I’m curious to hear the the consensus from the community. With how cynical so many are on this site, I feel this poll may have a predictable outcome. But it’ll make for good discussion, I feel.

IMO I’d say that, while the barrier to entry is high (from an economic perspective), now is objectively the best time to be gaming. More games being pumped out than ever, in addition to all games that came from the past which can be played in a much nicer state than when they initially released, e.g. you can play Mario Galaxy 1+2 at 4K 60FPS from the palm of your hand. Emulation is easier than ever and preservationist efforts are stronger than ever, many franchises are hitting new highs (Smash Ultimate, Zelda TotK, Elden Ring, KirbyATFL, etc.), and so on.

Unless "now" is a new slang word for the 1990's... no lol. That was THE time to be a gamer. The 80's were exciting too, because we were basically experiencing the birth of an industry, but man... the 90's were something else. If you have a hard time imagining what it was like, think about it like this: if 1990 was the first time you gamed, you went from NES to PS2 in just ten years... which is about the same time between Switch 1 and Switch 2. NES, SNES/Genesis, PS1/N64, Dreamcast/PS2... ten... freakin'... YEARS. Basically SMB 3 to GTA 3. lol

Nothing compares.

In terms of accessibility and convenience? Absolutely. There are tens of thousands of games at our fingertips today. Everything is ludicrously easy to find and quick to load.

In terms of video game art and design? I’d say 1991-2005 was the golden age.

In terms of the sheer breadth of content we have access to and convenience? Yes.

Overall though I'm gonna say no due to a lot of the corporate shittiness going on in recent years as well as Western AAA in general being something of a dumpster fire atm.

Snes till ps2..maybe ps3 was the golden age,went down the drain after it.

Mixed.

I have access to all the games of my youth and modern classics. Currently, I am on a fighting game jag that would not have been possible 20 years ago, thanks to online play (fighting games are simply much more fun with other people than solo).

On the other hand, with soaring prices of entry, corporate fuckery, and murderous dictators trying to dig their fingers deep into gaming for purposes of sportswashing, that all kind of sucks.

Nha, Gen 6&7 where the golden age of gaming. This gen has been the worst of all time by a mile. Combine that with almost thousand dollar systems and the worst first output from the 3 in well over a decade. If anything I’d say now is the worst time to game.