Melonland's thoughts on The Backrooms?

[bugholder's epiphany]

Recently had gone on a tangent on my cohost page about The Backrooms and how the current interpretation of it has been diluted and people missing the point of The Backrooms (you can read about the rant here, it's rather incoherent and unorganized due to being made while dealing with a headache, stomach-ache and such). Got curious on the opinion of The Backrooms by the fine folks here. So, what's ya'lls thoughts? Is The Backrooms a cool thing? Is it currently being eviserated by the bad content?

[Memory]

I'm not too deeply immersed in the backrooms lore, but I love this style of creepypasta/internet mythology generation. It's similar to Slenderman or SCP to me. Getting to see the invention of new lore, cryptids and other spoopy things is always fascinating.

The backrooms may have become too gamified, but given how it started maybe that was to be expected.

[TheFrugalGamer]

Have you ever read House of Leaves? It was written way before the Backrooms got started, but there are a lot of similarities. It's a piece of avant garde horror fiction, so it will not be for everyone, but it does a good job of capturing that feeling of bizarreness where nothing makes sense and you shouldn't be there. Based on your rant, I think it's what you feel like the Backrooms should be.

I also like seeing the growth of new mythologies, and I thought it was a great idea when it first got started. Like all things, the internet culture machine will grind it into the ground, but I usually just wait and let things percolate until most of what's left are the good parts.

[bugholder's epiphany]

I'm not too deeply immersed in the backrooms lore, but I love this style of creepypasta/internet mythology generation. It's similar to Slenderman or SCP to me. Getting to see the invention of new lore, cryptids and other spoopy things is always fascinating.

The backrooms may have become too gamified, but given how it started maybe that was to be expected.

Honestly, while I enjoy SCP stuff, the gamification and SCP-ification of The Backrooms detracts from it imo. Like I said in my cohost rant, I rather prefer the whole idea of being lost in a place that's uncaring, neither hindering nor helping you in you being lost, that sort of thing.





That being said, this style of internet mythology generation has been pretty neat as a whole.

Have you ever read House of Leaves? It was written way before the Backrooms got started, but there are a lot of similarities. It's a piece of avant garde horror fiction, so it will not be for everyone, but it does a good job of capturing that feeling of bizarreness where nothing makes sense and you shouldn't be there. Based on your rant, I think it's what you feel like the Backrooms should be.

I also like seeing the growth of new mythologies, and I thought it was a great idea when it first got started. Like all things, the internet culture machine will grind it into the ground, but I usually just wait and let things percolate until most of what's left are the good parts.

I should consider looking into House Of Leaves, sounds interesting just from what you've said here about it.
Yeah, I hope that things settle down around The Backrooms so that most of what's left is the good parts, based on a convo or two I've had on cohost, thats a possibility of what will come to pass. So, crossing my fingers on that.

[sig]

(I had written a whole post but lost it all when I tried to quote someone :TnT:smile:

I do think that the whole concept has become unnecessarily diluted because the whole concept of endless bland wallpaper, monotone buzzing of fluorescent lights and the possibility of something being after you is basically a 'perfect' one-off horror concept. When the concept became meme horror people started to add on to that with more layers, levels, floors, whatever, and that just takes the fear of the original and divides it between the ideas of people with different views on what the concept should be. I do respect the SCP-like direction it has taken but I think the magic is gone too.

The backrooms may have become too gamified, but given how it started maybe that was to be expected.

Fully agreed; IMO as soon as the original post said 'no-clipping through reality' the concept basically started to only appeal to gamers lol

[debleb]

it was a cool thing before it got popular and people started adding loads to it. scary part of it to me was always there being only monotony no matter how far you walk, not monsters hiding behind corners… that said it’s nice to see people coming together to make something.

[Memory]

I always thought it was a cool concept... for a one-off thing, a relatable horror experience we have all had at some point: being in a school building after it's closed, random hotel corridors, exploring a large complex where you're sure barely anyone has been for months at least.

But as soon as people started writing additional lore around it, I think that diluted the entire idea into a generic creepypasta.

[xandra]

I'm not too deeply immersed in the backrooms lore, but I love this style of creepypasta/internet mythology generation. It's similar to Slenderman or SCP to me. Getting to see the invention of new lore, cryptids and other spoopy things is always fascinating.

The backrooms may have become too gamified, but given how it started maybe that was to be expected.

this is how i feel! i love creepypasta of yore, but i'm not sure i get all the lore around the backrooms. i just like it as a liminal space as others have mentioned, where you're constantly moving forward in a monotonous way, stuck in the humdrum of buildings that look something familiar. it's spoopy, never finding your way out. having monsters added to the mix turns it into something else, imo.

[Memory]

this is how i feel! i love creepypasta of yore, but i'm not sure i get all the lore around the backrooms. i just like it as a liminal space as others have mentioned, where you're constantly moving forward in a monotonous way, stuck in the humdrum of buildings that look something familiar. it's spoopy, never finding your way out. having monsters added to the mix turns it into something else, imo.

I hadn't actually thought of it as maze-like before. Mazes are something that scare the crap outta me. I hate the idea of getting lost and never being able to find your way out. As a kid, I used to get my big sister to play any section of games like Doom that were easy to get lost in because they were too freaky for me.

