The Rise of ‘Geek’ Culture
It wasn’t all that long ago where big aspects that are typically noted to be nerdy or geeky were still just that, a smaller niche – there has been a huge change as popular culture has started to embrace much of what had simply been reserved for this group, but what has signalled the change, and why has geek and nerd culture as a whole started to become more accepted, and more open?
Changing attitudes due to accessibility – One of the faster changing markets has certainly been within gaming, and the biggest hurdle for ‘nerd’ culture to overcome – mobile gaming has allowed for much wider audience and a changing demographic to be attracted to the biggest services, and with familiarity in things like betting and the crossover with esports which you can find some here, it has provided an opportunity for two audiences to come together. Whilst the two continue to grow hand in hand, it will provide further opportunities for a different audience to find the benefits as each finds their own place these growing audiences.
Content creation and livestreaming is build around the culture – As most recently seen with the big craze around trading card games with Pokémon in particular, geek culture has become a huge part of content creation and the livestreaming market as a whole – this has brought an audience through not only the content creators themselves, but with the thousands who also watch them – this has certainly been of benefit to some audiences which may not have grown otherwise, as the recent growth of other content on Twitch like Chess has certainly helped the growth.
Popular media is depicting things very differently now – Whilst it may have been frowned upon before as popular media would depict the culture in a negative light, recent releases have since changed that – looking at big shows like Queen’s Gambit have shown how a niche interest can boom in popularity through positive depictions – other releases like the Pokémon movie, or even showing things like Dungeons & Dragons in TV too to show another recent shift in popularity have shown that there is a growing shift to show these niche interest in a better light.
It seems this change certainly isn’t slowing down either, nerd and geek culture is certainly in and is moving away from something misunderstood to something now widely enjoyed – for those who came before, it’s an exciting change to see their favourite hobbies and pastimes finally get some attention, and for the newcomers the new wave of interest is building these markets piece by piece, and providing an opportunity to find a new approach.