Growing up in the ’90s, I was cautious about bringing up video games with other kids. Plenty of us played, but talking about it at school could get you labeled a nerd. It was like watching Pokémon or Dragon Ball Z—lots of kids did it, but you had to pretend you didn’t.
These days, social norms feel much more accepting. Rappers reference Naruto, PS5s are in living rooms instead of basements, and I have no problem telling my wife I’m playing Elden Ring for a few hours.
Do you think gaming and “nerd culture” have become more mainstream, or is it just about growing up and becoming more confident?
@allhailsanta growing up in the 80s/90s I never felt it wasn't cool to talk about video games... maybe that was because all my friends played games too it wasn't a problem at all. Now in my 40s, some of my peers fell out of gaming in their 20s or 30s, so for them they probably haven't witnessed how grown up games can be these days. It's weird, I would say it is very much mainstream now, but still doesn't get talked about in the same way as movies/music.
Either way, we all have to be proud of what we love or find interesting and ignore those that disagree!
@antdickens
Very true. Many of my friends have stopped playing consoles but still have random games on their phones. Thanks to YouTube and the internet, though, there seems to be much more appreciation for games as an art form. The issue, I think, is that you still see news anchors on TV saying things like, "Apparently, there's this video game called Fortnite that's making a lot of money?! What the heck, a video game??"—despite being 30 years old and fully aware of what video games are.
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Topic: Are video games cool now?
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