I guess that's what happens when home computers hit the masses, much like the internet is today. Some should not be let near a computer with a 50 foot barge-pole, same goes for the internet... :P

You mean all these "home computer users turned bedroom programmers" that are responsible for all these classics that we all love(d) to play so much?

Are those home computer users the ones, that should not have been let near a computer?
I just want to make sure I understood you right...

No!, those are not the ones I mean. It's the ones that came after, when it was seen as trendy to own a home computer, and wanted to be part of the 'in crowd', but had not the slightest idea what they were purchasing, and even less of an idea of how to use it or what to use it for. But could now boast to all their friends that they have one of these newfangled PC's, and would list off everything it could do, but had no clue how to switch the damn thing on...

Oh, I see, you meant the "gamers".
I agree that they are not the best thing that happened to computers…

Example of a techno-illiterate: This game doesn't run/display properly on my PC. MAYBE they know about keeping their OS updated. And maybe your PC is set to auto-update your OS. But: Are your graphics board drivers up to date? This usually needs to be done manually on a periodic basis. And your temp files need to be regularly cleaned out, plus your SSD then needs to be compacted. Just like my kupuna's 1969 Roadrunner 426 Hemi needed regular tune-ups, and more, MUCH more. And he was a "hands-on", under the hood, and underneath the chassis guy. The tech may have changed, but not the approach hasn't, or shouldn't have. Beep-Beep! ((;--))

Not having the slightest idea what one is purchasing?
Well, that would be me and my car. I don't care how it works, I care about it running and bringing me from A to B.

The same goes for most people who buy a TV, 82", 120" you name it. Why would they have to know how it works beyond what they can control using the remote?

If we look at machines like the Amiga, even back then there was no need to know. You turn it on, you insert the disk, you play ... or you write texts or you paint an image or something.
Book authors didn't have to know how a text computer works. They turned it on and started typing, then turned it off.

The time when we users had to know how the PC works are mostly gone. The vaste majority of users only hays very superficial knowledge.
Even if we oldtimer geeks hate it ... trying to change the windows design in a way that it looks like a smartphone is the right thing to do.
What the PCs miss still, is a automatism to find resolutions for problems (missing dll, wrong dll, missing runtime).
If we didn't have the awesome backward compatibility of a open system like Windows, we would not even need that.
The question where to get the 2007 version of a certain dll would not even pop up, the game would just not be compatible, end of story.

All those noob users playing dumbass puzzle games are the ones who put the money into the business that keeps our hobby alive.

Oh dear, now there really is no hope... o,0