Is Gamer Culture the New Pop Culture?
It isn’t the first time that counter-culture has made its way into the mainstream—does “flower power” ring any bells?—but to what extent has video game culture been inducted into the houses of pre-pubescent hipsters around the globe? Will the release of long-awaited Diablo 3 really spark an Obama-inauguration-esque celebration? Or will the peak in sales of the oh-so-popular nerd tees turn into an eventual smudge on the fashion radar and dissolve into discussions of “remember what we used to wear back then?!” by aging housewives of the future?
If you ask me, it’s none of the above.
It’s been no secret that many studies’ findings cause parents to point the finger of blame at video games for their child’s violent behavior. What is lesser known, however, according to a psychiatrist’s recent study, is that video games can be blamed for teaching empathy, too.
The results are in, and it’s a tie. It has been an interesting research process, and despite my hypothesis, storyline-based and graphics-based games currently share the majority of Steam’s popularity contest. The PC gaming market is a very broad one, and good thing, too. It looks like every angle of research production (when done well) is given its due. At least for now. In looking at the top six most popular games currently being sold on Steam, the score is 3 to 3.
Being of the female species myself, I find it hard to ignore the many discrepancies between mine and the bodies of the female characters in the video games I play. I’m not just talking physics-defying waistlines and breasts that make Pamela Anderson consider a training bra. I’m talking about the body parts whose illustration seems like it would be second nature to create. The most interesting part of this discrepancy, I have found in my video game travels, lies in the difference between the console and PC- based characters. PC –based games, it seems, have the female anatomy much more understood, while many console creators leave me wondering if they have ever seen a real female (IRL, anyway). 
As Steam’s unparalleled success blazes across the charts, online game downloading is on the mind of all companies that are not already involved. As shown by the recent activity of Electronic Arts (EA) and Microsoft, more and more PC game distribution companies are jumping onto the bandwagon of online distribution.