Why is the internet the way it is?

[Naltic]

Why isn't it like Cowboy Bebop's version, or like any 90s sci-fi movie/show/anime? Why is everything that's modern so, so goddamn minimalistic and boring and lacking in exuding this sense of adventure and complexity? Just, why isn't it more like how it was in the 90s, but faster and with more tech, I guess?

 

[TheMinuMaster]

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

We seem to punish originality, for some godforsaken reason.

I remember things like FortuneCity that actually made creating personal websites into an adventure.

Now it's all painfully average.

Appealing to casuals was never a good idea, and now seems to be the default.

 

[RageBurner]

Because reality is always sad and pallid compared to the eternal, feverish dreams that fiction can conjure.

 

[hazys]

Web design in the late 90s and early 2000s was way more busy and heterodox. The big push for minimalism and standardization arrived during the Apple and social media era, where clean and accessible design was the key to getting new users online. (Also, to optimize for ad space.)