@VampireLord123: You may not have met many people who like Ark but 100k+ players online at one time on only one of the three platforms suggests that I'm hardly a rarity... Plus they also hit their highest ever players online on Steam that same weekend, which suggests you don't need 'mainstream' appeal to grow... Ark is definitely both alive and growing! It may have taken a little time to grow but there's nothing wrong with that: just shows the longevity of it - most games have had their day and died in the time Ark has just been teething :)
You may just move in different gaming circles - I know lots of gamers who love Ark and have been playing it for two or three years... I can't honestly think of a single other game I've ever played solidly for more than two years.. Most games it's a few months of gameplay and then perhaps you pop back in now and then, but that's pretty much it..

@VampireLord123: Can't agree with you about Ark... It has an immense and pretty dedicated following - it's still growing, they hit over 100k players online on just Steam (let alone the PS4 and Xbox numbers) during the launch of their latest DLC...

I've been playing since about 2 months after it hit Xbox on Early Access and am still playing religiously - I've loaded up another game maaaaybe twice since I started playing Ark lmao, it ticks almost every box I've always wanted ticked by MMORPG type games :D

Honestly yes it has its issues (what game doesn't, especially when created by a studio that was very much indie when they started!), and yes they could do with better community management, but it's genuinely an AMAZING game - reviews might be low but the hundreds of thousands of players across 3 platforms suggests a lot of the bad reviews are just salty people who couldn't get going imo...

@ember_to_flame: I had the same thought as you tbh... the OP mentions that the lack of NPCs means 'the art of conversation is dead', to which I'd ask whether pressing A to choose a form response really represents the 'art of conversation' lol.

Also the notes and holodisks scattered around share the stories just as well imo, without having to go through a boring pre-formed conversation... As for getting invested in the world by hearing the stories of the people... Have you HEARD the 'Colonel' Survivor Story holodisk? I found that one heartbreaking! https://fallout76.wiki.fextralife.com/Survivor+Stories+Holotapes