That goes both ways.
If there were large vast amounts of people liking it, that I disagreed with – I could argue “The echo chamber doesn’t do reasons”
Then follow through with exactly what you said – They just all tell each other what they want to hear and become convinced that they speak for “the players” because they mistake the “echos” for exponentially more people.
And as you said — That’s not just here. We see that in lots of internet forums and even cable news networks.
However if majority of the playerbase spread throughout mass various medias, public outlets and anywhere you can see public opinion share their dismay & disapproval of the expansion — It’s probably less of an ‘Echo Chamber’ and more of the shared opinion.
As someone else has said before –
Goes along to that saying ~
“If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck & quacks like a duck … 
It’s a duck.”