Comment by munificent

> A common abuse of SSAO I see among early users: using it everywhere.

See also: every other graphic trick ever. HDR, bloom, lens flares, bump maps, normal maps, etc.

Basically, when a new rendering trick comes on the scene, everyone cranks it to 11 to show off that their engine can do it and to stand out from the older ones that don't. Then, eventually, they dial it down to something more reasonable.

It's fashion, plain and simple. The masses want to mimic high end fashion, so styles "flow downhill" from the avant garde to the rest. Meanwhile, the avant garde want to distinguish themselves from the masses, so they have to constantly come up with new things (or repurpose old things that have fallen out of use: see, pixel art). It's not about looking good as much as it is about looking uncommon.