I’d definitely agree with that, I was a much bigger gamer when I was a kid/teen/YA, the only real franchises were Pac Man, Mario and Donkey Kong, so the field was wide open with all sorts of new and innovative games, the sorts of games that are still coming out but just harder to find. I feel like there’s a lot of people just looking a the AAA titles being announced in the presses and then just being underwhelmed when there’s a lot more going on, but as you said there’s a lot more to life as an adult so that can be too much time. On the upside, a lot of those indie games are much shorter so you can find time to play them.
+1
An anecdote: I know a working couple, well off in a good house, young, no kids, like video games… And they just don’t game (or watch long form TV) as much this past year or two. Work drains them, so more entertainment time now consists of favored YouTubers before bed.
…What I’m getting at is that maybe the ‘gaming population’ is more drained from life, in this age? Especially when you factor in hunting for a good game.
etherphon@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
brucethemoose@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
And what I’m getting at is the *era.
As examples, work got a lot harsher post COVID, once mandatory return-to-work kicked in. It’s almost like they’re trying to get people to quit.
Interest rates went up, costs went up, financial pressure went up. Political conflict with older generations in the family is going up too.
IDK where you are; this is just my perspective from the US. But it seems like video gaming could be an early casualty of all that pressure.
etherphon@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Yeah I gotcha, I suppose there’s two types of people in those situations: those who will put down the games and see them as a distraction or waste of time in the face of all the other things they have to do and all the serious/bad things going on in the world, or those who dive full on in and escape the world through gaming. Another perspective, games used to be light and fun, hella challenging, but still fun, you could pick them up and put them down. Nowadays if you stop playing a game for a week or two you almost have to start over, at least that’s how it is for me with my sieve brain. I’m also in the US.
bitwolf@sh.itjust.works 53 minutes ago
This tracks.
I’m so drained from work now. They keep cutting out teams and expecting more output anyway.
I changed the games I play, I no longer play RPG games that take a huge time investment and defer to Arcadey indie games I can pick up and put quickly.
Yes I’d love to play Dark Souls to completion, for example, but I don’t have the energy for that.