For me, just being alone in a liminal space is not creepy. It's actually comforting. But knowing that you could occasionally run into a mysterious threat, especially the very quick ones that give you very little chance getting away, with few exits or hiding spaces... That's what makes it terrifying to me.
@@Lone_Paladin I think the concept of starving to death realising the situation of the whole butterfly effect is a little more tortureous than running into some beast that will obliterate you, altho jus a personal opinion. I also love some liminal spaces, but original backrooms seems like something horrible to be at.
I think some levels do work well with entities, but with others it makes more sense to not have them. Also entities are much more rare in levels than people assume, thanks to all of the content based on them. Level 0 doesn't even have monsters anymore.
I remember when I loved liminal spaces and the backrooms. It was a very new thing and also super cool to see a place outside of our reality. But then little kids started flooding the fandom and destroyed it. They started making random things, and being sorta rude to people. You cannot keep kids out of everything, but when a kid sees something they like, there always is a chance they’ll ruin it.
I know bro if I see this thing I'm about to roast them but not roasting them
@@no_sussies ewwww
@@no_sussies they also aren't mutually exclusive to each other *cough* yt kids *cough*
SCREW SUSAN AND THE LAZY PARENTS ITS ALL THE LAZY PARENTS FAULT
rip to all fandoms with these kids in it
It's the same problem with the SCP foundation everyone thinks they can just add anything to the lore and think it works with the initial concept. The idea that there is even "levels" in the backrooms completely ruins the point of the backrooms.
Sorry, but I'm curious, what is it exactly that's going on with SCP lately???
@@bugonboris6681 Problem thats been going on with SCP for years now when it also hit popularity. It turned into deviant-art tier stories.
@@bugonboris6681 From what i know not much, the slight popularisation on the general media got some bad stuff specially in yt with some channels that farmed scp, but the wiki itself became a little bit elitist with the works, trying to stay true to the concept
@Hip005 its the opposite, have you seen the new scp articles? I wish it was elitist it fell very far from the times it was hosted by 4channers, quality diminishes when you don't gatekeep something good
I think one problem is that now there's, Ooh... Super Scary "Scarlet King" With God-Like Powers Even though what Really was Cool/Scary was the simpler monsters
I agree like 90% and made a satire animation that subtly made the points about backrooms content losing the plot and being very watered down and sprinkled in for search term recognition a while back, which may have accidentally just stoked the shitstorm further as it got a lot of views many of which may have been children who didn’t understand the implied message. However my one disagreement is that I don’t think it’s “ruined,” because the past good stuff was never erased, and I don’t think the kiddie stuff halted the progression of it as I think the whole allure of the backrooms is that it’s the pure unknown and infinite and you are never safe from no clipping , which means it can also be whatever you want it to be, and if that happens to be sonic amogus in backrooms fort nite poppy playtime then so be it.
whats up beanbag
That is honestly the best take I've seen yet.
True
Oh hey hydraulic beanbag fancy seeing you here
I agree with your take, my idea is usually like how people explain stuff with SCP's, everything is canon
I’m a mom, I love kids, I love when kids get creative. I hate when people water down adult horror for them, like the UA-camrs they mentioned. I hate when the “kid-version” of a horror/general Internet thing becomes the “popular” version. And that’s not to say kids don’t deserve horror, they do. But Goosebumps and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark didn’t make itself stupid for children. It scared them the way it scares us, AND it was age appropriate. And I still enjoy a lot of those stories to this day.
Exactly!! I grew up with internet horror and I was in love with it. I think that kids should enjoy horror just as much as anyone else but I just really hate the UA-camrs who water it down and talk down to their audiences and just add nothing.
Thanks for your comment! It’s cool to have input from someone who actually has kids and enjoys the horror genre :)
@@Raymundo_2112 Of course! Love the channel, instant subscriber. It’s insulting that they think kids can’t handle getting scared. Horror for children exists and I-an adult-still enjoy some of it. Algorithms have been the death of art imo.
Yeah Horror Isnt Horror
Theres Not Gonna Be Cool Projects on the Internet anymore
I’m 15 and I got into horror and weird core
Ever since I heard about the back rooms, I wanted to know about the lore since I love lore
Now I’m seeing this weird trend shit and my sisters watch stuff like that, it’s like they watch one of those gringe UA-cam kids videos
@@quit3118 and guess what? The kids version throws in other characters from games that get overshadowed by the kids version in reality I hate the creators that do the "OMG POPPY PLAYTIME BACKROOM CHOO CHOO CHARLES REAL BUILDERMAN" like even trollge is a better community then the kid version of the backrooms
I honestly agree. When something gets too popular and kids join it is ruined. Especially horror.
No, kids can't create anything, they just enjoy it
Now the older community, ones capable of creating and altering the horror are the ones who ruin shit
The same happened with some of Henderson's monsters such as Siren head or cartoon cat, however despite pixels basically started this, i dont think hes to blame
@@donomiroftroy2043 After looking back at Siren Head and Cartoon Cat..they had alot of potential, it makes me really really sad the fact that these 2 are ruined by internet.
I hope kids don’t ruin cosmic horror. If they do, I am going to lose my mind!
I feel the oversaturation of the backrooms is kind of what killed it. You explained it well enough in your video. The SCP Foundation is kind of a mess currently, but they still kind of self-regulate through the community. A lot of the SCP's have really high-quality writing that makes it feel as if you actually stumbled onto a piece of hidden media that's not mean to be seen. A lot of the SCP's aren't really great, but the great ones do raise to the top and as such, a lot people first exposure to it are these really well written stories about anomalous objects. The SCP Foundation isn't as quaint and small as it used to be, but I still find it intriguing and go back to it every now and again.
I don't see SCP bad in any way. Sure entities are by no means written equally, but I've never seen ones that are really "bad". If you know any please tell me
Anyway here's my actual comment: SCP was fundamentally constructed to be canon-less, so if any SCP did hypothetically suck the usual amount of poopy diaper the internet loves to hawk out, then it can simply be ignored. With the backrooms, so many people became invested in the weird, pretentious amalgam that the original idea has been completely phased out, and that cannot be ignored. I think the fandom just failed to stabilize itself in its debu
the thing about SCP is it's *SUPPOSED* to focus on and explain anomalies that theyve contained. they also have a content filter through a voting system. you can't just post "scp 6666 - my poopy diaper". it will get taken down for being garbage.
the backrooms were NEVER supposed to be fully explained, and were never supposed to have a fuck ton of "entities" with different ways to avoid them. it just game-ified the whole thing, along with the "layers" LITERALLY BEING CALLED LEVELS, as in the *LEVELS OF A GAME*.
it's so dumb.
@@deadlyadder2330 Or it would be put in as a joke SCP
@@deadlyadder2330 i mean it literally opened with noclipping so their is no merit to it having been gamified, only more "gamified"
That spiteful kids' channel parody breathes life into me, I am OUT HERE for that raw, unadulterated resentment.
Haha I’m glad you could feel the spite
Anything horror related plus children and youtube won't lead to anything good
I always hate it when something gets popular some guy probably who lives in his uncle's basement tries to make it something that it wasn't
not ppl tryna add poppy playtime into the backrooms lore 😨 i’m serious. people tryna do that
I remember when the Backrooms was new, my dad actually had a nightmare about it. He's not a horror movie fan, and has never been unsettled by horror films or shows or books. But something about the Backrooms and how real and understandable the concept is just hit it right. In fact, whenever I mention the Backrooms to him, to this day he shudders and gets an unsettled look on his face.
I think I tried to explain about the other "levels" and locations to him once, but he wasn't interested at all. To him, the scariest thing is just those empty, unknown hallways with awful décor, just stretching out endlessly. It truly does work better when it's as simple and mysterious as the original concept.
I personally like how the backrooms looks! The yellow moisted old carpet is really my style, waiting for someone to call my style bad!
I never knew it could be creepy/scary until this thing came to life!
I also had a nightmare about being in the backrooms, I was in this weird yet unsettling place, like a copy of somewhere I had been before. No monsters, just npc like people showing up once or twice, with endless darkness. I like the level Idea generally but its kinda ehh, just the thought of noclipping unsettles me alot.
It strikes a nerve, feeling like wasting and wandering through your life aimlessly that these homely or corporate spaces start making you feel trapped, while being endless at the same time. No matter where you go, no matter what you do, you're effectively still where you were. I'm sure anyone just coasting through life with no idea how to break out of it can relate, as this almost seems to manifest the idea.
The backrooms died as soon as the first entity came in, it killed the whole idea of the Backrooms. It's intended to be a scary mysterious place where the observer does not know what could attack them, but now it's so heavily documented that it's literally disgusting
Yeah too many levels and entities
Yeah, i liked the first 9 or 10 levels but now everything's documented, you know everything about the levels and it just lost it's potential. Don't get me wrong, i still like the backrooms, but not as much.
Exactly. Same reason I don't like SCP-related stuff. Too complicated and overblown to be even remotely scary.
@@chlorinatedpopsicle5098 some of it can be scary but its never terrible
Too bad I guess... you clearly didn't read the original post there was never a point where there was no entities. The original post hints at this... so guess what... your ideal backrooms never existed. Too bad so sad go cry in a corner no one cares.
I cannot fathom how accurate and painful to watch that parody you did of kids UA-camrs is and it have me physical pain and cringe how right you are to what’s happened on UA-cam. One of the reasons everyone I knew and me drifted away from back rooms stuff
If it wasn't for the weird "Ok this is sarcasm" layer that my brain creates to prevent a tumor formation after seeing that so accuarate imitation, I would be 8 feets under ground and 40 into heaven
Bro im getting closer to burning all ties to the backrooms with my M2 Flamethrower 💀
When the music started up I already knew it was gonna be so accurate 😭😭
That recreation is exactly what my younger cousin watches a lot.
