[somenameforme]

I think the world you're describing (and GP as well) is largely relegated to consoles. PC gaming has never been more moddable on average. In many cases, this even includes the exact same titles! For instance Bethesda titles on console range from zero to minimal modding, while on PC those exact same games allow complete and unlimited modding, alongside first party tooling support, to the point that you have entire overhauls of the game that scarcely resemble the original available, for free. Some, like Enderal, even get their own big releases. [1]

Basically gaming splintered, hard. So you end up with people, both living and playing games during the exact same time period, having radically different perspectives on the state of gaming. It's really interesting if you draw parallels between this and the state of bubbles within society in general.

[1] - https://store.steampowered.com/app/933480/Enderal_Forgotten_...

[hobs]

It's true that gaming is split, but its not something that happened recently.

Mapping and modding was never generally available to console gamers, and they've traditionally made up the vast majority of game consumers because high end PCs were much more expensive since PC gaming was a thing.

The only stuff you could genuinely expect a home gamer to do is something like cracking your system protection in the ps2+ era or going ham on the GAMESHARK.

[usrusr]

Has it ever been "un-splintered" though? PC and consoles have always been wildly different. The difference is that these days more IP is launched at both markets.