Games like Among Us, RV There Yet, Peak, Lethal Company, etc. I don't mind them so long as there's no woke elements to them, though I've never actually played any of them myself. I have two groups of streamers that I like (Fooster/Fisk/Olafpawbelt and Splitsie/Capac/TFE/Shack) that play them from time to time and it's pretty enjoyable watching them. These sorts of games strike me as games that are more meant to be watched than played yourself. I doubt many of them sell that many units, and they typically are only popular for a couple of weeks before being replaced by the next one.
I bet a lot of copies sold are people who think 'oh man, this looked like fun when I saw $streamer play it, I can't wait to play it with my friends' and then they never do. They seem to be pretty cheap, so if an indie dev can provide a few weeks of enjoyment for $9.99, honestly there are worse ripoffs in the gaming world.
I have never touched a friend slop game and likely never will.
However, it's one of the few good things to come out of today's technology.
Games encouraging communication, teamwork, and critical thinking are all facets NOT being taught in schools, and sadly not being taught at home either.
Streamers are inadvertently working against the zeitgeist by promoting such titles, because AAA games are all about promoting the opposite effect: They want people competing, silent, and following the yellow indicators without question nor thought.
The emergent, sandboxy-style approach some of these friend slop games introduce are good for building problem solving skills, and helping people delegate roles to fixing issues.
This won't stay around for long, though.
When AAA studios and the elites catch wind of this trend they will usurp its momentum like they have every other genre and then put a wench in it, make it lame, and make it gay.
True if you're playing the game with friends. If you're watching other people play them, where the "friends" are a "collab" negotiated by an agency, you're getting none of that. You're getting choreographed chaos to keep you engaged.
That's not the game's fault but it's worth mentioning.
That's a good caveat I forgot to add, which is a very salient: second-hand problem solving skills aren't problem solving skills at all (unless it's specifically a tutorial to help you problem solve).
Just like, watching a streamer play puzzle/RTS games and complete them won't help you get better at understanding how to play and beat puzzle/RTS games.
That's old multiplayer games. This friendslop is about promoting trend chasers.