Broogli he still makes quality backrooms content
I don't think it's just about children. The scramble for making everything into something marketable is definitely what contributed to every horror series' demise well before kids UA-camrs learned about it.
Trevor handerson? Siren head evolucion shit, horror games? Fangirls, backrooms? Annoying kids, scp? “ScP iS fAkE!1!1!1!1”
Honestly what ruined the backrooms for me was people tried to explain it and give it this extensive lore which just ruined it for me
When it reaches children is the point something is truly ruined. Children are the ruin of anything fun on the internet.
Capitalism ruining everything again smh
@@djailsonfelipe84true. honestly i blame the parents. putting a screen in front of children expecting them to get off of it when they tell them to, pathetic.
I remember seeing people say there were only 10 levels in the backrooms. And personally, I liked it, since you were still always alone.
Once the backrooms got popular though, people started putting entities and, the worse addition in my opinion, outpost and groups of people in the levels. Since the whole idea of the backrooms was that YOU WERE ALONE. And it really destroyed the scare factor that it had.
And nowadays, the backrooms just feels like a format people use to create whatever content they want and gain some views.
Rip backrooms May 2019-February 2022
Yeah the outpost thing was the worst
I hate the colonies and outposts. I especially hate the research groups and governments and such as well. Takes away all the actual fear from the backrooms as well as the novelty of it. The backrooms should be so rare and so vast that the chance of even encountering ONE human should be next to impossible, let alone being able to form civilisations. Also, I don't like the idea of people just being able to hop in and out of the backrooms. Theres also this one level (I think level 9999?) thats an arcade with a bunch of amenities and friendly entities. If you reach it, you get a list of stuff to do in the backrooms that you must complete to escape, and if you're in danger you click a button and boom you're instantly teleported to that safe level.
If I had full control over the backrooms universe, I'd keep most of the levels, thin down the entities a bit but keep some of them, keep the og found footage, and get rid of all the colonies and research institutes and stuff. The backrooms should be a mysterious and unknown place where information about it is scarce. Falling in is rare but if you do fall in theres not much of a chance of escaping. The vast majority of people shouldn't even know of its existence in the backrooms universe.
@@Singularian yeah. I forgot to mention that problem with leaving the backrooms. It was a scary concept with how you wouldn’t be able to leave the backrooms once you got yourself stuck, and would have to die alone and scared. But once people said that you COULD leave the backrooms, it just made the backrooms another one of those horror games/stories.
i'd like the entities if they weren't in something that was completely defined by the fear of being alone. it's not just 'OOH SCARY MONSTER'
FR
The scariest part of the backrooms to me was you just randomly getting put into it and slowly starving to death. Like for the majority of us, we would just wander around until death. That is way more scarier than getting warped to some stupud level where you are chased by floating emojis
Here’s a worse idea… you can’t starve… instead you have a weird mental itch where you have to keep exploring the endless hell
@@fractalisomega9517 Honestly, I'd have a blast exploring endless liminal space like that. Also, the original post alludes to potentially hostile entities.
One golden rule of horror "Less is More"
Things always seem to get less interesting when they are filled with rules and explanations
We humans are fascinated by things we can't explain.
The only exception to this is magic, which gets more interesting with rules and explanations.
It's more fun when it's ambiguous
except for the half life 2 lore. That shit is just disturbing no matter the context given
It’s usually more satisfying to know the monster’s limitations but not its abilities or the other way around. If you know both, it’s easy to make a plan to beat it.
The fact the fact that people go out of their way to explain and make stuff up about the back rooms in order to understand it goes to show just how terrified people are of the unknown
Damn that’s very true
@@Raymundo_2112 Thing is, since it's fiction, the original concept can still exist on its own...really I blame YT for continuously failing to implement controls so that kids won't be exposed to this kind of stuff.
It could almost be a case study of how people will go out of their way to find explanation or meaning where there is none.
@@anerrorhasoccurred8727 like that one English teacher somehow explaining how the character is feeling because the sky is blue lol
@@anerrorhasoccurred8727 mf's on a song with a specific name that has no lyrics as they somehow pull the dichotomy of sex in media being so accepted.
As much as art is up to interpretation, there is interpreting. Then there is reaching in your ass and sounding deep.
As harsh as it sounds, I think the whole "Ruined by kid audiences" thing is pretty accurate. Kids don't have the same level of understanding, heck I was like that with FNAF back in 2015, but it really pains to see something actually interesting to lose all of it's original meaning because people milk it with unoriginal stuff
Im pretty sure we shoule only focus on kanes side, and just ignore all the other unoriginal crap, because kane is the only one who puts effort in his lore.
@Y0Ur_fr13nd_mY4 I am 12 and i think really and I mean really annoying
Fnaf gameplay back then: wow, night 5 on fnaf is hard as hell
Fnaf lore back then: 2 purple guys? phone guy killer?
Fnaf Community: yall how do I beat golden freddy?
Fnaf Gameplay Now: 40$ for a game that cant even run that well on a standard PC! Sign me up!
Fnaf Lore Now: THE BOOKS ACTUALLY SAY THAT WILLIAM KILLED 11 KIDS!!!!
Fnaf Community Now: toy chica is hot roxy is hot draw R34 the usual stuff
I agree. It’s even worse when the developers start to cater to the children.
Five Nights at Freddy’s and Spirit Halloween are examples of two things that fell victim to this. Everything is made to be kid friendly.
As a kid myself I do hate when people/or children like that will make things worse just to satisfy themselves. I may have my own interpretations of the backrooms, I do kinda prevent my thoughts from going online since I don’t wanna ruin the backrooms.
Your impression of the kids’ UA-camrs’ back rooms videos is all I need in order to imagine those videos. Your impression made me groan, and that just makes you really good at acting.
I totally agree man, Kane Pixels nailed the Backrooms horror and he only needed one entity, and then also gave that entity a very good origin story that’s still being told. Beyond that though? The hundreds upon hundreds of dumb levels is getting incredibly old.
Edit: Also, you’ve earned a subscriber man, I thought not many felt this way, but It’s nice to know I’m not the only one.
Adding levels isn't inherently bad but when thousands of them are added it just becomes over-saturated
@@quagmiregaming21 the over saturation is definitely the issue. It needs to be a quality over quantity thing if people wanna add levels and not make it so much more difficult to stay into the backrooms as a concept
@@grimacethedrummer8378 very true
@@quagmiregaming21 like hell one of the newer ones I really like is the Pool rooms, that carry’s the same kinda liminal horror that the first picture does. It’s honestly spookier cuz the sound of the dripping water echoing just sounds way more ominous, not sure where I’d rather be trapped, the yellow hum buzz rooms of the first pic or the water dripping of the pool rooms.
Imo I feel as if only 100 levels are necessary
I completely agree. The OG Backrooms were genuinely creepy, *because* it was so simple. The simple idea of wandering through an endless maze of empty officerooms is pretty creepy. But then they added monsters and complex lore, and I just lost interest.
EDIT: also fun fact: I've actually known about Kane Pixels even before he made the backrooms series. He made some really creepy fan films about Attack on Titan's ending
Samee
Aot historical footage moment
Dad feels...
Yeah like when eren's collosal titan and armin's collosal titan fighting is pretty cool
I feel the same on this. I miss the backrooms being mainly focused on solitude and the unknown, because now it’s pretty much like the SCP foundation with how perfectly documented and known pretty much everything is
Pretty much how I feel about it!
I feel like what makes the original backrooms so good is the little to no information being given to us about the place, it's pretty much the fear of the unknown, but because now it's being treated like the SCP foundation, the fear of the unknown is pretty much gone due to how much perfectly documented information they added
@@diamondplums503 Another thing is that the SCP foundation still carries the fear of the unknown because they explain what the anomaly is but never fully explain how it works
@@fanatomic24 ye, it why they have a scientifique departement, becoz they dont know everything about them, also in the fondation you have what is called the neutral class winch is scps that is totaly controlled and knowed on how they work, and like u see, most of the scps arent neutral
SCP Foundation has also been ruined
It sucks too because I think what makes SCP great is, on top of the endless possibility of the community, the fact that it knows how to show restraint. While everything is documented in a scientific and generally knowledgeable way, authors know how to keep a fear of the unknown, either through in-text tools like redactions or expunging, or by just making sure mystery still surrounds the anomaly.
But it seems, from my experience, like the backrooms levels and expansions have no restraint in this regard. Maybe it's because the SCP format is supposed to be in-world and thus limited in its perspective, while those adding onto backrooms lore are acting as omnipotent narrators pitching an idea for a cool zone, but it results in an environment where these lore additions feel less like horror and more like an exercise in world building. There's nothing wrong with world building, but if you want to make horror you can't just explain the stats and layout of the world you're creating.
That's just from what I've seen though, feel free to correct me.
I am an old guy and I have to say that the concept of the back rooms and how people react to them is a bit strange and fascinating to me. I wonder if the original images and videos only seem creepy to people of more recent generations? Perhaps because their experiences are so content filled and saturated. They are less likely to be alone, bored, or left with their own thoughts. I believe that when I was young, being exposed to real places like what appear in the early back rooms media was more common, they just seem like the normal back hallways of any office building or mall I worked in over the years. In my late teens and early adulthood I was often completely alone in malls before they opened and after they closed (I even spent the night in a mall occasionally because the weather was bad and I could not ride my motorcycle home). These empty echoing spaces seem more comfortable than frightening to me. It would be interesting to see someone research how people of different backgrounds react to backrooms media. 😀
Yea I mean I’m not even that old myself, I was born in 99. I find liminal spaces that look like it’s coming from a old late 90s cam corder to be comforting, almost nostalgic. It vaguely reminds me of childhood and family members I remember somewhat but don’t have the name too
@@stuglife5514YEUP!! Liminal spaces are by definition transitional spaces, like the hallways of malls. They’re usually filled by people passing by so when they aren’t the brain freaks out a lil. I love the nostalgia that liminal spaces give along with that slight unnerve.
