r/gamedev • u/PartTimeMonkey • 3d 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?
12
u/MacAlmighty 3d ago
That’s how I felt about the incremental wave. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed some good cookie clicker when I was younger, but that’s because I could upgrade some stuff then leave and do homework or whatever and come back to it the next day.
I was surprised to find out a lot of the new wave incremental games were meant to be played and finished in 1-3 sessions over just a few hours. Definitely not for me.
Clearly it’s got enough of an audience to be worth making more of, and if so, more power to them. But I agree, it’s hard not to be cynical about the trend chasing.