I think coziness is an underrated aspect of gaming, maybe because gaming is commonly depicted as fast-paced and frenetic. In fact, coziness was also an underrated reason that World of Warcraft was very popular. Unless you were in a top raiding guild or PvP, most gameplay matched at least one of the aspects listed in TFA; some flavor of "tidying up" and "community" all the while not being too challenging.

A couple of other aspects of coziness were those of exploration and social interaction, glossed over in the article but a big part of MMOs. Exploration and solo questing were almost meditative in nature. You could mix and match socialization, questing and exploration to find your preferred flavor of coziness.

> You could mix and match socialization, questing and exploration to find your preferred flavor of coziness.

For sure. I think one of the big reasons successful MMOs were successful and were such comfortable places to exist in for a lot of people was the broad internal variance of intensity of activities - even if you were in a top raiding guild or a big PvPer or whatever, odds were you probably still spent a solid amount of time running around a meadow picking flowers, enchanting other players' gear, or just trying to jump onto the head of the statue outside the bank while chatting with friends. When you just felt like taking it easy, the game had plenty of things for you to do that matched that vibe, just as there was plenty of challenge on offer for when that was what you were after. I feel like a big part of what theme-park MMOs miss out on, and why they often feel so hollow and unsatisfying, is insufficiently fleshed-out low-intensity activities.

Up-thread, someone was wondering about how a Fromsoft game could ever be considered "cozy" - I think contrast helps engender coziness; Majula or Firelink are definitely cozy, if admittedly a somewhat wistful variety of it. That dynamic of contrasting intensity allows coziness to exist in a game where you're also saving the world on a weekly basis.

Yes, to this day I create a low level character in wow classic and quest in Elwin forest and Westfall. The music is just relaxing, the setting/landscape, sound effects…