Family sedan

I have done this a handful of times. I remember doing it once when I was caught by a teacher. It's trying to hide the device underneath the desk, while ensuring the tutor doesn't notice you. 

I was playing on my phone lot of times back when the class didn't seem to be interesting at all, luckily i didn't get caught as i was choosing a strategical spot to sit in :p

Telemetry, my dear Watson.
Sorry, couldn't resist. I think actual user data can be significantly more useful than feedback forums for bettering games. Seeing kill stats, achievements, and other milestones can provide much more to developers than subjective experience relayed during a heated forum discussion. However, data isn't entirely reliable as achievements can be doctored by cheat engines and exploits, and anti-cheat can be bypassed or outright destroyed.
I concur. One such example is with Mr. John Ebenger, formerly of Mass Effect, said that only ~8% of users went into the Renegade content which they "put a lot of work into the [...] content too :(". If the intent was to shame it backfired, because statistically most people don't like being nasty even in video games and this isn't going to help. However I still found the statistic interesting all the same, and wouldn't have known that if not for them stating such on Twitter. But then don't try to guilt trip people into using the Renegade system; instead make a better system.
One thing I enjoy is in episodic games you're often shown the choices players made, which sort of gives away that most choices don't matter. In Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishment you can see the player stats at the end of each chapter, and they're suspiciously skewed to look exactly like my results which came from a guide for easy achievements. Hmm....
Developers and publishers must be prepared to accept that they can't know how good their game is until they release it into the wild. That goes for Atlus flagging Persona streams and Let's Plays incorrectly for copyright claims due to spoilers. That goes for Ubisoft having review scores updated after microtransactions are added. And that goes for BioWare for not seperating morality from social attitude in Mass Effect. By all means they can collect data, but they can't complain when the data goes against their expectations. Ours is a fickle demographic, and is all the better for it.
I don't think we can escape data collection without turning off our internet, changing our phone numbers and directly addressing our mailing lists, but we can do more to be wary of it, and I believe there can be fights for legislation over what data is harvested, how and with what consent from customers. ^^

These days every major game has some sort of data collection built into them that analyses and sends information on your playing habits and in game choices back to the developer.
How do you feel about this?
I have to say I don't mind it if it is used to bettering games. I look at it as if a poll or questionnaire that you constantly fill.
But there are also very bad examples. Like recently when a developer used this data to publicly shame gamers for their in-game choices. This is unacceptable.  This is like the chef coming out of the kitchen in a restaurant and slapping the client in the face for ordering two courses that don't match in the opinion of the chef.

For me, it was probably gaming in the late 90s. That's when I started to take gaming really seriously. I had my NES and Genesis in the 90s, but once I got my hand on the PS1, is when I started to game a lot more. I think the 90s overall had the best time in gaming. But the PS2/Xbox era is also up there. I would say NES, but I started playing it later in its life cycle. But I still have fond memories there too. But I'd include it all in the 90s for me. 

I never played Placer Racer 😞 Shocking right, well it's true I never had a copy or played the game. Getting to level 41 is a achievement 🙂 @Family sedan in fact what's the highest level that people can get? over 100 or more, I do not know! 

I never knew the name of this genre, which is a shame because I do so enjoy it. Thanks for reminding me what it was, I hope to achieve the same score as yourself!

The best era was back when companies weren't greedy and trying to milk every possible cent out of the players, that's why we had more enjoyable games than we currently do :(

I tend to agree with this, but I'm pretty biased as this was when I grew up. I had a PS1 as a kid and loved games like Crash Bandicoot and Spyro, but I also finally got an N64 earlier this year and was very positively surprised by how well these games have held up. Games like Banjo Kazooie, Diddy Kong Racing, GoldenEye, Gauntlet Legends, Starfox and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron are still so much fun to play.

I don't know if it's the best era as that's, of course, subjective but it's definitely not as bad as many want us to believe and let's not forget that gaming is no different than movies in a way that if what is available today is not your cup of tea you can easily check titles from a few years back which is ironically enough what I did this year.

