Interesting question. Been in Qatar since 2008. The perception has changed a bit, in many different ways - certainly not bad though. So much to unravel in this question.

Back in 2008, almost every bar was entry without passport checks, and there were many, many Qataris dressed as usual, beers in hand, and many times ladies around (mostly Chinese) and getting pretty fucked up. That changed massively after 2012 if I recall properly, and now Qatar is much more strict, I think it coincided with the passover of leadership but, not sure. I'm happy for that, it got a bit ridiculous seeing what was going on in a country such as it is. So the perception there definitely has changed. I can tell you first hand there's still that going on, massively, but Qatari guys have to dress in normal clothes and it still goes on.

At the same time, the Western House party scene was massive, absolutely massive - something going on at somebody's place every Thursday and Friday, booze flowing and it was loose as shit. Absolutely loose. That changed massively just after the blockade occurred and people got fired and left the country. A lot of white expats left. My compound, I'm now pretty much the only white person there. Compare than 10 or so years ago it's insanely different

Perception of traffic and road quality massively changed too. Thanks to the big boys Ashgal deciding to rip up nearly every road possible and sit on the projects for years before Fifa deadline has been awful but for the important parts it's now done. Westbay about 6 months ago looked like war scenes outta Ukraine.

So a lot has changed, perception wise, demographics probably the first and foremost. Who knows what'll happen next with the end of the massive Fifa pressure.