Because of RolStoppable.

That guy invented cynicism and negativity.

This

Come to think of it not sure been a part of any online community that wasn't skewed towards cynicism in its subject matter. Even fan sites where everyone agrees they love X still find people complaining that X is not good anymore, or preferred an entry over another and sub camps with X1 and X2 fans bashing the other.

All very silly really.

Basically, you're wrong in your assessment.

Is there cynicism and negativity in gaming? Yes. Is that especially prevalent on the internet? Of course. But that's because EVERYTHING gets taken to the extreme on the internet. That's just how the beast works. It doesn't just apply to negativity. It's blind optimism and praise as well. Flip sides of the same coin.

How often do you see a truly neutral stance on something online? Hardly ever. Everyone leans to one extreme or the other. This applies not just to gaming but opinions about anything on the internet.

Best you accept it now, cus that'll never change

There are days where I feel 80% of the men on these websites hate video gaming. I've been playing video games since 1978 and is a hobby I love. Most men here have seemingly zero respect for the hobby they claim to love and spend all day whining about anything.

Sadly, that's how it is everywhere on the Internet. I try to keep my gripes to myself but most Internet people want the whole world to know what's eating them. It's a necessary evil of our online world.

I think calling it necessay is inaccurate.  Rather, it is a commonly condoned aspect of our society.  Not just online either.  If you have what you deem to be a poor experience somewhere you are something around 10x more likely to tell your friends about it than you are to tell them if the experience was positive.  Add into that the fact that everyone online has a much larger potential audience for their gripes, and there you go.

My initial guess was that they didn't live up to all the hype that preceded them, but yours must be the right answer!

It's mainly people that don't like a product talk. How many people actually write or do reviews on Amazon.com, for example. And it all worked. Not a lot. The product has no issue, no care to write something. If it breaks a lot. You'll see the complaints. Because that is their only means to tell people it sucks. So the suck will show more than the like.

I prefer not to think of such depressing things.