A quiet, empty, unfurnished office room? Comforting.
An endless maze of nearly indistinguishable office rooms, no sign of doors or windows anywhere else, nobody to talk to? After the first week or so of relaxing with my thoughts, would become lonely and isolating. Of course unless the Backrooms are also given some sort of supplies to occasionally find just enough food and water to keep going, someone like me would die of physical deprivation before the social and mental deprivation could kick in.
Something I really appreciate in Kane Pixels’ interpretation of the backrooms is while there are monsters present, they aren’t really the main focus in the series, rather the uncanny nature of the backrooms as a whole
I like that he shows a hostile monster because if he didn’t then eventually you would just feel like its vast and creepy but relatively safe.
The addition of a monster takes away that sense of safety you have. This makes you ask tons of questions like “Is this the only monster and if not then how many are there.”
Not having the monsters be the focus helps build the correct atmosphere of being isolated yet knowing and fearing your not alone.
At least this is what I think.
@@tapatio8080 i think its scarier without the monster. Cause actually the scaruest thing in the world is your imagination, and when you start to go insane in the backrooms, your mind plays tricks on you and mixed with the feeling of helplessness , its way scarier
@@ri13h44 it is if ur in it. its not if ur watching it tho
@@ri13h44 i remember watching a YT channel that I don't remember the name playing a backroom game before it is popular, around mid 2019
From what I remember, the game have you trapped inside the Backroom and suddenly encounters a woman who also somehow got into the Backroom and then missing half of the game to be shown that she is being killed and eaten by another victim of the Backroom that gone insane. There aren't any spooky monsters but in the game, you will find yourself, the character that are played, slowly decend into insanity all along the hallway of Backroom
Oh, and there's coin case in the game which help the player navigate a bit
Even though there are certainly monsters in Kane’s videos, the scariest monster is The Backrooms itself.
Same thing happened with SCPs. Silver lining is most of those kids lose interest as they grow older, and the ones who stick around start to get a sense for what the core appeal of the premise is.
I hate those edgelords
SCP is dead now.
SCP wiki is run by twitter brained people now. It's dead for a long time.
🪠
4channers gatekeep like hell for a reason frens, I know we all want more people to talk about the things we like, but that shit always happen
I was telling everyone similar things when The Backrooms only started to try to be "the new SCP". It just lost most of its creepyness that way
yup the whole thing with MEG ruins the unknown part of the backrooms like a whole wiki explaining everything about something that was meant to be unknown ruins the whole point
That’s sorta why I just ignore anything that isn’t a Kane pixels video, monsters done right can be effective, but things like partygoers does not scream done right, they and their level breaks the entire scaryness of the back rooms and every time I see them I can’t help but say “really?”
Anything involving the Backrooms and some sort of actual monster is simply ridiculous, it’s supposed to just be a single post with an image and allows you to imagine
I still like the ideas of other levels though ; it gets me curious of what the backrooms can look like without being yellow halls but still acting so much on your mind.
@@rayanessaidi1674 i dont like how documented the levels are
The backrooms as a concept was really something new and refreshing, it invoked a kind of melancholic feeling inside of me. Its like looking trough the world with a childs curious eyes where everything is new and mysteriuos to you and the world hasnt lost its magical charm to it. The world is so big relative to you and the line between youre fantasy and reality is not as clear as when you grow up. But this reincarnated feeling of wonder and urge of exploration also reminds you of the time that is lost, the world we once thought of as mysterious will never return, and whats left is an empty feeling. Its like exploring a lost dream that has risen up from the deepths of countless other forgotten dreams, and now, for a moment, you can once again explore the long abandoned halls where only the sound of youre footsteps will echo trough the endless halls. And when you leave, the rooms and their flickering buzzing light will once again sink into the oblivion of youre mind.
The current form of the backrooms is just another unorginal generic horror fandom and the core of the concept has been lost. Its of course a subjective matter regarding how you interpret it, but its sad to see something refreshing and new devolve into just another fandom with cheap tricks like entitys and monsters.
I genuinely love the version of the Backrooms without the monsters. The eerie and unsettling feeling of wondering whether you're alone or not really keeps the pressure high and it's really cool to me. I like the Backrooms with entities just as much as the version without, but I do believe that the children spoiled the fun a bit.
The good thing is that the children #$&* one is not official and you can find the actual official ones at the backrooms wikidot or the fandom one (the wiki and fandom are different)
The only exception I'll make about the entities is your mind playing tricks on you and conjuring hallucinations in the corner of your eye, making you slowly lose your mind as you question your sanity and if you're really alone in these never ending walls. Soon you won't even be able to trust your own judgement, wondering if you already walked this path or not. You'll lose not only your sense of direction, but also yourself.
@@oxo1 Me:
*Drinks almond water*
I like Kane Pixels version. There should be ONE type of entity and that would be the bacteria.
Agreed. What I find most frustrating is a bunch of these kids are getting really excited by niche horror concepts that they really shouldn't be exposed to yet. Some of them are very young and shouldn't know what the Backrooms are. Where are their parents? It's even more frustrating is when parents will feed into it like parents buying Huggy Wuggy stuffed toys for their kids without bothering to find out what it's from . Parents just refuse to parent and let the Internet be their kids' babysitter, exposing kids to concepts they shouldn't be involved in and spoiling the fun for the rest of us
One thing that really drove me nuts was how much of the backrooms was based off the idea of creepy liminal spaces and things we've all seen, but firmly established that it was purely coincidental and just happened to look like things in "the frontrooms." Like, if your levels look like a suburban neighborhood, an infinite wheat field, an office space, or an indoor pool, and your entities look like combine harvesters, dogs, smiley faces, Satan, or torii gates, at least give us a reason. Insisting that there's no connection to the real-world look-alikes and that it's a coincidence because the backrooms are infinite is just really, really lazy.
I agree, this bothers me so much, while id rather them be just a completely empty inescapable space, i wouldnt mind the entities as much if it was shit like seeing a random janitor in the corner of your eye
i also agree though i don't really think much about it but an explanation will probably be added in the fandom because most people right now are busy adding more levels, entities etc. Maybe when the fandom has calmed down like the SCP fandom people will add lore to the creatures in the backroom but that's a maybe. Who knows maybe the backroom fandom dies and no more content will be made i may even lose my interest in the backroom.
Backrooms (in reality) is a place for a stuff that unused or that didn't find some use rn. So i don't see a problem with locations from real world - cause they are not alive, not real, twisted maybe like bad picture or damaged.
At least i see it like that. But kids really got into it a bit too much and, while i like a lot of added locations, creatures, factions and locations, part of them suck a lor and a good chunk of Backrooms is in kids hands/creators of cheap content.
i don't mind if some kids go to the backroom fandom and make some level, entity and even new lore sure most may be stupid but thats ok i support new fans getting into the fandom what i don't like is the UA-camrs oh my god they're milking the backroom and making the backroom looks like the daycare
I like the idea of the monsters all being hallucinations; I personally really think the monsters ruined the liminality of the backrooms, but viewing them as hallucinations kind of builds up the idea of 'you're so lonely you'll imagine anything else existing in the space with you.'
What’s your favorite monster? Mine is the White Tripod. See TV Orangeman Back Rooms vids
I mean, if ya want that, then level Zero of the wikidot is for you also all of the scary monsters on the backrooms wikidot are the ones that are more psychological horror anyway
@@leociresi4292 i like the wretched cycle (not the monster but the cycle its self) it adds even more fear factor to the cardinal fears that most if not all humans have like starvation, dying of thirst, darkness, ect
@Sean ;] not when they aren't mysterious we dont want scp with all the info of each monster being well known just leave it mysterious
The backrooms as just an endless labyrinth to no exit is so mysterious to get lost in. Entities in the backrooms doesn't ruin it but it does morph the focus. Utter loneliness made it scary, because you would feel lost. Monsters gives you a destination, that is anwheres away from it. Which dilutes not only the feeling your alone but that aimless wondering. Moments that will force you to take your eyes away from a lifeless wasteland into a quirky closet monster. To a dread of loneliness and hopelessness to a chase from life-threating wierdo. Both concepts working on its own but when their mixed it resets the atmosphere and therefore weakens the horrifying mood altogether. However the variety that monsters do add to any level does make if feel like the backrooms is its own ecosystem. Due to some monsters interacting with other monsters. So that alone makes it more realistic and does increase the immersion so yeah less horrifying but much cooler and dare I say beautiful. The backrooms at this state is like landing on a dream-like alien planet with a ecosystem of enities whilst their are human scientists underground through researching accidently glitched reality into levels with human architecture and interiors along side it. All that just to realise that you actually didn't land there at all. You just got branwashed by a tribe of dreamwalkers, then waking up into level 143. Perhaps exaggerated but it highlights that there is a limit to how much can be added to a atmospheric horror before it just becomes an endless wild fever dreamworld that mashed all nostalgia, emptiness, and campfire monsters through an AI found footage filter. Yep, a concept that was supposed to get you lost, but got lost itself. But only got destroyed by those kids that loved to see a blue blur with horror mascots inside our beloved level 0.
What's happening with the genre right now is truly heartbreaking considering that I've been an active member of the community since early 2020.
Back in the day, everything was simple. Small, unknown youtube creators who had an interest within the original concept of the backrooms were making absolutely phenomenal content. UA-camrs making detailed analogies of certain levels of the backrooms which were actively being made by a small group of individuals. Listening to their deep and interesting voices made those videos entertaining and fun to watch. Slowly as time was passing, the community had created such a beautiful fandom, but sadly everything doesn't last forever.
Ever since kane posted that one video of the backrooms, it felt as if the original community was being overshadowed by this imaginary version of the backrooms which he had created. Even though the video which he had made was absolutely breathtaking and delivered a whole new point of view, it killed the traditional backrooms community.
