Dropping in and not having to get back up to speed with a game has become more important to my gaming life than I wish it was. I don’t have time to change it. Even minimal-story games like Valheim or Elite: Dangerous have become too cumbersome because I have to spend a bunch of time figuring out what I did last, what I need to gather, and what I need to build to progress. I can either go mine/sail iron in Valheim, I can hope my pirate hunter ship and pirate activity are close to where I last docked… Or I can just play some basic game and take 5 minutes to get up to speed instead of spending the first 45 minutes recalibrating my memory. It makes a difference when you might only play 3 times a week and have less than 2 hours left. I’m hoping next year goes better, but for now, it’s battle Royale, team match, or racing games.
Obviously, there’s a massive competitive attractiveness for some people to games like PUBG and CS as well. But it’s not all trigger-finger addicts. Some of us are just trying to have an OK time, not the best time.
While I can see lots of things like drunk windows and droopy rooflines, this really doesn’t strike me as obviously AI. Have you ever been to a mountain town of former coal glory? PA/WV has many towns like that. 150-year old buildings fighting frost heaves, people tacking on decks just to bring a little joy, signs that look 50 year sout of place. Sucks that AI has so much overlap with a poor town of 200 people.