POV: It’s the year 2000, you’ve just built your dream house in the small grassy suburb of Pleasantview, and your Sims are about to have baby number two. Fast-forward 22 years and my daily hang-up is how to complete the next level of Penny’s Pursuit in the oh-so-addictive game Plants vs. Zombies 2. I’m curious how I, your average Instagram scroller, might be classed as a gamer.
The earliest iterations of EA’s bestselling game, SimCity, launched in 1989 giving players the chance to build and sustain their own metropolis. By the early 2000s, the gameplay had evolved to be less city planning and more soap opera, focusing on human aspects like getting married, climbing the career ladder, and dealing with death that happened by way of setting your Baked Alaska on fire and perishing in your own kitchen, or drowning in a pool with no ladder to escape — you know, the usual. With each character I conjured, a new story was born. I was in charge of every twist and turn that would follow. Anything was possible.
Graphic by John Francis
Casual gaming may not be as popular as competitive console or PC gaming, but it’s still a multi-billion dollar industry, and the audience for this particular type of gameplay continues to grow year on year. And as for esports? Well, those players are in a league of their own. Statistica reported that as of 2022, the global esports market is worth $1.4 billion. Yup.
Bahrain-based Mary Gaming won the Valorant Champions 2022 with G2 Gozen.
Via @maryvalorantt on Instagram
At this point, it would be remiss of me not to mention this thing (place?) called ‘the metaverse.’ We now attend fashion shows on the FROW alongside celebs, and even belt out “About Damn Time” at Lizzo and Charli XCX concerts in the world of virtual reality, but it will still be a few years before we see fashion and beauty brands creating fully immersive, shoppable experiences in the metaverse. Right now, though, we look to the brands who are trying their hand in AR, creating technologies like virtual try-ons and ‘virtch merch’ (virtual merchandise), pg 43. Cosmo contributor Chante Joseph also looks to the dark side of the internet in our autumn Gaming Issue, uncovering how this new online world has become a place for misogyny to thrive.
Unsplash
So, what’s next? More games and more gamers! Duh. As video games hurtle toward ubiquity, it may come as less of a surprise to know that they are now the first choice of entertainment for Gen Alpha (the demographic aged 13 to 17), ranking above social media, TV, music or any other form of media. By definition, then, as I, a Millennial, eventually turn into a parent and subsequently a grandparent, I will find myself in a world where nearly every person alive is a gamer of some sort.
Gaming fosters connections, sharpens problem-solving skills, and allows you to peel back layers of yourself. Just press play.
As seen in Cosmo ME’s autumn gaming issue, click here to read more.