There's an H.P. Lovecraft story called "In the Walls of Eryx" about a guy getting lost in a maze with invisible walls and it's probably the only Lovecraft story that I actually found scary.

[Colliewood]

Oh boy do i have thoughts on the backrooms I had a really extensive conversation back in 2021 before there were really ANY backrooms content on youtube. Before Kane Pixels anyway. We were entirely talking about the backrooms wiki. I definitely feel like it misses the point of the original screenshot, populating the backrooms with explorers and creatures and distinct fun-to-explore environments. There definitely a tangential community of "Liminal Space" enthusiasts

Pretty much what you were saying in your own cohost of course let me be clear these felix colgrave ass looking creatures are quite a bit older than the youtube videos.

Said friend still likes certain aspects of the modern backrooms and has been close to the fandom for years now. I asked her her feelings and while those slides and what I termed "The cocomelonification of backrooms" was not up her alley she still watches some original backrooms content on youtube. She says that the idea of exploring these places, potentially with a small group of people with similar interest in strange environments like what is found in the backrooms, and making the place habitable is appealing to her. I suggested that the exclusive nature of the SCP foundation might push amateur authors into different communities to express their horror ideas, and that's really it, these ideas are from amateurs. You shouldn't take every listed entry as canon, my friend sure doesn't, she has a vision of the backrooms in her mind that is entirely her own, influenced by many forum posts and wiki pages and youtube videos, but ignorant of the vast majority.

I understand the frustration with the state of the backrooms, you find out there is something new made about a thing that you like, and when you look at it there's nothing of what you liked about it left. I guess my only consolation is that this effect will always happen. It's why SCP had to become exclusive and stingy with entries, If you look at the "Every sm64 cart is personalized" community I'm sure you will see the same trend. hell if you really went back to the hay day of slender man I'm positive you'll find countless silly and lame ideas for the mythos. If you want the pure idea that inspired so many people, you gotta just cherish the original and the specific feelings it gives you.

Anyway since no one posted it here is an excellent video by Super Eyepatch Wolf on the topic of the backrooms

[SquidDied]

ik this is a old post by now but i fully agree with u, the horror is that ur supposed to be alone and any monsters you come across are just the result of your own mind turning against you in the endless expanse. the hum of the lights, dull repeditive visuals, no sense of direction and weird smells grow more and more infuriating/disgusting as you realize theres no way out and youre probably going to die here without anyone ever knowing.

seems like as it got popular, people just began to miss the point. i read somewhere that the "almond smell" is supposed to allude to cyanide being present in the environment rather than some like, what even is almond water? now there's like factions and governments and monsters down there, its gotten even more ridiculous with ppl encountering like, amongus and freddy fazbear int he backrooms, and yeah that shits funny sometimes but it just sucks that such an interesting and scary concept has become this clown dimension

[pencilz]

I'm more of a poolrooms girlie myself LOL, something about floating through endless pools sounds like the most relaxing thing ever.

I definitely agree all the added lore and monsters ruins the concept.

[starbreaker]

This is the first I've ever heard of The Backrooms, but it sounds a lot like "hotelspace" in the Laundry Files novels by Charles Stross.

[grubbyfox]

I LOVE the mystique of the Backrooms, and the idea of them. I dont really care for the "and there were monsters" stuff - altho I've enjoyed watching many people play various backroom horror games.

But for me, the backrooms are scary enough alone, without monsters. For me, they just make it sort of... "ok so its scary because there are monsters", but anyplace is scary with monsters, haha.

But I love backrooms for what they are and represent. A room where there may have been loads of people, and now it's just empty, as if people just up and left. The office birthday celebration, the hotel lobby, a conference room, a shopping mall, the pool locker room, etc. At some point there were obviously people here and then just ... suddenly quiet.

Back in like 2008, I started working at a hotel, and the previous owners (of another chain) had just basically locked the doors some years ago, and closed. So when we opened and started exploring, it as only like a year ago or so, but it was so bizarre to find the hotel in a state where people had been at work one day and then just packed up and left. There were still some staff clothes in the wardrobes, paperwork just stacked in offices, notes and information hanging everywhere, etc. That's what Backrooms are like for me, but in a way more exaggerated way of course. Unsettlings, uncanny and liminal rooms where you sort of feel like there would have been people like 20 minutes ago, but now it's just a still life art piece.

[georgemoody]

Definitely agree that the “levels” and monsters not only not add anything to the mystery of it but devalue it as well, the intrigue of it imo is achieved by its vagueness and non-descriptive approach, anything could be lurking out in the yellowed walls, or nothing at all, the fear of the unknown is one of man’s greatest fears and the original backrooms creepypasta uses that fact to its advantage very nicely

Have you ever read House of Leaves? It was written way before the Backrooms got started, but there are a lot of similarities. It's a piece of avant garde horror fiction, so it will not be for everyone, but it does a good job of capturing that feeling of bizarreness where nothing makes sense and you shouldn't be there. Based on your rant, I think it's what you feel like the Backrooms should be.

ah, House of Leaves, I would consider reading it but from all the previews I have of it from all those myhouse.wad videos, it would an absolute chore to read through, I already can’t keep up with regular books lol