I know back in the eighties, gaming was seen as nerdy. Not so much at arcades, but if you owned an Atari, or played RPGs, that was kind of nerdy. Nowadays though, video games, with the exception of MMORGs and RPGs are not seen as nerdy at all.

When will your contribution here be relaxant?

When will your contribution here be relaxant?


When will yours?

When will yours?


I suppose when there's finally something interesting posted to dialogue about.

I suppose when there's finally something interesting posted to dialogue about.


Interesting is subjective, of course. What would you find interesting that is pop culture and era-related?

I know back in the eighties, gaming was seen as nerdy. Not so much at arcades, but if you owned an Atari, or played RPGs, that was kind of nerdy. Nowadays though, video games, with the exception of MMORGs and RPGs are not seen as nerdy at all.


I'd say by the mid-90s, it was no longer 'nerdy'.

I'd say when the SNES came out.

I'd say when the SNES came out.


what year was that, '92?

what year was that, '92?


No, it came out in '91.

I know back in the eighties, gaming was seen as nerdy.

If you owned an Atari, you were cool because not everyone had one, or could afford to own one.  Had you have been alive in that era, you would know that, but you were not, so you don't know

If you owned an Atari, you were cool because not everyone had one, or could afford to own one.  Had you have been alive in that era, you would know that, but you were not, so you don't know


mmmkay

I know back in the eighties, gaming was seen as nerdy. Not so much at arcades, but if you owned an Atari, or played RPGs, that was kind of nerdy...


  Video games, coin-ops or otherwise, were not considered nerdy...

  BUT...they were widely regarded as a helluva lot of fun..!

  PCs, however, were pretty much considered nerdy...

  To add: RPGs were considered "geeky" (geekish?), as well.  I think it was Foo Bar who once pointed out the difference between a nerd and a geek - "a nerd is ashamed, a geek is proud"...

  Video games, coin-ops or otherwise, were not considered nerdy...

  BUT...they were widely regarded as a helluva lot of fun..!

  PCs, however, were pretty much considered nerdy...

  To add: RPGs were considered "geeky" (geekish?), as well.  I think it was Foo Bar who once pointed out the difference between a nerd and a geek - "a nerd is ashamed, a geek is proud"...


/takes a bow

I can't take credit for the idea, thought.  It's shown up consistently over the past few years, but I know I didn't come up with it, and I know it predates this awesome June 2007 blog post that serves as a good jumping-off point for studies into the evolution of the distinction.  It may predate this Jon Katz article from 1997 and his followup commentary about it, but I think the Katz articles are, if not the source of the idea, very close to it.  I do remember having read them and nodding my head in agreement - my circle of geek/nerd friends had engaged in similar debates, and while we were never sure on which side of the line we belonged, we all agreed that there was a distinction.

With the benefit of 20 years of hindsight, a lot of the distinction is having another 10-20 years during which you can develop hindsight.  (What, the cute girl who had a crush on you but you were too nerdy to notice it?  Ir that nerdy girl on whom you could have easily developed a crush, but she was too nerdy for you to notice as anything other than a damn fine slinger of 6809 and you were both too busy making sure your modded ROMs would work when you got that once-a-month chance to use the gear at her dad's lab at the local and burn some custom ROM cartridges?  Guess what?  It's been 30 years, you're both geeks with your own lives by now, so laugh about your larval stage nerdiness and let it slide.)

When I started playing them, because I'm so awesome.

I know back in the eighties, gaming was seen as nerdy. Not so much at arcades, but if you owned an Atari, or played RPGs, that was kind of nerdy. Nowadays though, video games, with the exception of MMORGs and RPGs are not seen as nerdy at all.


Ummm.no.

1. Atari was not nerdy.  RPGs to an extent yes.
2. RPGs and MMORGs are more nerdy than before.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v472/djmidas96/larper10.jpg

Ummm.no.

1. Atari was not nerdy.  RPGs to an extent yes.
2. RPGs and MMORGs are more nerdy than before.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v472/djmidas96/larper10.jpg


whaddya mean RPGs were, to an extent,  nerdy they've always been nerdy they've just gotten worse  :D

I'd say it would be 1985 when Nintendo came out and The Bit Wars Began.

I think it went nerdy again, but this is why we have this guy...

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/76/full/1269193087_1.jpg

The Angry Video Game Nerd!

I'd say the more brains it takes to play the game the nerdier it becomes.

As Foo Bar already alluded to, the coin-up games that entered the arcades and pizza joints in the late 1970s and 1980s, such as Space Invaders and Asteroids, were supplanting pinball machines.  They had computerized chess on the consumer market in the seventies, but you didn't see it at Louie's Pizza.  Chess doesn't last for two minutes (unless you walk into a seven-move trap employed by certain hustlers).  Chess is also a relatively simple setup, so it was a brainy game you could play with the rinky-dink memory space on seventies computers.

