The word "overrated" is overrated. Now that I got that joke out of the way, it's time to get down to "serious business".

Now I don't hate the term "overrated" being used, it's good to not to blindly follow the corporate influx of the media. There are plenty of games I believe that are over-hyped by the media (Modern Warfare 2, GTA IV, MGS4, any game from Bethesda, any Halo title after Combat Evolved, any Final Fantasy after III and probably BioShock), however I think the term is so overused that I think most people don't even know or have any good reason to why they think it's overrated. When I ask why they consider the game overrated, usually they either dead silent or make regurgitating comments, such as; "Its sux", "its stupid", "its gay", "I hate it". I rarely get any legitimate reasons from others who provide in depth criticism. 

Most of the time, they blame it on the fanbase but that's not a legitimate reason either. Many video games, even ones with a cult following, are bound to have rabid fanatics. They are plenty games that I really like that have a rabid following (Half-Life series, StarCraft, Fallout series), but I'm not going claim them overrated just because of the rabid following. People often confuse themselves of the understanding the positive appeal of the game and what they find overrated. I don't like the Kingdom Hearts series or any pre-RE4 Resident Evil title but I'm not going to call them overrated just because I don't like them, because I understand the positive appeal of the series.

As you can tell, I firmly believe the word "overrated" is overused and misused in the gaming community, but what are your thoughts?

I feel its overrated 

Saying something is overrated is subjective so no it's not overused. It's all about one's opinion.

For example, it might be possible to meet someone who thinks GTAIV is underrated.

I would say people use the phrase far too often, but people forget that it is very subjective term and is down to opinion:

For example, I think the following games/series are overrated:

Final Fantasies VII onwards

Basically all FPS'

God of War

Animal Crossing

Uncharted

Metal Gear

Mortal Kombat

Goldeneye 007

Grand Theft Auto

Gears of War

Nintendogs

Dynasty Warriors

Grand Turismo

Tekken

Pretty Much all Sports games

However, I don't expect many of you to share a lot of my views

1

I agree to an extent. it does depend on the player in question, who will appeciate games differently from each other. although i agree that FPS are heavly overatted this generation.

No entirely, something can be blindly praised without pointing out it's objective flaws. Look at Modern Warfare 2, critics completely ignored it's balance issues and bugs in the multi-player. GTA IV has been blindly receiving 10s, despite it's obvious flaws, such as the tedious Friends System and the tedious first act of the game.

I think its more the WAY the term is being used.  Often it is used in a condescendingly judgmental way to cause injury and not give a fair and balanced assessment.

Its all part of the collective failure of the internet to improve our ability to communicate with one another.  To be honest, though, its not the tech that's the problem but the way the tech is used.  So, yeah, its our failure.

Very well said.