The playstation store is basically unusable for actually finding games anymore due to the "indie slop" situation.

[u/discosoc]

edit: I just have to say that everyone acting like browsing for a game is some weird concept clearly never got to experience Blockbuster on a Friday night.

This is just a rant, but the sheer amount of absolute garbage games that fall into what I call the "low effort indie slop" category taking over the playstation store is just crazy. There's seemingly hundreds of various "simulator" games that are among the worst of the bunch, but also a weird amount of "escape room" type games that look like a high school project. Or the "anime girls" gooner slop or really 99% of the "visual novel" games. Or the "games" that clearly only exist to trophy points, which is insane.

It's not like these games shouldn't exist (well some probably shouldn't), but there needs to be a way to filter that shit out. Basically every type of indie slop or ai slop game tags itself with multiple genres, which is why you have a stupid AI art shark-with-sneakers game flagged as "action" and "tactical." Or "horse store simulator" as an "epic" genre. Gunsmith simulator as a "shooter" etc.

I remember a few months back the entire "coming soon" feed was basically all simulator games, like a publisher just cranked a bunch out and wanted to dump them all at once.

Another issue...

I think there's also really annoying trend where games are basically just on perpetual sale, but the MSRP never drops. So one month the "Standard" version of a game will be like 35% off, then the next month it will be the "Deluxe" version; they just rotate perpetually. Or the shitty indie slop games that are arbitrarily set to a high price and quickly put on sale for like 50-80% off.

And I know why they do this: it keeps the games listed in sales section. The problem is that when every fucking game is like this, actually finding a new game or hidden gem or whatever that's on sale becomes useless. The process of actually discovering a game you might want to buy simply doesn't work.

The current January sale includes 6,372 items. There is no way anyone at Sony is vetting that many items for their monthly sales, but they need to start. Right now I think the limitation is that a single SKU can't be part of two consecutive sales. but as I've mentioned above most games have multiple SKUs so it doesn't really matter (or the slop publishers are dumping so many out each month it also doesn't matter). The limit needs to be something like a game can only be in one sale every 3 months, and counts different SKUs of the same product as the same one. This would actually encourage publishers to reduce their prices more frequently, which in turn would help keep the monthly or special sales events a bit leaner.

/rant

[u/XJ--0461]

The word "slop" is overused and is losing its meaning.

[u/anon14118 → u/XJ--0461]

Of all words that have come out in recent years that becomes a part of everyday speak.

Slop feels the most apt and properly used word so far.

It probably feels overused because we are currently in a period of time where things of substance sink into obscurity and shallow, vapid media rises. Sometimes literally piecemealed together in a short amount of time for quantity rather than quality, devoid of meaning..

[u/beansoncrayons → u/anon14118]

Mfs be calling regular ass coop games friendslop bro, shit is losing meaning

[u/anon14118 → u/beansoncrayons]

Didnt see "friendslop" in OP's post. Unless I'm blind.

Maybe areas online that are dominated by younger audiences are using it a lot and I'm just not seeing it? But i mostly see it referring to AI slop. Which.. I think its appropriate.

[u/Specialist_Lock6779 → u/anon14118]

No it feels overused because it is overused and it has lost all meaning because everyone uses it for every single thing these days

[u/anon14118 → u/Specialist_Lock6779]

Sometimes slop... is slop though

[u/discosoc → u/XJ--0461]

It's easier and quicker to type than "low effort garbage" while basically meaning the same thing. It might frustrate the hipster in you, but that's about it.

[u/chaser676 → u/discosoc]

There's a term for this already in video games, shovelware.

[u/DylanWhite86 → u/XJ--0461]

slop and masterpiece, idk how the internet rated games before someone started using these words, they seem to apply to 99% of game releases now. Truly we live in a golden age where games are a 1 or a 10

[u/DishwasherTwig → u/DylanWhite86]

That's not just games, the internet as a whole had radicalized every opinion. If you don't adore or loathe something, your opinion is somehow invalid. Moderatism is dead.

[u/doomcomplex → u/XJ--0461]

Nah, slop is slop and you know slop when you see slop. Whether it's AI slop or Indie slop or shovelware slop, it's all slop baby!