Ever since children got involved with this, I had no more hope left.
Yeah, I think Kane made a pretty good job,
His fault? Attracting the small, toxic, susceptible kids that wouldn't take this seriously.
I think Kane’s version is more faithful to the original. It’s the others that make it a scp copycat that are at fault.
@@_IscreamThis. When they started making """lore""" the Backrooms was already ruined. The children shit was just a result of them trying to make it like SCP when the entire point is that it shouldn't be explained. Kane did it better. But his popularity is what finally killed it for real.
I feel like this exact same problem has killed the SCP Foundation as well. Several years back, I got into SCP because it felt like a much more refined version of creepypasta. There was more structure to it. Many of the entities, objects, or anomalies were interesting and unique. A lot of the entries were pretty self-contained; they didn't rely on other material and could stand on their own feet, so to speak.
But then SCP got super popular, and now it seems like every new entry is either some absolutely derivative bullshit or stuff that's way too big. By "way too big," I mean that it seems like every new thing has got to be some reality-ending, universe-destroying, infinitely-powerful god or being, or something that is somehow the backstory of a dozen older SCP entries.
It's over saturated. Everything just has to be bigger, more insane, or try to explain a bunch of stuff that works so much better when it ISNT explained.
It drives me nuts.
The thing that finally turned me away from scp was when I was going through random posts and then suddenly the page was pink and it was a feminism scp which was basically a modern lecture on "man bad, woman good" and everyone was praising how amazing it was. I liked scp for the horror and mystery behind it, not being lectured on modern politics
I mean that's pretty much how Marvel movies work, or rather don't work. Nothing wrong with raising the stakes, but when you take it to Universe Ending then you can't raise the stakes any further, and so why should we care, especially when it's obvious that it'll be undone in the next one? Well same for SCP. Early on there were entities that did mundane things or nothing at all. Like a little gremlin that lives off car keys and socks but only when you're late for something.
Oh man, yes, this so much. I remember turning away when I kept reading about SCPs that were pretty much "same thing but not exactly!" and felt like 70% of them were giant Kaiju somehow all existing in the ocean and you couldn't help but wonder how tf the foundation manages to keep ALL of them secret.
I think the "solution" was that there was different universes so the mutually exclusive SCPs could all somehow exist, but that made it even dumber in my opinion.
And yeah totally screw the political stuff. That shouldn't be there at all.
I like scp, but there are some parts to it that’s just infuriating. Like 682 having such thick plot armor, as to come back after being erased from existence, I still love some like “the inevitable end of all but me” though. And there’s 096 that is meant to be indestructible dying to some acid and 173 in a tale, why?
@@tosutaa what?
I'm the developer of the game "Enter The Backrooms" and I completely agree with this video. My game released about a year and a half after the first wave of Backrooms popularity and about a year before the Kane Pixels stuff, which helped me stay motivated to make the game for its own sake, not for popularity. The Backrooms had enough time to build on the concept with levels and entities, which inspired me to make my game in the first place, but hadn't quite gotten too complicated, diluted, or saturated yet. After I released the game I continued updating it just for the fun of it. As soon as Kane Pixels did their series, my game took off in popularity since, at the time, it was the only fully-realized Backrooms game. Unfortunately, with Kane Pixels' series (which I quite enjoy) came a huge wave of game developers wanting to capitalize on a trend as opposed to making a game that tried its best to accurately reflect the lore of The Backrooms. If you look on Steam now there are TONS of Backrooms games, many of which don't even have the most basic element of The Backrooms: (virtually) infinite generation. Don't get me wrong, some of these games are well-made, but many of them are quick things thrown together in a game engine without much thought, and that reflects what most Backrooms content is now: loose ideas tossed together with the intent to make a quick buck. My game has a bunch of technical problems, I'm definitely not going to sit here and call myself a master developer, but like the original Backrooms, it has one thing that many other games don't: genuineness - and I think that's why The Backrooms are ruined. There's a point where something gets so big that the content surrounding it is just heaps of people wanting money or attention, and unfortunately, that's where The Backrooms is now. What's worse is these heaps of content overshadow the diamonds in the rough, that is to say the people who still have genuine intent with their work. I wonder how many fascinating Backrooms stories and experiences are out there that I'll never discover because they're buried too deep under everything else.
All that to say I thought this was a fantastic video about something I dedicated a lot of time and energy to. Great stuff! :)
Agreed. I honestly think that *money* is the real problem. Once something becomes popular there are people who dont care about it a just want to get some money while its still popular. So many games a creepypastas were ruined by this a its honestly just sad.
@@gamingchickenstudios Yea and Poppy Playtime is the embodiment of ruining their own game by being greedy and money-hungry! Honestly i think it's kinda funny!
@@CatsEverywhere33 True
I really wish I want to play it and experience the backrooms when my heart started racing if hear a footsteps or horrifying noise from the distance your game development and the story is very great.
And as for the family friendly channel, they really need to stop making clickbating videos and is incredibly cringed so awfully fustercluck from these Karen ideas.
@@gamingchickenstudios basically they milk kids via backrooms and random popular games
Kane pixels is such an awesome guy, his work is so cool, and has its own lore, it's great. It's really sad that people ruined it like they did.
He’s the one that started the ruining of the original idea of “isolation” from what I can gather
Thing is his stuff is not ruin.
@@supaplayerthat happened WAY before Kane. The back rooms wiki has been over explaining the back rooms for years. Kane just made an interesting story out of the original concept
So what is the Backrooms's SCP number again?
@@gigastrike2 it's not part of the scp lore, just like how Kane pixels backrooms isn't part of main back rooms lore.
The backrooms don't need monsters to be scary. Just the concept of being stuck for eternity in endless empty halls, rooms, and spaces, never seeing your family, friends, or another human being, is scary enough.
Yes god this exactly! It was made as horror of loneliness and loss of control
I used to have nightmares about that sort of thing LONG before the Backrooms.
Yeah, but also the community have just made some goofy monsters, like when you try to eat a SpongeBob popsicle it eats you
@@443MoneyTrees "if you go to the kitchen and scream (AMONG US SUSSY) 420 times a mysterious figure called "your mom" will appear and knock you unconscious"
I think some levels do work well with entities, but with others it makes more sense to not have them. Also entities are much more rare in levels than people assume, thanks to all of the content based on them. Level 0 doesn't even have monsters anymore.
As a kid I agree with this. I’m a super big fan of the backrooms knowing a lot of levels. And to see the backrooms just get turned into a cringe hub for every content creator just makes me sad. Most “backrooms” vids are just Gmod nextbots chasing vids or a new level added to the overwhelming stack of levels. I just want it to go back to the original, where there was only 2 levels and no entities, but now we have to deal with tons of dumb community made levels and entities that just ruin the whole point of the backrooms, to feel creepy and liminal. And this pretty much happens with everything that gets popular. It gets popular, tons of drooling kids find it, and then they make cringe unfunny memes about it, and then the thing loses popularity and the process repeats. It’s just sad to see most things just get found by 4 year olds and not any people with a brain. It’s the same with UA-camrs. Once they get too famous they do anything to get views and start getting mad at people who even inspire off of them. You just have to wait until the kids are gone, or find something else that isn’t controlled by kids and enjoy it until the kids find it.
I feel like the real fear of the backrooms can be perfectly described by the “Squidward gets trapped in white space” scene from SpongeBob. I’d personally be terrified if I was in the same situation.
“Poppy Playtime from Poppy Playtime” 💀
White space? Omori moment2!1!2111!!!!!
@@SamOfTheShadows white space? Geometry dash moment!1!1!2!1!2!1!!’1!111!!1!1!!!!
@@Periwinkleaccount white space? Goat simulator moment?!!11
@@SamOfTheShadows gote simlator moment?!!1!1!11!111! GS?!1!11!1!11! Geostorm?!11!11!11!11!1! Second geometry dash moment!1!11!1!1!1!11!1
the real issue with most horror stuff is that it gets described too much. The whole idea of the thing you are facing being already documented makes it less terrifying, even if it still results in your death. Stuff being documented also means that someone _has_ seen it and _has survived it_ and _escaped_ it in order to make it public.
I think it’s more of a “now you know what you have to be looking out for” instead of “someone survived it” because even with the first Kane Pixels video, the guy didn’t survive. It appeals more to the fear of the unknown.
This guy gets it.
Don’t give the monsters detailed descriptions, stats, and traits.
The SCP universe navigates this pretty well I think, since it manages to still remain mysterious/interesting (especially the Safe and Euclid class objects) even though the entire premise is documentation and cataloging.
in the original backrooms there was no horor only liminality but the community ruined that
we gotta think more lovecraft, but not like… the racist part.
You just hit the point on why I hate niche media getting public attention, especially when horror stuff like these get famous.
I miss when the Backrooms only had the office and nothing else, that's the whole reason why the atmosphere was scary, the decaying carpet, peeling wallpaper and the hum of fluorescent lights was the perfect atmosphere to make you feel alone. I don't need to know that I am in Level 69fun420 with the super scary ass molestor popping out everytime I blink.
Btw you can lure ass molester away by giving him 19 dollar VBucks you get from level 8857.9_A-Floor2
@Portal Rifter
That is a SEVERE understatement
people made a wiki for it like it was the SCP wiki so there are probably hundreds at this point
@Portal Rifter at least hundereds and i mean by that +500
The thing with the only office backrooms is that it would be boring, "OOOOH SPOOKY YOU GET TRAPPED ON THIS ROOM AND YOU CANT GET OUT AND YOU WILL DIE HAHAHA", except you can just explore but you still dont have anything new, Like you will only die of hunger or thirst, and i dont see anything scary in that honestly,if anything it is just a sad scenario, not scary, where as the kane pixels backrooms Is Interesting, Its fresh it keeps the best aspects of the 2 versions, it keeps the Quietness and Uncanny of the original( which i dont really like but i can respect people that like it), and the rich lore of the monsterfilled backrooms, which i find more interesting but it can get tiring
There are over thousands of levels if you count all the wikis. the backrooms arent scary anymore, its just people making their own level OCs basically. On their own, most levels as standalone concepts would be scary, but the sheer number of em just ruins it. (I still prefer the backrooms we have now over just the singular 4chan post because it would get stale quickly and the community would never form. It has it's flaws, though.)