For me it is certainly the years around the turn of the century. So from 1998 to about 2003.  A great deal of my all time favorite most memorable games were released around that time. Incidently these also happen to be my high school years, that were a miserable time for me, I so hated high school it's incomprehensible.
Half-Life - 1998 Unreal - 1998 Carmageddon 2 - 1998 Gran Turismo - 1998 System Shock II  - 1999 X-Wing Alliance - 1999 Gran Turismo 2 - 1999 Driver - 1999 Need for Speed Porsche Unleashed - 2000 DeusEx - 2000 Star Trek Voyager Elite Force - 2000 Max Payne - 2001 Microsoft Train Simulator - 2001 Vice City - 2002 Mafia - 2002 Command & Conquer Generals - 2003 Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell - 2003 Max Payne 2 - 2003 DeusEx Invisible War 2003 And this is probably not a comprehensive list just the ones I could think of right off the bat.

I think that most of the things you listed basically answers your question but what I would add is them actually putting some effort into their games. Not the same old re-skin every year and call it a new game.

I particularly like the idea of treating the frustration and anger as a work colleague, allowing it to play out but taking it with a pinch of salt. As i will get to the isolating phase and then not know what yo do with this ball of emotion. In gaming, just think to yourself that it's not worth the energy and end of the day it's just a game and just chill out and do something else. Yet after so and so break you get back to it and you get to pass and complete and be happy, taken that break away helps.

I go in with absolutely no expectations because if I get too hyped and the game disappoints right off the bat, I may just stop playing it all together. The low expectation allows me to take everything in stride.

I wouldn't say that's an unpopular opinion at all. I think for the most part, games do express ideas and emotions, and also can be political and have a message. I think people only have a problem, is when they start to force a message on someone, or an idea. 
As well, I think gamers know what to expect from the games they get.

I wholeheartedly agree with you, Stacey.  I have no idea why that should be an unpopular opinion, but in some circles, it is. 
As you mentioned, "video game" simply describes the creative medium, much like "book" or "music."  It implies nothing about the content, quality or ambitions of that creative work.
If I tell you that I read a book, it means nothing.  It could be a work of great artistry.  Or a "nonfiction" work full of misinformation.  Or a dry, witty satire, a collection of crossword puzzles, a trashy romance, a silly irreverent comedy, an academic text, etc...
Video games are no different, especially nowadays.  In their present form of maturation, they've proven a legitimate art form capable of producing art as great as the finest paintings, operas, novels, etc...

I think games should be authentic period. If you aim to do a game set in a fictional future, don't drag commentary on current real world events into it.
Sure games can be educational, and should be. They can build skills etc. But hiding propaganda in them is a disservice, and outright malicious. Especially in games aimed at children. 
The developers should always be very clear and transparent about their intentions. Never use games as a platform for piggybacking controversial messages.

I don't think it should be an unpopular opinion, I am a coach and I always tell the parents it is not bad in moderation and to make sure they play games that will help them 😄
But I hate whne people say ugh its so damaging, well bruh everything is. Me playing pro basketball hurt my leg for the rest of my life. Doing things has risks, everything has risks god...you can't just pick something is good and something is bad all the time. There are so many millioners because of games XD

So are you saying I should give up my NES, SNES, and N64 and go straight to a PS5 because the past should stay in the past? I see then that you have already gotten rid of your Xbox One and PS4.

Is the song from Dehumanizer?

I don't have any gaming merch any more, as I find it tacky unless the entire room makes it work. Mine doesn't. Instead, my gaming space is set up as an altar of sorts; skulls (and skull accessories), incense and no small amount of wires sprawled across the place give it an air of a particular Black Sabbath song. I call my gaming space "Computershrine", which I like to draw upon while writing works for my fictional setting of Techropolis.

Who in the hell play games at arcade in this day to day life? That's the passed and gone, nowadays gaming from home on our own platforms is the way of life and it's been like it for 10 or 20 years now. 80s and 90s were the days but not anymore. 
Yes may be lucky to see them at your local seaside township but nowadays it's mostly fun and get a toy or money and not many racing to shooting arcade games. I do see them around still but never seen anyone on them playing. 

I don't think they will be forgotten for many reasons, one of these reasons is that they are still receiving speedruns from lot of people around the world, another reason, is that they belong to the first days of gaming, so they will be always a thing to exist

I don't think they'll be forgotten: There's enough folk that love the retro game industry which will keep them going! 
I will load up my old DS (that's about as retro as I go!) from time to time to show my younger brother the sort of games I use to play - for as long as people keep doing that I don't see retro games going anywhere! 

Being a classic gamer, I can guarantee that as long as I can play, the old stuff will never be forgotten. I got my PhD in Console Emergency Surgery when I was 5. I know how to administer CPR to a Nintendo better than anyone. So I’m going to keep them all alive.