It's one thing to be cynical, but it's another thing to be insincere. I think that's where YIIK falls apart for me. See, if YIIK simply was a bad game but had heart, I think people would be able to appreciate it. But it just simply doesn't.
If I recall correctly, Alex is supposed to represent the average gamer, and the game wants you, the player, to admit that. The game wants you to say, "Why yes, I AM an asshole. Thank you for pointing this out to me!" Which, in my opinion, just makes me think the creator's an asshole who can't open himself up to the notion that some people aren't. And I think that the game's failure might have reinforced such a mindset, but I wouldn't really know. I'm just making a blind assumption about someone I've never met and would probably never want to meet.