Computer gaming (and home computer use in general) was way less popular back then for sure. Colecovision and Atari 2600 were the consoles of the early 80s and they were much more popular. There was a certain appeal to the plug and play aspect of the cartridges on the consoles, where you could load up and instantly play (the Atari 800 also supported cartridges although not the same ones and they were much more limited in availability).