lemmy.world was an instance I tried and call me an impatient spoiled brat, but it's not usable for me because it's so darn slow. It's much better to join a smaller instance. It doesn't even have to be in the country you're connecting from. sh.itjust.works is in Canada, I am in Western Europe, it's snappy AF. And less toxic btw. kbin.social is pretty awesome, though. Loads up for me nice and fast with more content I want to see. I've settled on kbin as my place to go, but there are other instances that are just as fantastic. The lesson I learned: lemmy.world might be the big general instance and it might wish to claim to be "the front page of the internet" but it's bogged down and too slow. It also wasn't fun for me when I could actually use it. You know, because of the usual. Too much bickering and too much meta stuff. It's much better to join the communities hosted on lemmy.world from another faster instance. You get snappier loading up of content and you avoid their whole home page which, at the moment, is just a meta victim.
FinalBoy1975
I think it's a good thing to have more than one community devoted to a topic. I have already discovered that I don't like this or that community on this or that instance but I like another community on another instance dedicated to the same or similar topic. People have different styles and preferences even though they have similar subjects in common. It's like having different supermarkets or clothing stores. Some like to get their jeans at The Gap. Others prefer Levi's. Giving users more choices is good in my experience. It used to be this way in the days of forums and usenet news groups. I think if you're not used to it you will get used to it. It's like shopping around for a good class at college or looking for the right pair of jeans that fits you the right way.
You aren't alone. I'm still trying to figure it out, too. First step was to settle on my go-to instance, which just today I've decided will be kbin.
You make a good point. The other thing is that the games' publishers make those subs on Reddit. They're for marketing more than anything else. Like the OP I miss the SnowRunner sub and I've only deleted my Reddit account today. That sub, although run by the publisher, is pretty chill. They let people criticize the game openly and it's fun to see people's screenshots and videos. They say they don't like "low effort content" blah blah blah but they allow memes. I posted a reply to this same post on Lemmy. My response there is like yours: not enough users.
There are lots of benefits to lurking. Nobody jumps on you with pedantic bull crap. Nobody tells you to just Google it. Nobody picks at every god damn little picky thing you say. Nobody bothers you. It's a wonder anybody bothers to post or comment at all. Life is more peaceful for lurkers.