Talk:Friendslop

Is this really a genre?

I don't mean to come off as rude, and I'm not trying to predict the future when I say this, but I feel like the term "friendslop" is more of a trendy buzzword than an actual genre. Certainly, a user-generated website dedicated to cataloging short-term trends should not be one of the primary sources? Industrial Insect (talk) 22:32, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

I agree tbh, it's just a term used to describe a wave of games in an already existing genre (cooperative multiplayer games). Aside from that titling a game as "friendslop" in the description is not exactly neutral terminology. At most friendslop could be mentioned as part of the larger word slop within the context of these games. I sell eggs (talk) 02:53, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

You said it much better than I could! Industrial Insect (talk) 03:19, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

Maybe a merge could work? Industrial Insect (talk) 03:20, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

Was thinking of a merge too, but didn't wanna take the intiative here. I sell eggs (talk) 04:20, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

I would go as far as to argue that the term is inherently loaded and its use in any encyclopedic capacity is inappropriate. The alleged genre is already described as a casual, co-operative game; no term, especially not one as loaded as 'friendslop,' is necessary.

If you actually look for uses of the term, you will find that most are either disparaging or ironic and few are sincere.

I sincerely believe, though, that this article should be merged with en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative_video_game, which, itself, should be refined. ~2026-10552-6 (talk) 02:10, 6 January 2026 (UTC)

I agree Iselleggs (talk) 17:16, 9 January 2026 (UTC)

your slop ~2026-30722-4 (talk) 05:41, 15 January 2026 (UTC)

Yeah, I can’t quite see the merit of this particular article existing when people use this term to label any co-op game they don’t like, feels “cheap,” or feels “unserious” in their estimation. This should be merged into co-op games as a term used in criticism of *some* co-op games. This purported “genre” is not big enough to warrant anything more than a mention on the co-op page. Edit: I also might argue that the mere existence of this page gives undeserved credence to the term and further proliferates what seems by all accounts to be throwaway meme slang. Louie Mantia (talk) 01:14, 7 September 2026 (UTC)

This is a crappy meme from 4chan that is definitely non-neutral terminology, and shouldn't be its own article. Hence I added the notability issue. ~2026-14839-93 (talk) 17:50, 8 March 2026 (UTC)

Agree. We are in meme territory here, no widespread use of the term. Also, definitely NOT a neutral term. Why has this been added on Wikipedia? ~2026-41649-73 (talk) 21:57, 26 July 2026 (UTC)

Yes, friendslop is non-neutral terminology. So is walking simulator and that is a widely-recognized genre. Heck, hack and slash isn't exactly the most endearing name for a genre, given that it implies it's brainless violence. Genre names don't have to be neutral, they just have to be widely used and reported upon, which friendslop is. There are plenty of sources about the genre, whereas this argument is solely based on unfounded opinions. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 08:37, 1 February 2026 (UTC)

The difference with the walking simulator and hack and slash genres is that they ARE genres. Friendslop is indistinguishable from the co-operative multiplayer genre. Industrial Insect (talk) 13:38, 1 February 2026 (UTC)

The sources literally distinguish it from that genre. "What is “friendslop” and why does it matter? The term itself has drawn a degree of dispute and conversation this year but at the most broad level it represents a genre of low-stakes multiplayer games focused on achieving a common goal, coordinating usually through voice chat in game or through a program like Discord. These games are often unserious and definitely not competitive. Part of the joy, as much as getting to play with your friends, is seeing them bungle a run or simply goof off." "The term usually refers to indie co-op games that are best experienced with friends and have an emphasis on humor. They’re typically PC games, cost less than $20, include proximity voice chat, feature wacky game physics, and often fall into the survival horror genre. Friend slop isn’t always scary, though. Some lighthearted flavors of “slop” popped up this year, like Peak, where you attempt to scale increasingly perilous mountains with your friends." ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 05:21, 2 February 2026 (UTC)

The thing is, Among Us, which the article describes as the “first friendslop” does not qualify according to this definition. While it is cheap and has a low barrier to entry, it features asymmetrical “pvp”, lacks a “wacky physics engine”, and uses temporary meetings of text chat as opposed to proximity. Industrial Insect (talk) 13:50, 2 February 2026 (UTC)

Not all the games have to adhere to all the criteria, but the point is that reliable sources have given agreeing general definitions of friendslop as a genre, so it is provably its own genre. Among Us even fits a chunk of the criteria, such as being a low-priced indie game, low-stakes and goofy, having coordination between players, etc. Not that it matters for the sake of my argument. Even if the Among Us example was removed, it would still remain the same. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 15:53, 2 February 2026 (UTC)