When i say standalone concepts, _just imagine falling into the floor one fateful evening to find yourself into an endless city where everyone you find has no face, there are these weird, terrifying creatures in some buildings that attack on sight, and the city just doesent seem to end. Nobody to talk to, you're driven insane as you keep wandering the city, trying to escape to no avail._
if your wondering what level this is, im talking about level 11
The main issue with the backrooms/liminal spaces being ruined is that it was scary due to the uncanny feeling of the unknown -- "where the fuck i am?" -- but that is quickly ruined when someone adds a 10 page description of each room and 'levels' with some stupid-ass monster that looks like a Indonesian bootleg SCP.
This was one of my most fav things -- i could never bring myself to even call it a "theme" since it felt more to me than that, i was so connected to this (i know, i sound like a hippy lulz).
I really liked the liminal spaces for as long as i could rember.
As someone who has been evicted 17x growing up, it was always uncanny to move to a place and see no sign of life -- nor pictures of peeps on the walls, no furniture, nothing -- even tho i just came from a place that made it obvious someone live(d/s) here.
I absolutely hate when peeps, who don't know what makes this thing good, make this thing bad.
RIP to yet a another internet space that lost all potentional for stupid reasons -- just like SCP, Creepypastas, and so on.
Sorry any bad English ^w^
People who are dunning Kruger affected because of their narcissism are the only ones willing to add garbage like this because they don't have any humility and care more about attaching themselves to an existing interesting idea rather than make their own forcing everyone to see it. It's just a severe concieteness to take someone else's concept and say "yeah I'm going to add stuff to it because I know how to make it better by adding some spaced out trash I spent a millisecond making"
I think it's the fact that younger audiences couldn't understand the effect and "horror" of the backrooms being completely empty, so when people added monsters, young people jumped on that stuff.
I’m not “younger” but I still don’t get it. How is a giant empty motel scary? Also, the original post implied it wasn’t empty anyways.
That's such a boomer thing to say and I'm a boomer.
@@danielwoods3896 hearing a buzzing sound with fluorescent lights make you lose time which make you hear that make you go insane same thing a white room
@@danielwoods3896 It's not "scary", more like "eerie". It's the fear of the unknown. It's a strange place that we could get stuck in. And the entity was never really shown in the original post. Adding monsters just made the backrooms feel like another generic horror story.
@@danielwoods3896 “implied that it wasn’t empty” you summed up exactly why an empty motel is scary. You don’t know if it’s actually empty, it’s the feeling of paranoia that makes you restless
Facts. Absolute facts. While I'm not a fan of the "Official Backrooms Lore" with Partygoers either, the inevitability of "horror for kids" these days is so annoying.
I think we should start putting disturbing imagery in the beginning of videos about newer horror games so little kids keep away from our treasure
We need something so absolutely unnerving and creepy that makes people lose sleep
@@false6399 yes
the other people in this reply section have great ideas. scare the kids so much they won't dare touch the thing again
@@thebingler77 nice plan dude
I love the backrooms as an endless maze with separate areas or “levels” that have no monsters, no humans, no life in general, just pure emptiness and some levels being so quiet you’d hear your organs functioning inside you, levels so confusing and twisted that you’d get lost for years.
there was always entities but i see what you mean
As another said it always had things in it... that original post even noted 'if you hear something, it certainly heard you'. There were always things in the back rooms. It was never empty.
@@baphomeatbut it was vague. there were no established monsters, only vague allusions to them.
@@destroyerofturtles5024 And? It flat out says 'if you hear it, then it's heard you'. Clearly saying that there is SOMETHING there. They were always there like it or not them's the breaks.
@@baphomeat yes, but it didn’t go into detail, unlike the wiki which gives entire lore dumps for the monsters. It’s scarier when it remains unknown.
It happened to Slender, it happened to Creepy Pasta, it happened to SCP, and now it has happened to the Backrooms, of all things. I can't help but notice a pattern
4chan and something awful make something amazing,, then normalfriends who don't care about the quality and what made it good destroy it to get in on it because of their dunning Kruger narcissism
The backrooms downfall began as soon as monsters took the forefront of the equation. The concept of being stuck in an endless maze of rooms where essentially no other form of life exists aside from yourself is horrifying. You will die a slow and painful death due to starvation. Okay, so now we add big scary loud monsters that chase you down the halls and remove any and all subtlety! In all fairness, as described in the original 4chan post, there *was* something living in the backrooms, but it was simply "something." It was scarier to not know what it was, what it looked like, or what it would do.
Definitely it seems like SCP foundation 2.0, Something that started off simple and easy to add your own ideas. Ends up becoming extremely convoluted with its various rules and such. To me it seemed for more eerie when you’d be completely alone in the backrooms. Now I don’t blame Kane pixels what he did was extremely creative. The problem occurred when people started taking his idea on the story. And essentially making it the default.
@@mccringleberrytha3rd at least the scp foundation has some decent scifi/fantasy fiction, even if it isn't what was originally intended, the backrooms on the other hand are just bloated to hell with lowest common denominator bait
@@sierra1513 agreed SCP definitely had some good sci-fi elements. But also is SCP foundation even really popular anymore? I recall it was quite active a while back idk about now?
As soon as someone physically modelled a monster, it was over.
@@mccringleberrytha3rd still quite, multiple verses, versions even has a off shoot in several languages, just 3 months ago the english and spanish branches had a fight because they don't agree on everything and I kinda agree, People don't have to agree on everything, the foundations is popular because each entry is selfcontained unless it comes from a larger narrative which usually is harder to follow. But each thing is self contained unlike the backrooms where its all a single thing. The backrooms is a single space. And filling it with content saturates all it has going on.
Kane Pixels is the only person that's keeping the Backrooms intact. He doesn't put silly things like other game characters or quirky dancing people in it. He keeps the backrooms like it should be, mysterious and dangerous, and I give him the utmost respect for it.
Yeah and realistic too
in my opinion i would rather a infinite maze that takes ur insanity away causing u to die rather than anomalies chasing
Backrooms wiki fandom: Sure, sure, it's not like I've been here since the beginning of the backrooms keeping it intact and creative before newer fans from K pixel ruined it with false info and countless headcanons played off as facts😒
so does other horror game delevopers
@@SuperDuperSigmaMale you still have to mention Kane pixel, do you have a gruge agaisnt him or something?
Kane Pixels and a few others do a great job on building tension and atmosphere without cheesing it up. They take their time, are patient, and play off the imagination of their audience. They do a great job at presenting the backrooms as a living entity, as it's limitless space and corridors create both dread and fascination through the unknown.
The idea of Backroom itself is about existential dread, and fear of knowing that you're possibly the only one person trapped in some strange maze that you can't ever get out. It's simple, it's mysterious, but it works like a charm.
And Kane's version of it just expand the original version without never adding anything else than necessary. Just lore about a dangerous unknown entity, expedition and research on how Backroom is existing in the first place.
When people started to expand it by adding 'levels' and somehow, 'human colonies' of all things, it has been ruined.
It has become the second SCP fandom at this point; "Oh, people thought that this level is dangerous and crazy? Wait until I add my own level called '69420 TotAL cARnaGE' with human colonies and local mosters waging war against one another for eternity!" It's just dumb.
I like the Kane Pixels version because if you rationalise the backrooms' out-of-bounds thing like a videogame, the entity is just the anticheat.
I think the Backrooms wikis are fine, as long as they have reasonable quality control. There is no established backrooms "canon" so if you don't like the existence of a wiki with levels, you can simply ignore them. But they can be good in their own right, even if not necessarily as a purely "liminal" or "horror" thing anymore.
The thing is, different Backrooms wikis have different levels of quality control, so your experience with them can vary a lot depending on which one you subscribe too. I'm pretty sure that anyone can write whatever they want on the Fandom, with little to no quality control. The Wikidot, on the other hand, has (in theory) got even stricter quality control than the SCP Wiki, since you need to be greenlit to write *any* level, no matter how many levels you have written before.
@ValiantFlamez just because you can make something doesn't Mean you should, when you flood a community with garbage because you are so narcissistic that you feel the need to make everyone know about your totally original not scp idea, the good parts of it are overshadowed and completely mutilated, like have some humility, or just write your own story and don't parasitically attach yourself to something that was good until it's completely drained then discard it's completely desecrated corpse
@@Nikotheleepic Like I said, there is no established Backrooms "canon", so if you don't like the wikis you can simply pretend they don't exist. Rather than going around attacking them and everyone who supports them for no reason.
While I can't speak for the Fandom because idk what the process is for writing an article there, the Wikidot has very strict quality control. Sure, some of the older levels are a bit trash, but those ones are being rewritten to get them up to standard with the others. If you really think you can just publish "garbage" on there, you are mistaken. All new articles have to be critiqued (often by multiple people) before you're allowed to publish them. If you show the critics garbage, there's no way they'll allow that on the site. Don't believe me? Try it for yourself, f*ck around and find out 🤣
Also, the wikis probably don't have as much power as you think they do, because there are multiple of them that compete against each other. People don't write articles expecting them to become canonical parts of "Backrooms lore," in fact most probably won't be read by anyone outside the wiki they're contributing to. And the authors know this. Have you ever considered there may be another reason why people write these articles instead of narcissism? It's called "having fun"🤣
@@ValiantFlamez I think actually people should make more videos like this then you guys can be pushed to a corner of some wiki somewhere instead, no problem right?
