Yes but again, I don't think you could classify same as "hobby". Yes computers were becoming mainstream but for what purpose? Certainly more so for work/business than entertainment. Well there you go. I can play the "jerk" too. So is this enough "jerk" for you? Or should we keep dragging the OP further off-topic? Keep trying if you want; you have not proven anything as yet! Except maybe that you are in fact a very capable class-A "jerk".

I would beg to differ. I doubt very much that most if even [some] game programmers start it these days as a 'hobby'. That is part of the difference I was attempting to show. ....and here is again the other difference. Video gaming back then was a form of hobby-entertainment. These days it is big business thanks to its becoming mainstream entertainment. Seems like we're splitting hairs at this point so I guess "well enough" should be left alone.....

I don't remember saying 'hobbyists' did it for FREE! It was a 'sale' of the fruits of a hobby back in 1983. The point being that today if you can't turn your game into a 'business' as stated in my initial reply you don't have much. EDIT: I suppose in an effort to not make you spout off "utter nonsense" I could have suggested that most game coders back then did it (or started doing it) as a hobby. Just as 'video gaming' many years ago was a 'hobby' and not considered mainstream entertainment. I personally knew a few programmers (who coded for business) who in their free time made a hobby of coding simple 'games' (none of which were ever sold). Of course those who sold the fruits of their 'hobby' were looking to make money. It's just that 'video gaming' wasn't the 'big business' it is today.

Welcome to the fact that games are 'business' now. Back when I first became a 'gamer' (with games such as Loderunner, Joust and Rescue Raiders) games were made by hobbyists for hobbyists. That is no longer the case; games are now big business and as such must be treated like any other 'marketable' and 'consumable' product on this planet.

There. Fixed that for ya! Now as to why not? Well maybe the devs don't think it's important to just now start spread-sheeting every log in order to configure/macro everything. Maybe they want to keep the harassment potential of newer players to a minimum. Maybe they want the game and game balance to flesh itself out some more before the min-maxing crowd takes over. In any case those are my rhetorical answers to your rhetorical question.

I'm not advocating anything. I'm stating that that is how everyday life already is. Check back in with reality sometime. Maybe you'll learn something.... We humans 'feel' things (including the feeling of accomplishment) because we compare. We constantly compare people, situations, emotions etc. Those comparisons allow us to feel. Afterall it is referred to as a 'feeling of accomplishment'. Of course in order to 'feel' said feeling we first need to be able to compare something again. That would be trivial/mundane to the siginificant. If we were to remove all trivial/mundane from our lives we would thereby also be removing the potential to 'feel accomplishment'.

Please don't put words into my mouth. My post states that I believe it is in fact the existence of the trivial and mundane (in life and in entertainment) which allows for the feeling of accomplishment when something (by comparing it to the trivial) is significant. I did not say that the trivial/mundane add to accomplishment or are in any way fulfilling. The trivial and mundane allow for the existence of accomplishment. How would one rate something as significant (life or entertainment) if there wasn't the trivial with which to compare it first? Reading comprehension is necessary at times......

I've said it before in this thread but the constant yammering by the same few necessitates some repetition on my part! Significant actions (those actions which allow us to feel 'accomplishment' etc.) cannot exist without first [also] there existing the trivial and mundane. Are you who are for this change really willing to make the entire game less of an accomplishment in order to spare a few seconds here and there? oh and loading screens? what loading screens........buy an SSD!

Easy. Stay neutral. There is no dark or light......there is only the force!

I am. Not that that means I can't also be pointing out that wanting to remove everything deemed trivial from the game will also serve to devalue the significant. Can't have something significant (or evoke a real sense of acomplishment) unless there already [also] exists the trivial. Funny thing that....

Exactly what I said........but doing so does contribute to a greater sense of achievement when completing tasks that do actually matter.

Maybe people shouldn't be making comparisons to "how things actually work", but.... ...and I see this as a pivotal 'but'..... if you really think about it; it actually is the contrast created in our lives between the various trivial and extraneous tasks and the actually significant achievements that creates the sense of acomplishment we all look for. So.......isn't then our desire to streamline/remove "trivial" tasks the very thing which will serve to lower our sense of achievement and enjoyment of the greater product?

Succinct and to the point. Not every game must be everything to everyone. We have enough attempts of that already. Let this game stand on its own two feet.

I would have have thought it obvious but "the majority" have been known to be wrong before.