There will always be "fear prn" with events like this, but I still thought it was interesting that a CME of a magnitude of the one that occurred in 1859 on the near side of the sun could cause such a huge disruption of the power grid and communications if it occurred today. I have never heard this possibility mentioned before. Apparently, the Earth's natural defenses only work in countering the effects up to a certain point. Also, the CME activity is apparently more active and frequent than it has been in quite some time.

I just thought this was interesting. I consider the never ending deadlines of doom from climate change to be fear porn.
So the CME did not happen? They made it up?

Anton Petrov has a great not-clickbaity Astronomy News Youtube channel that did a video on this. As for the title, a Super Carrington Event may severely damage the Internet, but that doesn't mean an end to DRM-Free gaming. Bonus points if one layer of your local backups is optical based. :-)

As a software professional strongly invested in technology for both my livelihood and legacy, things like solar flare definitely rattle me.

And nowadays, it's not just the computers themselves, but the internet too. If you have computers, but no internet, you are set back quite a bit. Even assuming that you didn't buy into the "always online" coolaid for a lot of your end-user applications, a modern computer system downloads quite a bit of stuff from the internet to work... all those packages...

Beyond solar flares, I also worry about the looming spectre of de-industrialization from pollution and peak oil and the extent to which it will impact computing in the coming decades. Fewer morally bankrupt things in the cloud? Good riddance. No crypto? I couldn't care less. No consoles and far fewer mobile devices? hallelujah. Reduction of the need of software professionals by up to 90%? Starting to get worried, I'm pretty good at what I do so I guess I might just make that cut. Strong reduction of the gaming landcape, greatly reduced internet and possibly one computer per household? Real bummer there. Almost no computers around? My life just got drastically altered.

Breaking News... (see picture)

Based on past solar activity, there is an increased risk of one hitting us in the next couple of years. Makes me wonder whether I should forget about some hardware upgrades I was considering. They are nothing special unless coming straight at us or near us as some of you pointed out.

When's the world going to end already? It's been "next week" for the past hundred years or so, but I get the feeling all these apocalypses are part of some grift.

Wouldn't the same event put an end to the power grid itself with no hope of fixing it? Why are you worried about gaming?

Oh there'd be hope, but we'd be set back to the late 19th Century and need at least 10 years to get back to 1990 or so. Just an estimation.

I remember a thread several months ago (at the beginning of the war in Ukraine?) where the OP wondered how he could download and play his games after the big bang.

These people are not rational.

In 2012.

A ball that falls on a piece of paper has an infinitely small chance of landing at any predicted location on the paper, and yet it ends up landing somewhere.

Every world shattering problem has a very small chance of happening soon... right until the moment where one actually happens.

I think some people really get off on catastrophe scenarios and seem to be salivating in anticipation (I think of them as bunker masturbators). Those can usually be ignored.

At the same time, I think there is an healthy appreciation to be had for the fragility of our existence and the current wave of prosperity we are riding on. If there is nothing we can do to palliate against a potential catastrophe, there is nothing we can do, but I think in the cases where we can make some sensible adjustments to improve our odds, we ought to. Heaven knows we blow a lot of our collective resources on things that are not that important anyways.

I think we owe it to ourselves and future generations.

I heard about it once, that there is a risk that Solar activity might purge the internet. I think that something similar, the risk of Solar activity devastation effect, happened quite many times already. Not sure about the internet and gaming but at least 3 times in the past some local news at my place announced the possibility that our electronics might purge during the next Solar storm.

Should we be concerned? Maybe. Neurotically concerned? Only if you have the predisposition for it, not sure if it can be helped.

The real question is do we have any means to counter it? And if not, why worry about something we can't help?

Life is too short already to be concerned every day.

P.S. If the Sun somehow would break the internet even for a day, I would celebrate! (unless some disasters happens due to it)

How is this an apocalypse? Unlike many of the "apocalypses" you are referring to, this is in no way presented that way. That's kind of the point. The world coming to an end cons are loudly proclaimed and seem to be schemes of some kind. No one is exploiting this possibility.
Ay caramba! I'm not worried about anything, but gaming be affected was just a tie-in because it is being posted on a gaming site. That part of it is tongue in cheek. As in, the world could descend into chaos and many gamers would be asking: "How does this affect my gaming? Ha ha.
Yes, because this post and that one are pretty much the same thing. You are clear proof that people are not rational.

You're exactly twice as rational as that other person, down to the quantum whatever.