I think there's also an aspect of computer programming having become more of a fashion than a craft, in many cases. game development used to be very difficult and people who worked in that field pushed the limits of what hardware and software could do. nowadays, free-to-download general-purpose engines make getting into "game development" extremely easy. web development became its own whole thing by means of frameworks and so forth, where now to get into it, you're more learning how specific frameworks and such work, rather than underlying engineering principles.

how many people who program computers professionally for big tech companies are "hackers", these days, compared to one decade ago? two? three? surely the ratio has only decreased over time, as more and more people get into the field for purely pragmatic reasons (income, clout, etc.) than taking part in/engaging with "the hacker spirit". for better or worse, gates have not been kept, and now things are completely different than they once were.