"The community needs to stop getting so hyped. Expectations must be tempered."

Why do some people feel so compelled to try and "direct" the community like this? All I've seen is people enjoying themselves, having a bit of fun with some silly conspiracies and speculations, most of which consists of just harmless memes.

I don't think anyone is getting genuinely so swept up in hype/delusion to the point of them actually losing their minds and overdoing it. Most people participating in the excitement are more or less doing so with the tacit understanding of, "this is a bit, and we're all in on it," as they spin the most outlandish conspiracies and unhinged memes.

It's Half-Life 3, ya know? People are just playing up to the magnitude of the possibility. Not because they've collectively lost the plot, it's just a bit of harmless fun! Yes, there is a lot of genuine hype around it, but to assume that people are actually losing control to the point where you need to babysit their behavior just seems unwarranted. It's as though they feel they are "above" those who participate in the excitement, as if they have a stronger will than the peons who succumb to the hype machine - even though they probably spend less time thinking about it than they do and just wanted to post something stupid for the fun of it.

Nobody's really losing sleep over it, aside from those who insist they patrol the subreddit like some high school hall monitors who feel it is their duty to "keep rowdy children in check." We have seen the same thing happening with the GTA 6 subreddit, and we will continue to see it in the future for any other anticipated games. Such are the whims of gaming culture!

I just don't get why people see it and feel as though they need to reign people in from having harmless fun. If it for some reason bothers you that much or makes you feel particularly uncomfortable, perhaps you just aren't in on it?