Gaming has entered the mainstream media for a while now, and we can definitely see its influence in pop culture. Modern games now have the power to influence music, film, fashion, literature, and other popular culture media, but we can also see how popular culture influences them.
Evolution of modern gaming
We can definitely say that gaming has come a long way since its early days. It all started from just a small community of so-called geeks who enjoyed playing arcade games and then more modern games on home consoles. With the rise of PC gaming, a new era began, and gaming gained more and more fans.
Today, gaming has become even more popular with the appearance of mobile gaming and e-sports, becoming appealing to more social groups than ever. For instance, people who used to play just simple casino games with free spins no deposit bonuses now can get in touch with more complex games such as Dota 2 or Starcraft because of e-sports.
Currently, anyone can and is playing modern games. An NPD poll showed us this as early as 2007 when the study came to the conclusion that 72 per cent of the U.S. population had played at least a video game that year. Since gaming has become such a popular activity, there is no wonder that it has the power to influence popular culture as well.
The influence of gaming on popular culture
Modern gaming has gained widespread acceptance and has started to attract diverse audiences, apart from the stereotypical geeks or gamers. This is why many pop culture products have started to use gaming as a channel of communication and a means to attract even more fans. Besides this, video games themselves became a source of inspiration for movies, music, fashion, and more.
Gaming and music
Some video games have produced some of the most popular tracks in pop culture, which anyone can easily recognise. While gaming music used to consist of just some beeps and simple sounds, now there are plenty of games with very complex soundtracks. Some of them are true masterpieces and are performed by full orchestras.
Besides coming up with their own soundtracks, video games have become an important tool in promoting artists and pieces of music. Many rock bands and artists allow video games to use their tracks in order to reach new audiences and gain more popularity in groups that otherwise may have never heard their songs.
This proves that gaming has a massive cultural impact and is an important tool in the popular culture system, promoting artists by using their songs in soundtracks the same way movies do.
Gaming and movies
One of the most widespread gaming trends is the use of characters from movies or TV series. Take, for example, all the Harry Potter movies that have countless video games that use their characters.
These video games not only use movie characters but come with intricate and complex stories that add to the overall plot as sequels, prequels, or alternate worlds. This proves the importance of video games in popular culture as well, as they bring a great addition to certain media products. Without some particular video games, fans wouldn’t be able to learn and understand all the aspects of some fictional worlds.
This phenomenon also goes the other way around, with movies using video games as sources of inspiration. Just think about the live-action movie Mortal Kombat, which hit over $70 million at the box office, or about the blockbuster Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolie.
Gaming and fashion
Yes, gaming fashion is a thing. If you think about it, gaming has influenced the way people dress, too, and there is a certain fantasy aesthetic that gaming fans like to adopt. Besides this, gaming has entered the fashion industry with gaming-themed clothes and accessories, sometimes in collaboration with very famous brands.