Before you read what I have to say i want you to honestly and without having any specific games come to mind, define what "slop" is when talking about games. Done? good!
Recently, I was caught in some online discussions, specifically talking about the resurgence of co-op party games, such as the likes of "lethal company", "content warning", "peak", etc. And there was one member who, for privacy's sake, will go unnamed, calling said games "friend-slop". I was taken aback for several reasons, but I think stuck with me most was the idea that an entire handful of games fitting in the same genre could be thrown out and dismissed. Because of an arbitrary definition. In this piece I want to try to define 'slop' and try to understand the rising popularity of the word.
In the modern online landscape when it comes to reviewing new games journalism (coined by Kieron Gillen - March 2004), the first central idea can be boiled down to "the worth of gaming lies in the gamer, not the game". This is a form of journalism which focuses on the "I" of writing articles, prioritizing the writers' experience with the game rather than objectivity outside. Subjective writing, as the larger journalistic community calls it. Sadly, this idea and dogma have come under scrutiny lately with the rise of descriptors such as "woke", "dei", "slop" or "gooner game", the latter of which I must admit I am guilty of using quite liberally.
This rise in assigning adjectives to games is a new phenomenon related to the acceptance of "executive objectivity" or the idea that a certain exclusive group of people are entitled to objectivity with their opinion. This idea is most prominent when you look at the language used by streamers, especially within the current wave of "diversity dramatics" you can see them use objective descriptors for games, as previously stated "woke". I am sure you have seen at least 1 case of this specific word or maybe a derivative of it. You probably could also tell that they do not use phrases such as "I think this game is woke", instead opting for the much simpler "this game is woke".
If we as a collective are to properly have the ability to engage with media critically, we have to let go of labels which dumb down the review process.