By that logic, most of the general population has ADHD because RPG games are a global niche and only began to get widespread appeal once voice acting helped disseminate it. Early MMORPG and RPG mechanics were not good game design and did not respect player's time because they were aimed at children instead of working adults. This is why all those mechanics did not persist in the market. This is why everquest classic and runescape survives today because of a small group of (ironically) Autistic-ADHD havers.
Given that ADHD isn't something that the majority has, your assertion that ADHD is to blame is just fucking dumb. Reread the above if you need to understand the logic leading to that conclusion.
Also, linear is the name of the game with classic RPGs. You didn't have branching stories, exploration or sandboxes. You had levels that amounted to corridors. A few vestigial areas with treasure boxes to reward you for wasting your time? Sure. Major story changes? Nope. Sense of adventure my ass, you played those games to be railroaded.
Sandbox is an added bonus. Most older RPGs were all about exploration through either text or otherwise. Map type was of little issue when it comes to compelling gameplay.
And no, this is singular opposition of ADHD. When a person refuses to read text from multiple sources i.e gathering intel like a normal person... that is purposeful ignorance, especially if its attention deficit responsible.
Not traveling and actually talking to multiple people to combine information because you 'think' you shouldn't talk to this >NPC< is ridiculous.
Traveling, talking to people, exploring... And gathering information is what RPGs are about, what you're describing is an story-episode based game like Last of Us, where it isn't required to explore or take your time; it is only required to talk to the person with a marker above their skull.
The difference isn't vast. And there is no excuse to completely ignoring basic ideas like talking to multiple NPCs in an open-world ERPG. The only complaints I had with this game was the time it took to travel on foot and the fact that you can't fast travel on land without talking to someone.
And I was not the person who brought up ADHD, that was a previous person in this discussion, I only solidified the fact that, yes... they have ADHD because they dropped the game for the simpliest issue of exploring and reading... And not taking the time to simply do so is again... ridiculous.
And by the way... games are in there entirety... a waste of time... not only that, you're playing a porn game; a porn game built on the foundation of an RPG design, which is a waste-of-time design by the way... if that wasn't obvious.
RPGs at their core, are big time consumers for EVERYONE... and were not intended for someone who has a one or two jobs and a house to take care of.
And of course, if you REALLY suck at time management for day-to-day things like having fun, then you will just simply never enjoy RPGs. People who can find the time to play a game during the day are simply the ones who can enjoy RPGs.
Your previous arguement of these games not respecting adults time is frivilous, and ironically... speaks of an older time when adults literally had nothing to do but work, eat, sleep, Rinse and Repeat.
Adults now have at home movies, computers, consoles, phones, tablets etc, etc. The idea that you think that they don't respect your time means you simply cannot manage time well.
That is why, at their core... they were designed for children at their inception... because kids had time. Now then, do NOT insult early RPGs, do NOT compare them to their tabletop variants... as the difference between them is VAST. The difference isn't smol... It is massive.
Sure, fantasy... but on table-top you can control the story, setting, atmosphere, character arcs, villains, LITERALLY EVERYTHING... RPGs on pixels? Your characters appearance... if that.
And of course, you BOTH have ADHD. And your opinions are WRONG. And I am always right.