I haven't been here for a long time. Mostly because of LIFE™, but also because I noticed that I, and many others, have begun isolating myself online. By that I mean that I stick to very few (one or two) communities at a time. Comfort zones and all that. But I started noticing that it seems pretty common. People talk a lot about echo chambers, and I am starting to fear that I have slipped into a culture of isolating myself where I feel ‘safe’, or just from habit.

How do people in here feel about that? Are we creative types programmed to slip into isolated safe space circles, socializing almost entirely with those who are more ‘like us’? I am trying to break out of it, but it feels… weird. I am even contemplating setting up a kind of crossroad for people from very different creative communities to meet and partake in challenges, but for now, I am just wondering if it's just me, or if others have a habit of isolating, as well?

May I ask how old are you ? there are lots of reason to isolate , I usually tend to do that quite a lot, mostly because I do not like stupid people , which , in my opinion are increasing in number, not that I consider myself a genius, far from that, but I do not tolerate small talk, also we need to isolate to recuperate energy. The one who hangs out a lot, sees a lot of friends, talks a lot about bs , parties a lot, after a while feel physically and mentally drained, those are low mental activities, but requires a lot of energy to give to others.

@Programmer71 In my 40s, may I ask why? And sure, there are plenty of perfectly good reasons to self-isolate, but I feel like people are more and more ignoring the good reasons to not self-isolate…

OK, we are nearly the same age ( late 40s ) , probably it is a sympton of aging.

Embassy of Time said:
I noticed that I, and many others, have begun isolating myself online. By that I mean that I stick to very few (one or two) communities at a time. … But I started noticing that it seems pretty common. … I am starting to fear that I have slipped into a culture of isolating myself where I feel ‘safe’, or just from habit. How do people in here feel about that? Are we creative types programmed to slip into isolated safe space circles, socializing almost entirely with those who are more ‘like us’?

A lot of questions and concerns there.

Yes, people do it. Yes, online cultures make it far easier to find a niche that matches our beliefs quite closely. It is more difficult to do in the physical world, especially when you're forced to socialize with external groups with few shared experiences as strangers brought together by happenstance of career or hobbies.

It is not a healthy dynamic. Confirmation bias, social polarization, closed-loop reinforcements, lack of critical thinking, all of them are more likely to be issues in groups like that. On the other side, being exposed to diverse ideas, controversial ideas, having ideas challenged and logically discussed, accepting differences in opinions, different boundaries, different life experiences, different belief systems, these help mental health, especially emotional resiliency.

And finally in your questions, I don't think that “we creative types” are programmed to slip into it, or that we fall into the traps of social isolation and echo chambers any more or less than any other groups. Some people will isolate themselves, many will not.

@Programmer71 I thought so, too (my friend that made me think of this is a few years older, so it fits), but far younger people too often agree with it, which is why I started thinking it might not just be me….

@frob Then I don't get why there are so few (visible) instances of cross-field community interaction. I honestly feel weird when I talk online about being a part of one community, while I am talking in another. Someone on the other boards likened it to football (American or soccer, not sure), where members of clubs are almost identified by NOT being members of other clubs. My brother and his wife are from opposing clubs, but it is so rare to see any events that span across clubs. Same with online communities, it seems like a lot of people go there to avoid other communities. Especially fir game developers, having strong ties to musician or 3D or traditional artist communities would seem logical, but it feels very much like they are all completely individual islands, in a very large and unforgiving sea…

Embassy of Time said:
I haven't been here for a long time. Mostly because of LIFE™, but also because I noticed that I, and many others, have begun isolating myself online. By that I mean that I stick to very few (one or two) communities at a time. Comfort zones and all that. But I started noticing that it seems pretty common. People talk a lot about echo chambers, and I am starting to fear that I have slipped into a culture of isolating myself where I feel ‘safe’, or just from habit.

I'm concerned about online society in general, but so far i can't see a general up or down of it yet.
Seemingly it changes society towards increasing confusion and distraction, distrust and sycophancy. That's surely a problem. And maybe the group of game devs, due to their interest in technology, is more affected than some others.
On the other hand it's now easier to find people sharing interests, which is no bad thing, and may help some people to break out of isolation to some degree. Even if those groups of shared interests don't meet in person, but just on virtual spaces.
So that's hard to judge.

frob said:
I don't think that “we creative types” are programmed to slip into it, or that we fall into the traps of social isolation and echo chambers any more or less than any other groups.

Agree if you say it like this. Personally, as a kid i felt like an outsider. A computer geek, surrounded by soccer players in the village. I had friends, but not many.
Then, as a teen in art school, the situation was suddenly very different: Class mates were no longer so different from me. There was more shared interest, and it felt i was part of a community with the others.

But the question may not be about creative types but computer geeks. Which gives us a very different list of associated prejudges than for creatives:
Geeks are not cool, so they are not invited to parties and they only want to sit alone in front of their computer anyway. There surely is a bit of truth to that.
And there also is another issue, which strangely is never discussed in public, unlike justice about genders or colors of skin: forms of Autism, Asperger Syndrome, etc.
Over the years i have learned that many people are affected, right here, and one of them said to me: We tend to focus on tech industry in general, and games specifically. Which makes sense. Caring about complicated details in computer programs, avoiding difficult social interactions, build a virtual world free of all those social issues which are so hard to deal with.

As an industry outsider idk what's done for integration of affected people, but to me it seems the topic would need more attention than the current debates about social justice, harassment or crunch.
I'd like to know what other think about this.

But coming back to the topic, there is indeed one specific related risk i see here: Tech industry as a whole, and the visions they have, try to sell and hype, are currently very influential. Music is basically dead, but games are still doing well and may have replaced the rock star idols for a younger generation. But what if this industry, driven mostly by nerds and geeks, is not skilled enough at social competence to guide people at all? Zuckerbergs legless Metaverse is my favorite example. No fun, no function. But it's ‘the future’. Well, i guess not. But if so, echo chambers and virtual societies may indeed become a bigger problem. I would not wonder.
In this regard, personally i would not want to work on a technology which is meant to suck people into a virtual fake reality for serious amounts of wasted time, e.g. some MMO or it's future Metaverse descendants. That's not better than a rock star in the 70's, showing kids how cool he is by taking drugs, smashing guitars and TV sets.

Currently i'm more isolated than ever. And yes, it's because of games. An accident at work caused me permanent Tinnitus, so i did quit the job to prevent happening this again. And i could not find a new job here in my cow village. So i decided to fund myself from savings, and working on games technology which i hopefully can sell to industry once done. I work at home for many years now, and when Covid came up, i did not even really notice the amount of ‘extra isolation’ it did add on top : )
A site like this indeed helps to feel less isolated, seeing other people working on similar dreams about silly games as well. I have family, but i do not care about other friendships currently - all my time goes into never ending work.
But i'm fine with that. It was my decision to go this way.

Joej , I know that this is off topic, but I'd like to know something about your game tech you have been working for so many years, if you mind share it of course.