The DbD Community's Bizarre and Vague use of the word "Fun"
You've surely come across this at least once; a post that says something along the lines of "I think that X is the most unfun thing the devs have added and they should remove it!".
On some level I can sympathise. God knows this game has more than enough stuff to complain about. The poor balance, map design, and performance issues just to name a few. But where I start taking issue is when people refuse to think beyond their emotions and state that if something isn't fun to them personally then it is objectively bad for the game and must be changed or removed. I'm going to list just a few of the many problems this argument has.
The personal value of fun
The most obvious problem with using "fun" as a catch all term to define whether something is good for the game or not is that the word itself has a vastly different meaning to every single person. I find going up against Spirit fun. Most people on the forums find it the opposite. Our experience and satisfaction when versing Spirit is entirely determined by how our brains perceive and process information. You cannot convince someone to find something fun just because you found it unfun. Your experiences are yours alone. And trying to make an argument about something based entirely on your personal experience, rather than a combination of critical thinking and first-hand experience, only lowers the amount of people that your argument is capable of convincing.
an emotional lens lacks foresight
Assuming that the majority of the playerbase agreed on something being unfun, and collectively decided that something about it needed to change for it to be fun, their decision would ultimately be based on what they thought would be more enjoyable and not what objectively functions within the game. I know that this hasn't stopped the devs from making decisions that don't make any sense, but for the sake of argument I'll digress anyway:
A new player buys and downloads the game. They go up against Wraith several times and due to their inexperience they die a lot. New player then goes to the forums and demands that Wraith get nerfed because they don't find dying fun. Is it fair that Wraith gets nerfed because someone found him unfun to go against?
No!
Because Wraith has strengths and weaknesses that can be exploited once you have the knowledge and experience to do so. Objectively, Wraith does not need to be nerfed. But some people think otherwise because they are thinking solely with their emotions and not analysing the game so they can make the best judgement. If Wraith has nerfed because new players were having a hard time against him then his overall balance for the rest of the playerbase who aren't noobs would be ruined and he'd be less engaging, and likely less fun, to face. Let alone to play as.
Rampant groupthink
This is easily the most harmful part of thinking without critical analysis; that because others share your opinion it magically becomes more valid.
Especially if there's an other that holds an opposing opinion that doesn't play the same team as you in this fictional video game, while a prominent and respected member of the community who uploads videos of themselves talking also holds the same opinion you do. Allow me to be frank...
it doesn't.
Arguments do not become stronger the more people use them, nor when someone who is widely known starts using them. An argument is only as strong as the thought that went into creating it. Thinking otherwise leads to circle-jerks where no one bothers to check the validity of their points because all of the people they care to hear already share the same view. A problem I'm sure I don't have to point out has infested this community quite thoroughly.
Playing either role in DbD doesn't mean you have to constantly butt heads with everyone who plays the opposite. We're all still people. And this fact isn't made any less just because someone else enjoys the game in a different way to you.
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