All I want to do is listen to podcasts while I game.

My new desire for games with no audio

Over my life, my tastes in gaming have changed.

From being twenty-two and wanting to play every new release, to becoming a busy adult who found more enjoyment in $20 indie titles I could complete quickly, as opposed to a hundred hour $110 AAA.

My new era of gaming over the last year or so has been games where I don’t need to pay attention to any writing on screen, or audio.

Gaming seems to only fit into my life, when I can pair it with something else.

Whether I’m playing my steam deck on the couch watching a show or a movie, or catching up on podcasts whilst I play a game with the audio off. It’s become my new way to play games.

In the past year I’ve sunk thousands of hours into games like Vampire Survivors, No Mans Sky, Stardew, and Destiny.

All because I can play these games whilst listening to something else.

It’s why the appeal of a mindless live-action-game like Destiny still fits into my life. Grinding for gear doesn’t require all of my attention.

No Mans Sky is just Minecraft in space, hell, i’m not even sure the game has any audio.

I’ve found that when I do try something new, like Star Wars Outlaws, I loose interest quickly. I’m not being entertained by two sources of content, and the content in front of me isn’t engaging enough. Not to mention I’m learning something new which is its own tax. Granted I’ve also tried to replay Cyberpunk, Starfield, and Witcher in the last year so its not just Outlaws.

Now this is nothing new, nor is it slander against the calibre of AAA games out there.

But I feel we categorize and criticize cozy games or live service games purely on their mechanical vibe, and not how they fit into peoples lives.

We have a lot of negative things to say about Live-service, with a lot of them being legitimate criticisms, but fundamentally they are games that feel familiar and require less brain power to invest in, thus being more relaxing. Even ‘pro’ level COD or League players are sitting in a cushion of familiarity.

They don’t have to learn something new, they aren’t trying to keep track of a new story, or grapple with a familiar mechanic twisted a different way. Their muscle memory can take over, and parts of the brain can rest. This makes it easier to fit into someone’s busy life.

You may pick up a Baldurs Gate but with only 45 mins to spare your unsure what value you’ll gleam in that 45 minutes. Will it be all combat or mostly story? With a known quantity like a live service game, or chill perpetual indie you know what you’ll get in that time.

Because the games are perpetual in nature, you can choose the engage with the grind on your own terms. You might want to use that time grinding for a specific weapon whilst you also catch up on podcasts. Leaving you feeling like you’ve accomplished multiple things at the end of the short session.

Not enough is said about this phenomenon in gaming, and it’s not exactly something you see advertised.

“Get the new exotic hand cannon whilst you wait for Uber Eats to arrive.”

“Finish adding a new wing to your moon base while you wait for your sheets to dry”

“Romance the aloof beach-dwelling resident while you wait for your friend to pick you up.”

Self-directed game play is important to a lot of players and whilst it’s mainly used to explain that a game is more on the ‘open’ side with far less emphasis on story, it also accounts for how players want to fit games into their lives.

For months on end, i’d play a round or two of Vampire Survivors before bed, each time picking one of the 200+ achievements to try and tackle. Then I was off to sleep.

Not exactly what games marketing had in mind, but not necessarily an out of the park idea either.

When developers put in things like collectibles, base building, and challenges, the core audience of those things is someone willing to pour free time into those relatively mind numbing tasks.

Those aren’t moments of exhilarating fun, or on the edge of your couch story moments, but chill, at-your-own pace experiences.

These are experiences millions of gamers around the world are having every day. Not every cozy game is a chill self-directed experience. Some demand a lot of input, brain power, and dictate the time in which you can achieve something.

Not every live-service game is a rebel rousing, fifteen bros on a voice chat SWAT team.

Some games are boring, or have boring elements, and people, lots of people, like that.

People like me crave that. Hook me in with a premise, and tell me I can gain progress while I catch up on the latest season of Reacher, whilst the foods in the oven, my sheets are in the dryer and I’ve got 35 minutes until my partner comes home and I’m in.

I get why, on the coal face, why we aren’t advertising the ‘boring’ aspects of a game, but it is a core demographic.

Idle / clicker games on mobile and other platforms are big because of this fact. Hell, we have a farming idle game going viral right now because it can sit at the bottom of your desktop screen whilst you do something else.

It’s a market segment, an avenue to advertise your game. I think you would do a better job at finding your audience with a game if you had this in your advertising.

Calling it cozy doesn’t cut it any more, conversely telling me it’s a live service game makes me think it’s a life commitment. Focus on the chill, focus on how it fits into peoples lives.

Because I would buy it, when I might not have before.

Because all i’m currently interested in, is a game I can chill out to whilst I listen to my podcasts.