Game developer says kids can't complete the game because they don't know how to send emails
Game developers say that children's lack of knowledge about how to send emails is contributing to lower game completion rates.
Steam dev says kids can't beat game because they don't know how to send email
' After Hours ,' which was released on Steam in December 2018, is an adventure game in which you unravel notes and letters hidden in a computer to unravel the mystery of a scientist who disappeared 30 years ago. After Hours is also a remake of ' 128k ,' which gained popularity on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter, with puzzle elements added.
The description for 'After Hours' reads, 'If you were standing in front of your old computer today and discovered something you didn't understand, what would you do?' 'You'd pull out your phone and Google it, right?'
After Hours wasn't a huge hit when it first came out, but it was still a success, and despite being a challenging and unconventional game, initial reviews were generally positive.
Reviews at the time of release included comments such as, 'This game won't be for everyone, but if you like alternate reality style puzzle games, you'll find some puzzles that will take you beyond the world in front of you,' and 'The puzzles were a little harder than I initially expected, but it's not a very long game.'
Developer
In 2018, many players discovered this idea and received hints on how to play the game correctly. However, by 2024, players began receiving emails with no text in the body. According to Malmöhed, the text requesting game hints was 'entered in the subject line of the email.' Because the system Malmöhed built was not designed to read the subject line of the email, the system was unable to respond accurately.
Malmöhed claims that players were unable to complete the game because they didn't understand how to use email properly. In fact, one review of After Hours in 2024 described the game as 'too difficult.'
Malmöhead told Polygon that he received about 2,000 emails in 2025 alone. 'About a third of these emails had no body text, only subject lines,' he said.
'I've recently noticed that a lot of young people are exchanging emails based on subject lines alone, which means my game players are generally quite young,' Malmöhed said.
According to Malmöhed, the completion rate for After Hours has been declining in recent years. He told Polygon, 'I think the poorly written emails are the cause of the decline in completion rates,' 'Without hints, the game would be too difficult,' 'Using email is a very weak idea, and I don't recommend it to other developers,' and 'In modern communication, email subject and body aren't required. It's easy to understand why someone unfamiliar with emails wouldn't fill out both fields.'
It's been reported repeatedly that young people are increasingly unable to perform basic office tasks. In 2024, The Atlantic pointed out a shocking decline in literacy rates even among students at prestigious universities. At the end of 2025, The New York Times pointed out that literacy rates were also declining among high school students.
Elsewhere on Reddit, teachers have complained that their children are no longer able to read a clock or tie their shoelaces.
Learned Helplessness and No Accountability
by in Teachers
A 2023 study published in The Washington Post found that of 42,000 students assessed in education systems in 14 countries, only 19% were judged to be able to independently use a computer as an information gathering and management tool.
While some schools may provide laptops for every student, computer labs and other places to learn basic skills are not as common as they once were.
Polygon points out that Reddit frequently posts things like, ' Do you think kids don't know how to use computers anymore? '
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