Thoughts and Opinions on the term "slop"

[starseeker300]

the word slop has come into usage as slang for pieces of media that are perceived to be low quality or catering to the lowest common denominator, weather they actually are or not. For some reason I cant quite explain in words the term is really interesting to me so I just wanted to get everyone's thoughts on it.

(please keep discussion civil, and please no responses just saying "x is slop" without adding anything else to discussion or at least explaining why)

 

[skramz]

it's literally just slop - quickly produced, low quality garbage. nothing deep about it, same meaning as the "food".

 

[DinoRexMax]

 

[RageBurner]

It's a valid qualifier, but I have a feeling it will be so overused in no time flat that "slop" itself will quickly become an open and shut case to expressing negative opinions about something without applying any depth of expression or technical explanation to said opinions.

 

[dkpopman]

Hated the term as it was getting proliferated, but I will admit... I've started using it myself to describe genAI stuff. Pretty effective for describing that drivel.

 

[Retro Doomer]

I use slop when I feel something is slop but of course this term can and will get overused like most terms like Woke which does not make them any less valid though..also its a pain in the ass to invent new terms just because people keep overusing them.

I for example have more a scale I rate I thinks like

Slop can be paired with Woke Slop I dislike Woke games but Woke is not equal to Slop some
woke games despite me disliking them still can be quality works.

Bad (Games with bad Mechanics or a bad Story or both)

Not my cup of tea (A Game which may be okay but is just not my taste)

Okay (Self explanatory I think neither very good nor very bad)

Good (A Game which tend to be more fun)

Great (A Game which I really like can spend hours on such ones)

Goated/Masterpiece (The cream of the cream Games you like the most the themes the art style the gameplay and so on)

 

[DinoRexMax]

Hated the term as it was getting proliferated, but I will admit... I've started using it myself to describe genAI stuff. Pretty effective for describing that drivel.

It's effective, and appropriate, but like anything and everything, it gets gobbled up by the general masses as a catch-all term they wanna use to get in with the cool-kids until it becomes so disconnected from it's origin it loses all meaning.

Mostly, it falls apart when people ascribe it just to things they don't like, rather than a product of middling quality.

If anybody has had the displeasure of browsing /V/ than you know what I mean. Just this constant knee jerk reaction to one up each other in an argument, until it finally dwindles to the lowest common point of saying "You just like it, because it's fun" as an insult.

 

[Frickinfrik]

I prefer it over the term “bootlicker” on any fucking day of the week. Bootlicker has become such an annoying word nowadays, just like that fucking obnoxious “67” shit. Most of the time, I mostly say it’s shit or it’s brainrot over slop.

 

[Boofytan]

I prefer it over the term “bootlicker” on any fucking day of the week. Bootlicker has become such an annoying word nowadays, just like that fucking obnoxious “67” shit. Most of the time, I mostly say it’s shit or it’s brainrot over slop.

For me it's calling everything a 'journey'

 

[Doomsday519]

Definitely an appropriate term for a LOT of the current content pushed to us whether from corporate entities to independent folks online all to make as make cash as possible while exerting the lowest effort. It's been abused here and there and that will always grow as that's what happens with terms like that but the definition of "slop" especially in the last year is accurate.

I have witnessed the quality of so much go down specifically in 2025 in ways I had never seen before. And the rise of IG Reels & YouTube Shorts to combat TikTok's popularity only exasperated it. TV show quality from video quality to the writing getting worse. And this does even talk about the nasty world of generative AI...

 

[Morgan Katarn]

Well it is what it is pure and utter slop a nicer way to say trash or pile of dog shit. most modern western AAA games today are slop because they don´t care about making good games or games people want. All they care about is making some idiot F´s wallet heavier.

I think the reason the word is used so much today is you can get banned any where today if you say the word SHIT or even F. So slop is a nice word instead of shit or trash and it won´t hurt over sensitive people feelings.

 

[Clippy]

I don't particularly care. We used to say 'shovelware' and 'asset flip'. Now we say 'slop'. The term works and even if someone can't exactly define it everyone knows what kind of games are being described.

 

[Ikagura]

If anybody has had the displeasure of browsing /V/ than you know what I mean. Just this constant knee jerk reaction to one up each other in an argument, until it finally dwindles to the lowest common point of saying "You just like it, because it's fun" as an insult.

/V/ is still a thing?

People are also overusing the term "mid" for something even when it's a good thing that isn't a masterpiece.

 

[Pandaprewmaster325]

Describes stuff that are low effort and with no thought put in while making them YUP sounds right.

 

[Adrastia]

Low quality, low effort mad grabs for money.

 

[ThatOneLum ThatOneLum]

Personally, I think it fits the bill just fine.

Describes the kind of shitty shovelware that might as well be like the blended, low-quality foodstuffs they shove in a trough for the pigs.

Look at any given digital store and it's hard not to get why it's become a popular term.

 

[suzunami]

It’s an overused term tbh. Recently saw someone who didn’t like a song call it slop. I think if you can criticize something you don’t understand/get the appeal of don’t just call it slop. All the toxic Redditors are starting to use that word like crazy. :/

 

[PacGuy]

If anybody has had the displeasure of browsing /V/ than you know what I mean. Just this constant knee jerk reaction to one up each other in an argument, until it finally dwindles to the lowest common point of saying "You just like it, because it's fun" as an insult.

I know. It's great.

 

[J.B’s rabbit den]

The term “AI slop” itself is slop

 

[medisinn]

I think it fits low-effort things decently enough. It's not the most accurate term for certain things, but it's quick to type and say and digestible by the masses, so it's not surprising it caught on. I just wonder when it started being used en masse as a criticism of low-quality creative or corporate offerings. After the writers' strike in 2008, low-effort shows such as reality shows became super common. A slop of sorts, but it wasn't called that. Same with trendy dime-a-dozen YouTube channels later, like reactors reacting to reactions. I suppose even that low-hanging fruit requires more effort to grow than typing in a prompt and outputting AI slop.

 

[MajesticSiN]

The term is fine, it means the same thing is has always meant.

 

[Dyne]

I don't particularly care. We used to say 'shovelware' and 'asset flip'. Now we say 'slop'. The term works and even if someone can't exactly define it everyone knows what kind of games are being described.

I was going to compare it to the word shovelware, but you beat me to it.

 

[KenaiPhoenix]

It means what it means: slops

And it describes current stuff really well, specially in the entertainment/gaming world: things got mainstream and now corpos do what corpos do best: squeeze the audience and mass produce everything as standardized as possible so it appeal to everyone

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

It really does feel lazy rather than clever.

I don't like one-word answers given as opinions, and this one word is all some people would ever say about this-or-that topic.

It's rather tiresome.

 

[moonbits]

Frankly don't care, nor use it but I know what they mean.

Every generations comes up with their own set of words to substitute common adjectives to feel special.