What I mostly like about Kane Pixels' version of The Backrooms is that, while there are threats and levels residing inside The Backrooms, there is still an ominous and foreboding sense of loneliness, fear, and isolation to be in the series.
That is the only Backrooms-related channel that I actually love because of it.
i respect your opinion, but the kane pixels one is arguably worse then any of the wiki's, at least the wiki's kept that sort of fear of endlessness, not ever being able to escape, no matter how much progress you make you will not escape, kane pixels just turned it into "iT wAS aN ExperIMEnt ALL ALong" rather than the backrooms being a mysterious dimension seperate from earth with only a few documented things like a few entities and levels.
@@nuggetgod2618 I’m pretty sure Kane said the back rooms in his lore were discovered and not created so it’s still a mystery what exactly the back rooms are
@@beanieboi_8708 my point still stands.
@@nuggetgod2618 I mean that from what we’ve seen in his videos, all the things you’ve said about how you can’t escape no matter what you do and the back rooms being a separate entity from earth still applies to his videos when it comes to normal people falling into the back rooms, and sure when it comes the the async guys walking around and trying to document and mapping everything I see where you’re coming from but the only real “experiment” was them opening the back rooms and much of what the back rooms are still remains a mystery
@@nuggetgod2618 This is untrue.
Both wikis are filled with levels that offer ways to escape into the "Frontrooms"(Our world)
The wikidot for instance, has that one arcade level, for one example.
Honestly what ruined the backrooms for me were the entities. I like learning about the different levels because I find the thought of exploring an endless liminal space really creepy and cool, but when I learn about the entities I just cringe. Skin stealers? Smilers? I know the original post hints at something being in there with you, but it’s the mystery of what it could be and if it wants to hurt you or not that makes it good.
i remember when backrooms were just 4 or so levels and people were making first games, it was great
exactlyyyy ! its so annoying how like... every horror series needs to have super extensive lore, trever henderson ripoffs, and be a vhs found footage or analog horror
Two or three smilers in every level was scary, but they overdo it. Entities are good when used in the right amount.
So you like learning about things in the backrooms that we don't know anything about, but you also don't like learning things about the backrooms that we don't know anything about. Your entire point is an oxymoron.
I don’t mind the entities but it would be nice if horror games now days stopped focusing on making a “scary” backrooms game and focusing on making their games more liminal
I was gonna say the backrooms has become a meme. At least something where all the fear has been taken out of it and boiled down to where the version of the backrooms my eldest niece knows is not the same as the one I know. Just like with FNAF. She'll never know how frightening the first 4 games were or that Markiplier was king of FNAF. All she knows is Security Breach.
@@_ducksareresponsibleforww3_ thats gatekeeping lol
BRO EVERYONE HATING ON FNAF WHEN IT WAS JUST 1 GAME THAT WASNT SCARY. Steelwool didnt even fully finish the game. They wanted a completely different story and they didnt finish because of the contract with sony that it had to be out by 2021. Around 50% of the game didnt even get finished. Steelwool knew this and are making a dlc called "ruins" which is centered around being scary. Just look at the poster for the dlc, no vibrant colours, just darkness and even scarier robots.
Honestly, atleast the Backropms isn’t dying silently like the Alien franchise, the new Predator movie was okay, they just need to replace the shitty coward fur trapper with the real black pirate Rapheal who was literally ready to die fighting his entire former crew and a fucking Predator all at the same time on his own.
@@_ducksareresponsibleforww3_ you’re literally gatekeeping
@@milanek1527 still kinda bad tbh
In a way, not only did they SCP-Fied the backrooms, they basically SCP-Ikea-fied the entire concept.
I feel like the absolute golden version of the backrooms was it's simple original post. It's like a one-two sentence horror story, you can imagine just how insane a victim of that no-clip will go.
The level concept is something that began to give some sort of hope to the whole situation, yet I find it more scary when the situation is just an inevitable death. Original backrooms isn't just scary but also really sad.
Unrelated asf but chad celty pfp
Tbh death is a boring way to make something scary.
Imo it's far better when there's something else (that ISN'T just eternal suffering or smth), something like becoming the creature and trying to help other ppl but they're afraid of you or your help does more bad than good, etc.
I think Kane Pixels "explanation" of the backrooms is actually really creative and suits it, experiments with quantum tunnels/saving billions in infrastructure/something going horribly wrong. It's one of the few instances in horror where the explanation gives you just enough material to chew on and make sense in concept without tarnishing the original concept or horror.
I dont really get how anyone else can find out about it if no one makes it out alive or when they do, they die a few seconds later. Let alone being able to just go in and out, they cant even know its existence.
@@Happy06853Someone had to have made it out at some point, no matter how low the chances.
It's very random to get in so I imagine it would be to get out as well, but like getting in, not impossible.
@@Happy06853 In Kane's videos, they went through a lot of extremely volatile experiments to open up a door way into the backrooms, doesn't mean they can always get out though.
@@Happy06853 You clearly didn't watch the series of Kanes then. It's not the internets job to hold you hand at everything open a book, watch a video, do some of your own research... quit piggy backing off of everyone else you're not helping anything/anyone.
It's not a "explanation", it's his own version of the backrooms, he said it somewhere, I can't find it but I do vaguely remember him saying it.
I always like the idea of the original story for the backrooms, where what lurks is unknown. I think it works better if the creatures are unknown, makes it more unsettling, the ambiguity of whatever lurks brings both curiosity and fear. I personally prefer the original story, I love that fear of the unknown, the fear that there is no documented creatures, the fear of what's out there to get you. I kinda just ragged on about this but I will say that I honestly do not care for the "documented" entities (i.e. Partygoers, "Kitty"), interesting? Yes, definitely, but do I care for the backrooms having documented entities? Absolutely not.
I may be ragging on about this but I thought I'd like to share my thoughts.
Absolutely. I think adding a lore for the backrooms ruins it. I love the concept of these creepy empty rooms just existing without any explanation or reason
I'm not unknown:)
It works with SCP, but with the Backrooms is just lame, I lost it with the whole survivors taking their time to analyze particles and the governments thing, just became silly, in essence is such a simple and effective horror concept that got spoiled with George Lucas: "I have to explore the behaviors of the Green Goblins in Level 188 and how they survive eating light bulbs"
@@partygoer4713 but your body will ( :
@@partygoer4713 You're about to be
I honestly don't mind the idea of there being different entities and an endless amount of weird levels. I actually admire the creativity from it, but it goes downhill for me once youtubers start turning the backrooms into a cesspool filled with childish characters and memes, turning the whole concept into an unfunny joke.
I like the creativity too, it isn’t as scary but I still keep an open mind
I think a lot of what the backrooms thrived off of was the fear of the unknown, so when you take that away, you get a hollow husk of what was originally something fun. Turning the idea and passion itself into a liminal space in a sad turn of irony
I like the number in your name
I don't mind liminal spaces being turned into the backrooms because liminal spaces have always given that weird uneasy feeling. However with the research institutions and overall people trying to humanise and familiarise the backrooms it takes away all of the charm.
@@Singularian I completely agree with that. The additional liminal spaces were pretty interesting, but I really digged the simplicity. It gave room for fans to think of it how they wanted it to be
@@Raymundo_2112 me too it's my phone pin
Wait
This cycle of “Children’s Internet Effect” is causing horror as a concept to just become polluted, no longer can I enjoy something as scary as an existential crisis without thinking “How would a child think about this” or “How could this be ruined”
Edit: when I said “How would a child think about this” I meant what could be put into this beautiful idea that would make it more accessible to children (the inclusion of cartoon characters, ECT) not that I thought children liking something was bad.
If all it takes for something to be ruined for you is the mere thought of kids liking it, that sounds more like a you problem -_-
@@chaosbeam4654 have you seen the evolution of the fnaf games? what started as a truly disturbing atmospheric game ended with a complete mess of lore and far less scary ambience. what audience would you guess caused this to happen?
@@lucysoffering ok? Even then, it was cawthon’s fault for prioritizing family friendly content over actual quality. Not the kids
@@chaosbeam4654 there wouldn’t have to be a choice of priority if the family friendly aspect had been absent
The quality of a fandom is inversely proportional to the quantity of children within it
This is why it's so bittersweet that the SCP fandom (my favorite online horror fandom) got stuck at semi-mainstream. Not too big not too small.
The SCP fandom had gradual growth, not explosive growth. People make animations, games and even low budget movies about it!
Of course crappy SCP content is still present but the really good stuff makes it all worthwhile and its a real online treasure I hold dear🙏
Usually in SCP, the bad written SCP's are simply ignored, honestly best SCP is probably SCP-420J.
SCP is also centralised under the Wiki who have a firm grip on what actually goes up, and a whole section to divert people who want to write nonsense. Beyond that, there are more immutables in the SCP setting that no randos can reasonably change.
@@chaotixthefox yeah, quality control keeps the SCP wiki so good I cant get enough of it🤙
I agree with you.
I hate it when people make unoriginal SCP’s like ‘siren head’ and ‘cartoon cat’ these aren’t original SCP’s you took Trevor Henderson’s creatures and slapped the word SCP on them
The fundamental problem with Liminal Horror is that at a certain point, you have to let it die for it to become good. It can't be developed upon (too much), otherwise it ceases being about the Liminal Space.
I feel like Kane struck the perfect point of developing upon the concept while keeping the concept still terrifying enough. In one video there's an entity hunting a guy, but in most of his videos it's about the infinity of the whole thing, the trap of just being there. We know the videos are connected, but we can't fathom how big the place actually is, so those scientists that managed an entrance to the place could be thousands of miles away from the guy that was getting chased in the first place. But since the place noclips into itself, and you can fall into a hole somewhere and be at a different point of the whole place entirely instead of where the fall should logically take you, those same scientists can find that tape. The connection between the videos exist, but within the lore itself it's flimsy at best.
