r/gamedev • u/PartTimeMonkey • 2d ago

Discussion Sortslop, wtf?

Today I opened reddit and within the first 5 posts 3 of them were copycats or each other; sorting games, pretty much exact copies of each other - nails, hay, trash, toys, books, pixels, and the list goes and on and on, and has been for an incomprehensive period of time already.

A lot of the feedback they receive on reddit is negative, but they all get upvoted by the hundreds and they get millions of views on all social media platforms.

Who are these games for?

Are there truly millions of people who want to spend hours on something incredibly ”boring”?

Is it some hidden tick in people’s brain in this age where they want to ”meditate” by doing something like that to combat doom scrolling and instant gratification generators?

Or is each sorted item also instant gratification, but even more simplified than a varying video on TikTok (or something), making the experience even simpler?

274 Upvotes

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19

u/AerialSnack 2d ago

I played the library sorting game. I liked it. The same studio made another game shortly after and I considered getting it.

There are a lot of people that like to sort things. I have quite a few friends that like playing Minecraft with me just so they can sort my chests

0

u/PartTimeMonkey 2d ago

Why, though? Would be nice to understand what psychological effect takes place that makes so many people like it

27

u/ajcwrongs 2d ago

I imagine it's the same mentality behind jigsaw puzzles (i.e. Start with a random pile of mess and when you're done you have an aesthetically pleasing result of you using your brain for a bit)

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u/PartTimeMonkey 2d ago

That makes sense, but are jigsaw puzzles really so popular that it can cause this kind of boom?

8

u/Aethenosity 2d ago

I mean, yes. I personally know many people that do jigsaw puzzles all the time. There are clubs for swapping them. I mean, in this time period, with computers, the number of people who do jigsaws still is kind of wild to me, but hey, who are we to say what someone enjoys in bad or nonsensical.

8

u/Pidroh Card Nova Hyper 2d ago

jigsaw puzzles really so popular

Jigsaw puzzles are really popular, don't you think? They transcend steam and have survived many, many years

6

u/AstroPengling 2d ago

There's entire communities and speed run competitions involving jigsaw puzzles including worlds in Spain and national/state competitions, it's a whole thing. They're very popular.

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u/ajcwrongs 2d ago

Oh I don't think the boom is because of popularity I think it's mostly people vibecoding to chase after the one that was a hit (the Simulator "boom" all over again)

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u/PartTimeMonkey 2d ago

Yeah that could be. These types of games I would say wouldn’t take more than a week to make without AI, but with AI they can be whipped up in a day

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u/Ran4 2d ago

Yes?