Best Of

I am not really someone that is good at talking on forums the way I used to, but that has more to do with memory and such. Having said that, I really, really don't think this place is dying. (I do wish that there had been less use of photobucket back in the day lol)

I should really share some of my work again, I actually have a job doing 3D now and not just drawing nsfw commissions or pixel art on the cheap.

Hell, I don't even hate this username anymore. I was a dumb kid but atleast there's something of interest in that.

Maybe you get the occasional post blatantly written by generative AI, something retarded like "looking for a Product & Growth Lead" (whatever the f*ck that is) while they probably don't even have a game to grow - and then, why looking for such position here... forgive my French, by the way.

I don't know, is my view tinted with nostalgia, or there really was a major shift on things? 
And can someone explain it to me?

I've hazarded a guess: 
maybe it's almost entirely Unreal Engine's fault.
Because think about it, why did people come together back then? For how I see it, it was because we where all so much "on our own", you had to find other individuals if you wanted to get anything done and see a glimpse of your game realized, *you had to*!

But nowadays? Beginners can download Unreal Engine, start the Third Person Blueprint project, and get satisfied with the result and move to some other hobby before they even have the chance to do their homework - to look for other people and learn some real and valuable skills together in the process, and maybe develop a passion that would have lead to the completion of a successful project.
Same for Metahuman, and other similar tools, they've made games creation so accessible that they've indirectly killed it.
But also beyond that, beginners can go and buy 20 Udemy's "dummies guide to make a game" courses, shot them straight into their veins and burn-out the same day, developing an intense disgust for making games, no team required!
Something that used to be a fun and relaxed passion & team-work learning and discovery act, transfigured into "do what I do step by step following along this contrived and uninspired trivial project you cannot possibly be passioned about and won't teach you anything of substance, and also will be gone from your brain the same instant this course is over, simply because that's not how people actually learn".
Because if you ask me, people truly learn out of necessity, because *they* have a problem *they need to see solved*, and not because they've systematically watched a video playlist.

It's just depressing, I want to participate to a hobby project like Gothic or Arx Fatalis (an RPG completely set underground), and some people tell you "do it alone, it's so easy with Unreal" ...simply depressing. And... I'm not sure it is worth returning to this anymore, for me at least. I cannot see it leading to anything (again, speaking for me only)

Quoted for agreement, AI companies like Tripo AI are scummy, stealing, grifters, their hostile advertisements (which you do here in this thread) and those with AI Usage regularly fail in those regards.
I have to say it: They all imo fail to understand the underlying issues they are trying to "fix".