I think I finally understand why many people hate popularity.
So lets say you have a videogame series. It is nothing like what is currently being made and is fun and unique and even though it is, lets say, a first person shooter it is in almost a genre on its own.
You have a small but strong community that has followed it through the versions.
However because the game is so good the casual audience is starting to pick it up having heard from your community that the game was great. They start to see the game in the same light you do and the community grows to a much larger size then ever before! The word of mouth has grown the game to a wider audience.
Yet now the original audience, the one you were part of, are in the vast minority. It is fine, after all the series now has a lot more money to play around with which means the series don't have to hold onto its dated graphics and lack of voice acting. I mean why complain when the series is picking up and that people are recognizing that it is good?
However then more sequels come out and you start to realize that the series isn't holding onto what attracted you in the first place. The two gun system, cover system, and even continuously regenerating health bar something the series intentionally excluded get added to the game. Each sequel seems to adopt more First person shooter staples until finally this series becomes just another first person shooter.
You ask why they are doing this because you don't understand, afterall the community you hopped on with would have never supported this and wouldn't have stayed with the series if this was the intent. You hop into the forums and you see that everyone is really supportive of this new shift and are happy that the series is awesome like modern warfare.
Then it hits you... The vast majority of the community NOW actually would rather the game be more similar to all the other first person shooters. Sure the people who want the game to return to its routes are still there, sometimes much more vocal then the rest of the community. Sure the games sell much more then ever.
Yet when you look at the series you love so much and see that the games have melted down into Call of Duty, you feel like something great and unique died. There will always be more Call of duty rip offs, but this series, this series that you were with since the very start... Will likely never live again.
You wonder if things would have been better off if the series was still relatively obscure.