Well everyone is using this term to refer to this type of game genre, it's the same as winslop, someone coined it somewhere and it stuck out Folkrolex (talk) 15:33, 25 March 2026 (UTC)

But Winslop literally have no meaning beyond "Microsoft" and "I don't like it" Trade (talk) 09:36, 14 June 2026 (UTC)

Among Us is Not Friendslop

My two cents:

Among Us is not "friendslop." It is a social deduction game that happened to achieve mainstream popularity years after its original release. More importantly, the core design philosophy is different: friendslop games are typically cooperative experiences built around players working together, whereas Among Us is fundamentally adversarial, drawing from games such as Werewolf and Mafia. To its credit, Among Us helped popularise indie multiplayer party games and may have indirectly contributed to the later friendslop trend, but it does not belong within the category itself.

By my estimation, the first truly popular friendslop game was Lethal Company. It served as the genre's formative influence and inspired a wave of subsequent indie developers to create low-cost cooperative multiplayer games, often characterised by deliberately simple visuals, distinctive art styles, proximity voice chat, and emergent social gameplay. While cooperative indie games existed long before it, Lethal Company was the title that crystallised the formula and triggered the flood of imitators that would come to define the genre.

Bias check: I hate all these games, they are cheap, only fun for 3 hours of laugher with friends, and are just money printing machines for indie developers (which is fair), and just bait streamers/youtubers to self-promote it for them. However, I have indeed played them. ~2026-36376-70 (talk) 22:04, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

Further to this, I would note that the so-called 'accredited' GameStop source is actually 'Ollie Tuscarny', who is, as per the source, a "HR advisor with a background in recruitment and HRIS functions". This source is not a reflection of the genre, nor does it accurately represent what popularised the term. ~2026-36376-70 (talk) 22:06, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

We follow how reliable sources describe a subject, not our own personal analysis, which would be original research. If reliable sources describe Among Us as friendslop, then so do we. That said, my reading of Gamerant as a source is that its reliability is questionable. Unless we find an explicitly reliable source describing Among Us as friendslop, I think it's reasonable to keep it off the list. ᴸᵃᶠᶠʸTaffer💬(they/she) In solidarity 22:09, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

I agree with this entirely. While the idea and concept of friendslop has traces that can be found in Among Us (price point, emphasis on multiplayer gameplay), the wider trend of games being called Friendslop is with the rise of games like lethal company, repo and content warning. Galxie (talk) 02:14, 5 July 2026 (UTC)

Friendslop describes the intention behind the development of the game, not the type of game

From how people seem to use the term online, and looking at how the term originated, I believe "friendslop" refers to games that were created specifically to cash in on groups of friends looking for games to play together. It's not just an interchangeable word for coop games, it refers to games that are low effort in their creation and meant to fit an already existing and well understood niche so that they are easy to get into and convince groups of friends to buy them. DawnOfInquiry (talk) 01:26, 6 August 2026 (UTC)

"low effort"?

How is this justified? There is no source given for that claim, and these games are realtime multiplayer action games, a game category for which development is very hard just for basic games: https://www.google.com/search?q=how+hard+is+multiplayer+game+development Xenofur (talk) 08:38, 6 August 2026 (UTC)

the etymology of slop

Something that may be really hard to talk about in the context of a wikipedia article is the interaction of internet trends with word formation. Particularly the word slop originally was used only and exclusively in a derogatory fashion to insult and criticize something as low effort and low quality. However since the middle of 2025 ( https://trends.google.com/explore?q=slop&date=all&geo=Worldwide ) the word became part of a trend, and a lot of people started using it while having zero knowledge of how it was used before, and also started using it as an insult simply because they didn't like a thing, regardless of its quality or production effort. This then resulted in people pushing back by using it ironically even for things they liked, and the term friendslop fits squarely into that category, in part simply because it's funny to say. As per https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/friendslop the first known instances of the word were not sincere critiques but merely humor. As such it would be a disservice for this page to pretend that it is a sincere criticism. Xenofur (talk) 08:51, 6 August 2026 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: New Media, Digital Communities, and Content Creators

This article is currently the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation–supported course assignment, between 19 August 2026 and 12 December 2026. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Autumn3854 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by DrJ!ll (talk) 17:04, 31 August 2026 (UTC)