this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2025
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What the hell is friendslop? We're pathologizing playing games with friends now?
Friendslop generally refers to the $10-$20 flavor of the month stuff that gets a lot of hype by streamers and then everyone forgets it existed after a few weeks.
I can't speak to the streamer bit since I don't concern myself with streamers, but this is close to how I see friendslop. It's a flavor of the month game that's made harder to ignore because IRL friends keep bugging me to play it with them because "it's only like $10 broooooo", even though I've seen them regularly play games like that for a month or two only to ditch them, not talk about them again, and move onto the next friendslop. Often, they even look like really good games, but all the badgering from people I know wanting to play makes me view the game with contempt for reasons that don't have much to do with the games themselves or the people who made them.
I'm unsure how much of this is just me being an antisocial curmudgeon, but it's a lot easier to ignore things I don't care for -- even if other people are talking about how much they like them a lot -- when I'm not being pestered to participate.
I see it like buying a movie ticket. For $10 I get a few hours, maybe a dozen, of fun with my friends for the next month or so. Not every game lasts forever or has to
It's more the peer pressure aspect of people trying to get me to play the game than the game itself. However, on reflection I think this is just me being closed minded about new experiences and unhealthily isolating myself.
The more I think about video games, the more I think the only games that have a right to exist are ones that someone could be one and done with in 2-4 hours. Like a fun friendcore game you play with friends a few times a year when you're not able to meet physically, or a singleplayer game that explores a concept with gameplay but can be finished in one fairly short sitting. Medium to long games, be they AAA action-adventure slop, CRPGs, simulations, or online multiplayer games, are basically a bunch of hedonic treadmills that provide the illusion of getting better at something meaningful to pacify one's unmet need to play or achieve something in a physical, real, and socially mediated way. I say this as someone who jumps from long single player game to long single player game.
Video games are the modern day opiate of the masses, even when they succeed at being art. Ironically, it was the recently released longform single player game Clair Obscur that really nailed this thought into my mind.
In my mind, I compare it to the local cost of a beer. If I spend $10 for one beer with friends that lasts around 20 minutes, I shouldn't really feel guilty about spending $10 for a small game that I play with friends for several hours. It's just part of the "socialising costs", like going to the theater or paying for go-karting.
It's referring to the sudden deluge of multiplayer games, especially horror/survival games, that have come out in the past few years. The term come from this meme:
what is friendfarming
its like chattel slavery but nicer
Streamers using each other for content by playing a game together and getting exposed to each other's audiences.
Hanging out with the fellas
god I wish that were me
They are little fun flavor of the month games that you play with your discord friends until the game you actually want to play either gets a mod that supports more than 4 people (which is an arbitrary limit from ye olde days of split screen) or gets an overhaul that justifies the group putting another 100 hours into it.
I like lethal company
Edit: with mods mostly
Jesus Christ
The flavor of the week games that seem to pop out exclusively for streamers to play together.
Peak is the most recent one. Lethal Company and Chained Together are other examples.
Hey, some of us have friends and these games are great for us.
I’d rather play a games with my friends that are worth playing by myself though, instead of games that seem just like something to do together.
Have you actually played any of these games? You can play them by yourself, they are, in some cases, easier because you aren't goofing around as much. They are good alone or with friends, but I find they are most enjoyable with friends because I mostly like playing games with my friends.
This isn't, like, VR chat. They are real ass indie games that are abit jank sometimes, but overall just have a a couple of good mechanics and then execute them well.
Some of us don't like FPS, sorry to break it to you.
The games I’ve seen don’t look very interesting from a narrative mechanical or visual sense so no, I haven’t played them. I play a lot of things other than fps and didn’t mention it once so I don’t know where you’re getting that from.
That's like the other most common game style that you play with friends. It's definitely the most common style to play by yourself and with your friends in my experience. Aside from like Grand Strategy Paradox games, Divinity 2, Baldur's Gate 2 and 3 or the multiplayer Pathfinder style games (Warhammer 40k:Rogue Trader)
My bad for assuming though.
You have any multiplayer games that you think are interesting in a mechanical, narrative or visual sense? Ideally like 6 players. Genuinely asking we are always looking for better shit to play while we wait for the Barotrauma overhaul to finish.
Most of the multiplayer stuff I play caps out at 2 to 4 players other than like smash ultimate, but that’s kinda crappy online and I’m sure you’re aware of it.
Cult of the lamb has 2 player which is pretty fun, and a bug expansion coming out soon.
Monster hunter has 4 player, though you can have a bunch of people in the lobby-type area between missions. The performance for wilds has improved a ton vs launch as well so it’s now merely demanding instead of barely playable.
The ascent was a pretty cool cyberpunk top down shooter that support 3 player coop.
No man’s sky is great if you like the open world survival crafting genre and keeps getting updates.
Brotato is supposed to be good if you like survivorslikes.
I’ve also played a ton of warframe, outriders, and remnant 2 but I’m guessing you’re trying to avoid third person shooters as well.
Are there particular genres you’re looking for?
Yeah, the problem is the lack of a more than four player thing. Friendslop is good because it usually has great early mod support that can bump that up to 6 or 7. Then no one is left out. It's the reason that they are popular.
I've been pitching the ascent to my smaller subgroup of two other people, so good to know. I might be able to convince them when we finish our Rogue Trader playthrough.
Unfortunately we don't really like open world stuff that much and we really like the All v. CPU game play style, but we also been tossing around Warframe. Honestly though, we would probably just go back to Helldivers 2 for third person shmups.
I will look into Brotato and Outsiders, though. Never heard of them.