I think especially in the West there's just a fixation around '' realism '', and culturally people have been conditioned into viewing realism as superior. Which isn't rly the case elsewhere in the world, and wasn't always the case in Europe either.

It often feels like it's an especially prevalent obsession with video games atm. So many big name games, and even a few indies pushing 100gb to 200+gb and beyond just to get the crispiest 8k pores possible.

yeah i’ve mostly noticed it in online spaces and in the west, i haven’t really ventured much to the east so i can’t really say anything on their behave but it’s pretty disheartening to see younger artists quit because they’re pressured away from stylization to be more “skilled”