Why There's No Room for Suburbs in Open-World Games

I’m not making that assertion, I’m summarizing the article. I’ve lived in urban, suburban, rural, and BFE. My preference is suburban down with urban close enough to improve the overall cultural offerings for when I want it. That’s why I ended up in seattle, where even in the city it can have suburban densities and BFE is only 40 minutes away.

Well, the experiences you cited don't necessarily translate well to the medium of video games. Not to say that it can't be done, it just won't have mainstream appeal as it isn't action-focused.

With that said, GTA always made suburban areas interesting.

BBQ at your place?

So you're just saying you don't believe in boredom, and suburbs by consequence aren't boring; perhaps a simplistic answer to a simplistic characterization.

My opinion is that the suburbs are definitely boring, unless you're antisocial and just want your own little protected area. They're often devoid of any character, sometimes explicitly enforced by an HoA. They're typically but not always car oriented, and typically but not always packed with the most commodity representations of culture that could be dreamed up by big box capitalism and conservative suburban disposition. In my hometown, which would be enough of a prison if I needed to be relegated to one, nothing works except people's backyards (which sometimes don't work due to flooding). Coming over and spending time in the backyard a pretty isolated and lazy activity imo, despite burning stuff being fun sometimes.

Suburbanites—and I'm not talking streecar suburbs— are often just boring people, that have boring standards for food, activity, and socializing, and are often just pretty entitled annoying assholes.

Car-centric suburbia specifically ends up accounting for some of the creepiest places I've been. White picket fences, this deep feeling that you're not supposed to be there, often no place to make new genuine friends as an adult. If a car-centric suburb beats out a city at being a city, then something is really wrong.

Suburbs that aren't car-oriented are just denser easily accessible areas outside the downtown core, often with everything you need within walking distance, plenty of people, public space, ideally with car-slowing street designs or other mechanisms to keep people safe.

More specifically, I'm dreading the visit home this year. Infrastructure is failing all over because the city bet on these sprawling car-centric suburbs for 70 years and can't pay for it now, the closest coffee shop is a Starbucks 30 mins away on foot, the closest grocery store is 30 mins away on foot, there's sand from the winter roads everywhere and nobody around. I have to walk 10 mins to the bus stop which has signage from the 80s and is situated on this 8-lane stroad and which might not show up, and it's just so bleak and terrible. Every restaurant is either a franchise or something someone opened because their friend told them they're a great cook.