Trying to discern how modern culture came to be what it currently means following innumerable threads back, with so many factors colliding to create what you know as the world today. Therefore, it might make more sense to just focus on one single thread at a time. Online gaming is a convenient place to start because of how relatively new it is, meaning that you don’t have to go back very far at all.
However, even with that, the impact that this one thread has had is noteworthy, and it can be seen in many different aspects of life.
What Counts as Gaming?
So many aspects of life, in fact, that you might not even notice exactly when you’re looking at it. Online casinos, for example, might be something that people get into as a more convenient, digitized alternative to the physical venues that they’ve visited in the past, but by visiting these platforms on their smartphone, this might be thought of as being now closer in line with online gaming than its own independent activity.
Casino games in New Zealand can consist of games that have RPG elements or those that emphasize audio-visual quality, which can further contribute to this shift in perception. However, other experiences like slots based on sports or films like The Dark Knight or Bridesmaids can retain familiarity with the camp of people who are coming from a purely casino-based background.
Spending Time Together
When you think about the ‘impact’ that something has on modern culture, there’s an unspoken negative connotation that makes you think about how this has led people to behave in a certain way.
Reversing that attitude and looking at this in a positive light, though, can showcase how online gaming can be used to help you spend time with your friends across long distances – something that can be especially valuable when your friends don’t live nearby. This is something that was relied upon heavily throughout the coronavirus pandemic for many people and can be a preferable alternative to video calls due to the presence of a foundational activity.
In theory, this sounds self-explanatory, but many think of the social aspects of online gaming as being tied to online encounters with strangers in a way that you might never hear from them again. This can be true as well, but it might be more multi-faceted than that.
The Culture of eSports
With the term ‘modern culture’ being broad enough to encompass just about anything, it might be more noteworthy to examine how online gaming has developed into something of an entire culture itself. While this has always been true for communities that congregate around online gaming, eSports tournaments mean that people can try to develop a career around certain games, taking it further away from the idea of gaming as a way to unwind or relax and more into that professional area. This might be something that goes hand-in-hand with streaming culture and online interest in viewing people play games.