The problem is, how do you keep the concept of an infinite place that never changes appearance interesting? You add things to it. So games, and other lower tier creators, went the easy route and added "challenges". More monsters. They made infinity finite, because you keep finding thresholds (ironic, considering the concept is exactly about that) in those creatures.
Man as someone who was super into the backrooms and it's lore, and expecting it to become something similar to the SCP wiki once it got itself sorted out, seeing this happen in real time over the past year was heartbreaking.
Same
I was hoping for the same thing. Hopefully there'll be a Renaissance out of this saturated money pump limbo it got itself stuck in, like FNAF with VHS and Battington. Or hopefully it lays to rest.
@@sn5806 SCP did used to get an insane amount of content back in the day
it is likely once the trend of the backrooms dies down the ones who are left will make it more similar to SCP
@@sn5806 Yeah but I think SCP a lot more compartmentalized and older. The whole community has been dealing with the trash content for years.
scp did not "get itself sorted out" for more than maybe three years anyway. What exists now, and the people in charge of the wiki leaves it similarly a shell suffering from bloat and whatever you'd call feature creep of a concept.
There's a difference between _fear_ and _terror,_ and for that reason I keep the two "forms" of the backrooms separate. The original 4chan post version I'll call the Backrooms and the second "modern" version with all the levels I'll call the Maze.
The maze is based off of fear. Fear is defined as _a very unpleasant or disturbing feeling caused by the presence or imminence of danger,_ and is not induced by the person experiencing the emotion. Fear is caused by imminence, knowing that something is there and knowing that it's after you specifically. All of the entities in and different levels reduce the terror of the original backrooms to fear, as you know something is there.
The backrooms are based off of the idea of _terror._ Terror is defined as _a cause of dread or extreme fear,_ and instead of hinging on knowing that there's something there, it relies on the opposite. The inherent unknowability of an infinite mass of hallways makes us wonder. Is there something there? The scary part is that _we don't know._ The original post only _implied_ that there's something else with us, and has nothing to prove it. We just don't know, and that makes it scarier than the maze. Another thing to note is that a liminal space (what the original backrooms is based off) is a _transition._ A hallway, an elevator, or a daycare. A place to be for a short time, but not a place to linger. That's what made the original image so terrifying, an infinite mass of hallways with no actual starting point or destination; you must linger in a place not meant to be inhabited for more than a few hours at most. The total emptiness and the monotony of the wallpaper and damp carpet, with just the sound of buzzing lights is a horrible idea.
_Because there's no way in, and there's no way out._ The yellow is all you knew, and it's all you ever will know.
I don't believe the backrooms were "ruined". They were never intended to be something that stayed static, that's why it was scary. Nobody knew what it could be. Nobody destroyed it.
The two versions have different ways of scaring us, and while one is more effective than the other, it doesn't make them _bad._ Calling an idea "bad" because it just isn't as effective as its predecessor isn't a good way to look at games or things like the backrooms. They're _supposed_ to evolve.
Seeing all of the comments wishing that "little kids didn't ruin everything" is making me increasingly sad for the future of horror. It's a genre. People are going to have different ideas of what's scary. *_Don't be a jerk because you don't find something scary, it's not a good look for you or the community._*
EDIT: if you'd like a better explanation of my point, I recommend Pastra's video "Why BATIM Is My Favorite Horror Game". Pastra explains why games like this are effective in an awesome way. :)
That’s actually a really good point
THIS comment. This comment and the last portion of it. Ive been saying this over and over in these comments. Finally someone with a brain
Imma comment twice because this comment took the words outta my mouth. Banger.
@@ineedzemedic5810 EXACTLY. I don't have the willpower to go through and tell people to get it together myself.
We literally have an ENTIRE SUBGENRE developing right in front of our eyes (I.E: Security Breach, Poppy Playtime, etc) and all people have to say is "I hate that kids ruined things". Like we are watching a completely new thing evolve and that's all you have to say??
@@goldenmeadows5046 God, seeing people like this just be so negative makes me make me so mad. People can no longer just move on and enjoy the things they like "oh well this person ruined this for me"
WHO CARESSSS GET A JOB!!!!
Honestly thank you for making this comment, again and thank god it got the attention of the op of this video and it gets more attention and makes people open their eyes more.
I genuinely do hope you have a good year.
I think part of the issue might be that liminal space/backrooms type stuff is meant to play with nostalgia and uneasiness. It's made for people who have been around for a bit. That's part of what makes it creepy. It feels familiar but it shouldn't. Little kids do not feel nostalgia, as they haven't been around for a long enough time. To them, the backrooms are scary because "it's big and it has monsters", whereas to us part of it is creepy due to the whole nostalgia/"I've been here before" typa thing. Hope that makes sense.
It makes perfect sence and I 100 percent agree with you, that feeling of entering the liminal space which felt foreign but familiar is a terrifying concept.
Actually a great take, this could be the reason for all of this
I'm 14 and I still find liminal spaces, found footage and "nostalgic horror" terrifying, in the nostalgic way. I'm also one of the people who thinks all the monsters and levels added by the fandom makes it all convoluted, over complicated and just not scary. So idk why people think most children can't experience liminal horror.
@@joaqik 14 is old enough to experience nostalgia. im talking about like 12 and under.
Oh I definitely agree. To me, the backrooms look similar to the empty departments and store outlets I saw in the mall when I was younger. The backrooms instill that sense of familiarity within you which makes the concept creepy. Take that away and it becomes a hollow concept devoid of any real substance.
The absolutely powerful Atmosphere of Purgatory The Backrooms emenates paired with the Isolation you eventually feel is what makes it so horrifying. I've never lived rural, but I imagine living super far away from anyone and letting your mind wander, or do drugs just to fill the void of the empty fields has a similar feeling. But The Backrooms have that sense that something SHOULD happen, because it's in an office building. But nothing does. And that's what's so irritating to the psyche. Adding characters and enemies destroys the feeling of dread, which is to be expected by mall kiosk youtubers.
Little kids overtaking the backrooms is something that I absolutely agree with.
I remember seeing in one of my classes at school a bulletin board with self portraits of kids from somewhere around fourth grade.
One of the children drew himself with the backrooms
oh my god for real. like there are kids who UNDERSTAND the concept, what makes it creepy, and how to not ruin it. (im referring to myself and my friends we adore the backrooms and what it is lol)
@@kylesimone6140 Imao I’m 11 and YET I still understand the old and new concept of the back rooms,IMO the old interpretation was way better.
@@kylesimone6140 I was one of the people that didn't undertstand the true concept of the backrooms at least until now. I wasn't really engaged with the community the entire time but it still hurts seeing such a nice idea get ruined by kiddies
@@kwad9145 yeah when i saw the backrooms at first i thought it was the levels but then upon further research found out what it TRUELY was
Got ruined by those little sh!t.
Really cool that you rightfully pinned it on many kids without being mean or being hateful
I partially disagree. I still sense some... rudeness towards children, even with politeness regulating it. Felt like the message is still "Children ruin everything, specially horror!". This might be true, but that doesn't mean that I won't pin on the rudeness.
@@JSSMVCJR2.1 feels like that rudeness was more pointed at people who began watering down the backrooms as a cheap way to appeal to children tbh
I mean, not really. It was pretty weirdly mean-spirited to basically blame it entirely on kids while also saying it was because of popular youtubers (who aren't children).
@@JSSMVCJR2.1 Children do ruin everything. How many PG-13 horror movies would have been SO much better with an R rating? Dozens if not hundreds of them. Instead, Studios cut down really good movies and ideas because they want to make more money off of kids who can see them by not rating the movie R. A good example of this is the movie Stay Alive which was a great concept but had a really poor and confusing execution because a whole part of the story had to be cut to get a PG-13 rating. It was done for the need to make more money and get a younger audience. Teens and children have ruined what could have been great horror movies.
@@Sp0rkWafflez So they should not be considered?
Honestly, one thing I hate about the new Backrooms that you didn't talk too much about is that the wiki is very much trying to be SCP 2.0, instead of something original. Now it's all documented in articles written by some research group that sends people in there (like the SCP Foundation), documents the results and how to get out (like the Special Containment Procedures and Testing Logs/Addendums of every SCP article), and even rates rooms based on how dangerous they are (like the SCP object classes). The way creatures are detailed is very simmilar to the SCP aritcles themselves. And don't get me started on the page about groups that is both redundant (since, as you mentioned, the fear of being alone is a major scare factor) and is basically a copy-paste of the SCP Group of Interest hub.
I find it cool, perhaps it's because i've never been much of a follower of SCP content, so... when i see the Wikidot about backrooms i think it was pretty cool all that lore.
@@Ench1L0ver In my opinion, it's different since the SCP Foundation has a concept that works with overexplaining things things while still being scary, while the primary thing that makes the Backrooms scary is the fear of the unknown, of not knowing what lurks behind the yellow walls, wether the maze has an end and wether you're truly alone. Which gets thrown away if there's entire articles detailing in great detail what the monsters are and how to avoid them. And, as I've said, the presence of armed groups that try to help survivors diminishes the fear of being alone and stranded. But, then again, horror is a subjective thing.
Man, you're right. The wiki is kinda like a double-edged sword. On one hand, it gives writers the opportunity to show off some of their ideas about the Backrooms, such as levels, entities, etc, which allows for discussion and creativity in the community.
On the other hand, is what you just described (Which isn't anything new by the way). It's really a shame y'know, it could very easily be it's own thing.
