There's a game on the front page currently: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36138304" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36138304</a>
This isn't exactly true, it's relatively common to see HN-user created games on the front-page. I think you're engaging in typical-mind; while this community is a space for nerds, not everyone here is interested in video games. The shared interest here is for "hacking", computer science, and computer software. I wouldn't even say the forum is necessarily business oriented, despite the association with Y-Combinator. It's simply that, because of the incentives, there is a lot of interesting software and research that comes from the private sector.
> but I guess we are also nerds<p>I think this old correlation is no longer valid. Computer nerds and gamers used to be almost interchangeable a long time ago, but I feel like there is tons of seperation now... Heck, I see game devs that aren't really gamers, and don't even know what GPU their computer has. On the flip side, tons of harcore gamers are basically computer illiterate.<p>Game dev seems to be outside of HN's palette too. I have no explanation for that.<p>Another possible factor: HN users are playing (and developing?) indie/AA games that are not front page worthy. This is the case with me. With some <i>very</i> rare exceptions (like CP2077, now that it is fixed up and modded), I have skipped most AAA games.
Not entirely true, but sadly very close.<p><i>Way too many</i> posts of getting Doom running on toasters and pregnancy tests make the front page, but not much else.<p>For example, there's a game called System Shock (a remake of a seminal game) that came out yesterday after being 7 years in development, where you play as a hacker against an out of control AI.<p>I'm a fan, so obviously I'm biased, but I find it quite intriguing there is not one single mention of this anywhere on a site that calls itself Hacker News and is obsessed with AI (particularly the GPT kind).<p>Well, I'm slightly disappointed, but I guess I should just "expect the unexpected".
Games sometimes <i>do</i> come to the front page of HN, especially if they do something new or deeply-nerdy. Wordle and 2048 come to mind as past front-pagers. Why those? They're superficially simple, but it's quite challenging (i.e. fun) to analyze them and figure out "optimal" strategies.<p>I wouldn't say HN is primarily a <i>business</i>-oriented community; its interests are eclectic.
Factorio: 5,067 results (and many with hundreds of votes)<p>Minecraft: 2,189 results<p>Doom: 33,401 results (not all are the game)<p>Dwarf Fortress: 192 results<p>You just need to know the right kind of games. ;)