I’m an older dude whose phase of staying up all night playing was back in the early console days. I prefer in-person tabletop RPGs like D&D, Traveller and Call of Cthulhu. Just not into computer games anymore, but that and social media seem to be most people’s primary computer activities.
Game chatter has changed over the years - I used to see a lot of talk about graphics quality and massively powerful hardware - maybe that was during a period when it was rapidly improving, I dunno. But the current focus seems to be more on game industry business decisions sucking.
Anyway I’m just wondering how common it is to use computers more for coding and other technical non-game stuff.
I use online games as a way to hang out with friends. Usually it’s about an hour or two a day. The rest of my computer time is spent coding or doing work stuff.
No games here, I never have found them interesting for whatever reason. Because of this my laptop is a 2018 Chromebook with reflashed BIOS running Ubuntu. It has significantly less processing power than my phone but is plenty sufficient for everything I ever need a computer to do.
My usage is a roughly even split between games, music, and all other media (including social media).
Programming and other digital projects used to be on par with music but back then games was a clear first place and social media use was a blip.
I don’t use my laptop much anymore (don’t have a desktop either): Some modeling, accounting, spreadsheets, or doc composition; things that are cumbersome to do well on a tablet. General browsing and videos are on my phone, tablet, or cast to the TV. When I want to game it’s usually on my switch.
It’s The laptop is really my device of last resort. I know it will do exactly what I want it to do, but I have to dig it out, clear space for it and usually plug it in if it’s not a quick job because the thing is old and an energy hog. My tablet is newer and I got it a convertible laptop-like keyboard case. The battery lasts so much longer and it’s just easier to lug around to where I need it for whatever.
Laptops … I never could get used to them. The keyboards feel too tiny and I can’t stand trackpads. Give me my dual monitor PC! Apparently there are people who actually write code on phones, which would be my idea of hell.
I am an adjunct professor. My evenings are taken for making slides and marking. I wish I had time for gaming.
Programming, research and education would be my primary computer uses.
I used to play a ton of games throughout my teenage years but fell off in my 20s. Now in my late 30s I still keep up with gaming news and discussion, but I rarely actually play through games anymore. I go through maybe one a year.
You’re right that the discussion has changed, and that’s due to a number of factors. Mostly, new games are pretty configurable and will run on pretty much any modern hardware. Long gone are the days where you simply couldn’t play something unless you ponied up for a Voodoo 2. Add to that, that PC hardware is a lot more standard now. Gaming enthusiasts dont need to learn a bunch of competing hardware standards to keep up anymore.
And the other side is that with the introduction of microtransactions, keeping an eye on how companies are trying to monetize games is important. AAA games these days have Hollywood movie budgets and if they’re not profitable, then hundreds of people are out of a job. Looking back, it’s pretty amazing what 10-15 people could accomplish with a fraction of the budget and time that modern developers get(indie games notwithstanding)
Maybe you’re old enough to remember Sierra Games - King’s Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, etc - in the 90s they hardly had any in-house game developers. Mostly they just marketed games written by very small companies or even lone developers. Back then I did a contract job for them to create an online tournament system (which they never used).
I learned English from kq1 on an ibm xt. Parents was pretty surprised of me as an 10 year old hogging the English dictionary. I still remember spending half a years pocket money on kq4 when it finally was available in Norway. Also loved that heroes quest series. I believe it was renamed quest for glory at some point
Does collaborative writing for fun count as games? The communities involved call them games, but there’s no thoughts about control schemes or graphics, and no need to do anything outside your browser. That, chat, social media, reading (both for work and personal time), and the like take up the bulk of my PC time.
I would call collaborative writing computer use but not a computer game. Programming feels like a game to me!
I don’t even really have a computer.
For games, I have a switch or Xbox, and everything else I use my phone or iPad.
Linux, emacs, Python, forth, microcontrollers, kicad, gimp, blender, FreeCAD, spice, and astronomy are my main uses in no particular order. I occasionally play Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead. I used to be a regular cafe gamer, but I expect a clear and strait forward transaction of ownership with all purchases. Renting something that cannot be owned and reading some long legalise nonsense are not at all interesting to me. Maybe one day there will be a game industry again, but as far as I’m concerned, the world of proprietary exploitation, subscriptions, and extortion is the same as nonexistence.
I use mine mostly for work. But also games, music, and movies.
Funny thing I thought about when coming back home…
My work laptop has been used more for gaming than my gaming pc has, and inverse of that my gaming pc has seen more work done than my work laptop
Why? I don’t fucking know why it just is
I work all day on the computer. Its been a long time since gaming took up the majority of my computer time.
I think the stagnation in graphics improvements, combined with the extreme costs of high end GPUs and the massive growth in the industry, is what changed the dynamic. Most gamers just don’t care about the high end like they used to and now its corporate BS that has a more direct impact on their gaming experience instead of better hardware.
I’m not a gamer. Work at computer all day, only mobile (no games either) outside work.
Xennial here. My non-admin use is probably split 60% learning, 30% programming, 10% gaming