I hate so much the fandom wiki of the backrooms, some levels are just random ass pictures from google, heck, there Even is a level that is just a fucking pink house with a Monsters inside of it that just wants to be your friend, that shit sounds like something a random ass 12 year old would write. Shit doesnt Even look like the backrooms anymore, there Even is a level in wich You have to do random fucking quests and if You complete them You escape the backrooms, and the only person who escaped the backrooms is a random fucking Reddit user, like the backrooms have Lost it's identity, it doesnt feel like the backrooms anymore, this is just SCP v2
@@redo4984 well, at least the wikidot that i like it more it's a lot less worse than the fandom wiki version
A lot of the charm of Backrooms I feel has to do with isolation and being separated completely from people you love, family, friends, and so on. I for one have a fear of claustrophobia so it works on me the most, and I feel that's what strengthens it: no "entities", no jumpscares, no "levels" - it's like waking up and finding yourself locked inside a deserted shopping mall and no means of getting out. I'm not bothered by people expanding on the concept, and to be honest I think it's cool, but to get the most out of it is that it's literally just... You (the one who fell in) and nothing else: there's only one way out unless you happen to find a miracle.
Frankly though I kinda see Backrooms now as-- the entire world is a GMod server and we are all merely users, lol.
there always was entities but i do understand how it was kinda ruined by kids and is not as scary
In my opinion, the best interpretation of the Backrooms has to be the free steam game "The Complex: Found Footage". It has an extremely eerie and dreadful feeling throughout the entire game because of something that was present in the original backrooms: Nothing. All you do is wander, turning every corner with fear that something might attack, yet nothing does. There is an entity present in the game, but it doesn't hunt you or attack you. It just stalks you, and you can rarely ever see it. The game doesn't get mundane either, because something is always catching your interest, but never too much that it takes away from the feeling of dread and anxiety.
Sequel is being made the trailer is on IsarL's youtube. check it out!
@@gavinojames1 Really? Awesome!
That sounds cool! I might play it
The game is so big you find random but interesting stuff there. Did anyone found a toppled police car in a small room? I sure did on my 3rd playthrough.
Absolutely agreed
The Backrooms for me were at their peak when there were no monsters at all. The idea of someone falling into a sub-layer world that comprises of unfathomably endless mundane rooms and hallways to me is a perfect blend of that classic Twilight Zone style creepiness and a modern horror perspective.
I really liked the implication of monsters and occasionally finding things out of place in the backrooms, sort of what kane pixels did in his first few videos. While it's nice the backrooms has gotten more popular it just resembles the creepypasta mansion now :(
But there was a monster in the original 4chan post eitherway...
There were monsters in the original post tho
There were always monsters and entities in backrooms but they weren't cliché, boring, and overall unoriginal. Every OG monster in the backrooms had odd and original properties, behaviors, and looks.
my take on the "monster" in the original post is all in your head. that's true horror.
The 2 channels that didn't turn backrooms into a cringe fest are Kane pixles, and frag 2 because they just make found footage. I will say the inclusion of entities and levels isn't inherently bad, they can sometimes make it better, but it gets bad when they are oversaturated and overused
honestly just keep a couple of entities and only a couple of levels
@@the_irs_real exactly
@@quagmiregaming21 As being an SCP fan of early 2012, when I saw the backrooms take works and art from Trevor Henderson to make entities categorized but level number and level floors, and hazmat people I sat there like " Oh God I know what's coming at the speed of light towards this community and it [redacted] and [redacted]"🤣
yes, but the lore will take away the mystery and make it more of just a SCP foundation thing, which used to be something awesome, it still is but now it's full of [redacted] and [data expunged] destroying the lore of SCPs by those who do it
@@lilkittyanime same here lmao, i miss the old days of SCP stuff, now it's all [redacted] and [data expunged] ruining the idea of reading files about mysterious anomalies and entities, i had thought however does that should be forever banned from ever setting foot in the SCP foundation again but the damage is done
anytime something becomes popular a youtuber has to make a 20 minute video talking about "well actually"
i was there for the very first 5 levels of the backrooms. no partygoers, no complicated safezones, just a few monsters sprinkled here and there, and the feeling of being alone, and helplessly lost. now it just feels distorted, and watered down.
i agree but i feel like 100+ levels is good when they ALL have unique properties and when they almost always tie back to the liminal aspect of level 0
Wait what's wrong with the partygoers
@@ahmedjoycesneakattacksquad5003 if they touch you you go under a painful transformation also they are sadistic
@@hzgaming4286 yeah but there not that bad
I was there for the original backrooms image. That is the only backrooms I will recognize. Every other backroom is fake and cringe
I can't help but roll my eyes whenever I hear about "monsters" or "levels" when it comes to the Backrooms. What makes the Backrooms so creepy is it's endlessness and it's isolation, which you could easily see driving someone crazy. Its so simple yet so effective. But if you put some spooky monsters in it, then it just ruins those traits, you're no longer focused on the horrific loneliness, and the sense of being lost and stranded, and especially understimulated. You're just focused on running away from an obvious threat, which could happen anywhere, not just the Backrooms, which makes the entire point just completed redundant. It's a shame
This literally sums up everything I hate about it now, anything past the original concept from 4chan just kills it and ruins it imo. People took it from a cool scary concept about isolation, liminal space and the fear of the unknown to some dumb SCP wannabe with lore and tons of different goofy monsters and "levels", completely ruining the point and charm of what it was all originally about
To be fair, the original 4chan post does imply the existence of some sort of creature(s) being in the backrooms. But I definitely feel like the monsters are focused on way too much.
@HolyApplebutter I think there it's the thought that there *might* be something in the backrooms with you. Theres no encyclopedia of room dwellers, theres no rules they have to follow or even a defined shape or if you are truly alone. It goes back to the fear of the unknown.
Personally, I like the idea that there are undefined creatures that stalk you, instead of expanding catalogues. I also think the liminal spaces being incorporated was a positive
Yeah, internet ruin any kind of horror
Creator of The Partygoers here! I'm flattered you like them ^^ As someone that's been involved with the community since the beginning, I will say that it IS really frustrating to see how much soulless and clickbaity content is being made to milk The Backrooms to the point its at right now. But I don't think they have been ruined-- not by a long shot. This same thing happens to other horror media all the time, we've seen it happen with SCP, with Trevor Henderson's works, with FNAF, its inevitable that child-orientated content will be made about these medias because that's just what's profitable. But these properties still exist, and they still have thousands and thousands of people beside them that genuinely love them, and want to make amazing things with them. I don't like the idea that the backrooms is over just because it's going through a phase like this, and I really believe it'll get back to a point that we all have been desiring soon enough. In the mean time, I'm sure we'll have plenty of fun shit talking 'partygoer vs huggy wuggy' type videos XD Great video man!
ok
Do you know why the wiki page for partygoers is deleted?
@@benro6564 i made a video going over that on my channel
@@1000dumplings heavily edited gumbo
oh my god I just remembered you
Kane pixels took a massive crap on the concept by adding monsters that are just screaming stick figures
It’s crazy, because I was an “original backrooms fanatic” (lol) and I absolutely loved it so much that I would tell all of my friends in school about it. They used to quite literally think I was weird after reading all of my notes and stuff on it. Now they all post on tiktok about it and literally call EVERY room that’s empty the backrooms…. Sucked the life out of such a fun time.
*Also how do you only have 54K subs. :(*
You should get new friends
Imagine those poor guys who were literally assaulted and bullied endlessy gor being "nerds" in the 90s and the people who used to laugh at them are now huge comic superhero fans and phone "gamers".
At least in the late 2000s it was pretty much accepted in schools to play video games. I wouldn't be in place of those poor 80s and 90s "nerds"
I have a “friend” that’s SUPER ANNOYING. He calls t egg very empty room the back rooms now too.
@@laultimarebanada who the hell cares?
@@shiverfan4867 I
i think that the main problem is floors and monsters. although I love what kane pixels is doing with the monsters and stuff I think the back rooms is most terrifying when it's just nothing. just you, yellow walls, old carpet, and buzzing lights. with nothing but your own thoughts as you are forced to spend all eternity alone and slowly going insane. for me at least that is terrifying. being forever alone and there's nothing you can do. different floors and monsters take away from the creepiness of forever repetition and loneliness.
yeah, the thing that made the backrooms terrifying is the simple yet affective design and the fear of the unknown. So as soon as all of these New, overly explained levels were created it took away the reasons what made the backrooms so existencial (dont get me wrong, i love most of these levels its just that they dont fit the backrooms).
The floors arent even a real thing in the backrooms. And the monsters arent the ones we made up.
I stand by the original post, and the original post only.
Exactly. The true horror of the backrooms is dealing with the endless solitude and being lost. For all I know the only monsters are the ones you imagine in your desperation.
That was never the backrooms tho even in the fist post about It you were not alone you all act like you know the original backrooms but you didn't even read the original post
I completely agree. The backrooms should've stayed as that single set of rooms that was shown and described in the original post. I despise how people have tried to make into a new SCP which completely goes against the type of existential horror the original post was going for. I think having multiple levels with different monsters completely ruins the appeal.
I used to like the backrooms, as what I was introduced to was the whole
“Check out this cool endless reality thing. It has a wiki and stuff.”
Then
Some wikis started changing what they had, and then it got really confusing
Eventually I found the whole non wiki backrooms. Or the rooms backrooms, the backrooms focused on the mystery and atmosphere.
So
I have decided to organize backrooms content into three groups.
Follow these if you want
The backrooms
The whole anomaly, not muck known kind of deal
The monster rooms
The backrooms that focuses on intricate lord rather than the rooms themselves
And the playrooms
Kids content that burns braincells
Yeah that sounds about right
Scp is immune to this cuz they do a upvote system they get banned for having bad ideas looooool
@@SuperduckMusic Well that system failed
@@SuperduckMusic i mean I wouldn't doubt that they have several intricately worded direct rips of either videogame monsters, or gaming history.
Iirc, they got several 'haunted games' in the foundation's care.
Hey qestion, does the other levels count in the first or secound group?
Its really funny because when I first saw the original post I thought it was a good joke. I just thought being trapped in a place with the horribly annoying combo of the lights, smell and color was hilarious.