As home video games got more powerful with more memory and better graphics, you could have the complex RPG games rather than just blast the aliens or eat the pac-dots.

I knew people who played text-oriented computer RPGs (such as D&D) in the '80s, but these did not offer the thrills of graphics-oriented RPGs and were dull even for most nerds!
8)

They had computerized chess on the consumer market in the seventies, but you didn't see it at Louie's Pizza.  Chess doesn't last for two minutes (unless you walk into a seven-move trap employed by certain hustlers).


There was one notable exception to this rule.

L-CTpCD-CNc

Ataxx, 1990, Leland

Ataxx was the only strategy game to ever become a successful coin-op game.  What made it work was that if you remembered your initials (which everyone could see), and your birthdate (which random strangers at the arcade didn't know), you had a persistent player ranking, stored on battery-backed RAM.  "Your" machine had "your" ranking - and while there was honor (an increase in rank) against performing well against either a better-ranked human or the strongest AI opponents, there was no honor (as in, your rank dropped) in beating morons.

Hell of a lot of fun, even at $0.25 per 100 seconds.

The Sega Genesis. Basically every person in the hood had Sonic The Hedgehog.

I can definitely see RPG's sadly still being considered as a nerd stereotype aside from Earthbound.

I don't know that video games in the '80s and '90s were considered "nerdy" so much as they were considered "kids stuff". Video games were still generally thought of by most adults as mere "toys" fairly deep into the '90s, and if you were above the age of, say, fifteen or sixteen and still playing games, some older folks would look at you more than a bit funny. This happened with my cousin (same age as me). His dad is a Boomer who actually still makes fun of him for playing games today as a 28-year-old. Tells him all the time that he's way too old to be still wasting his time playing video games.

If you watch these gaming related news reports from back then, it's fairly obvious who most older people thought the target audience for gaming was.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt4KG9ib8S4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTzyz2TgGls

I think the perception of video games as "toys" slowly began to change in the late '90s, as consoles moved away from simple cartridges, became more expensive, and started featuring an ever increasing number of mature games designed specifically for teens and adults. Also, Generation X (which was the first generation to actually grow up with home consoles and arcade gaming as a part of their childhood) are now all middle aged, and are much more open to playing games at an older age than their Boomer counterparts were 20-25 years ago.

In some ways, the perception never went away. I remember in my last year of high school in 2010, me and my friend were talking about Assassin's Creed, and a girl overheard our conversation and went "Are you guys talking about Xbox? You're so nerdy!" She said it in a friendly way, but it was still considered a nerdy hobby in some sense. ;D

I'd say it would be 1985 when Nintendo came out and The Bit Wars Began.

I think it went nerdy again, but this is why we have this guy...

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/76/full/1269193087_1.jpg

The Angry Video Game Nerd!


The Bit Wars didn't really begin until 1989 with the Genesis/Mega Drive. In terms of when it ended, I'd consider the Nintendo 64 the last hurrah of this, since Dreamcast, although the most technically advanced system for a short while, wasn't marketed as such. The nerds still live on with all of the debugging/cheat/difficulty codes/custom-made games/conventions and still will as long as new advances in gaming occur.

In terms of being "for kids", it isn't any different compared to how I view cartoons in general, which themselves have "cool for all ages" and adult material that isn't suitable for children. Now if a thirtysomething was playing the latest Angry Birds game, there would likely be some stares if s/he doesn't have children since the content is too basic.

I never knew that video games were nerdy when I was growing up, because almost every kid my age had them.

PC gaming was nerdy.  Console gaming not so much.

I would say about the early 2000's when most violent games became more for a mature audience.

To correct you Howard, I actually think the Late 90s with the PS1 boom taking place.

To correct you Howard, I actually think the Late 90s with the PS1 boom taking place.


To be honest, violent games were popular since the early 90s. Especially when they were responsible for establishing the ESRB in 1994.

To be honest, violent games were popular since the early 90s. Especially when they were responsible for establishing the ESRB in 1994.

Yea true. But I was mainly talking bout when games were NO LONGER considered nerdy.
Looks like I might have to edit my post! ;D

To be honest, violent games were popular since the early 90s. Especially when they were responsible for establishing the ESRB in 1994.


It started on the PC with Wolfenstein 3D in 1992 and then Doom in 1993.

Yea true. But I was mainly talking bout when games were NO LONGER considered nerdy.
Looks like I might have to edit my post! ;D


But if we were talking about violent games, then I suppose mentioning that they were really noticeable in the early 90s is worth it.


It started on the PC with Wolfenstein 3D in 1992 and then Doom in 1993.


Yep.

To correct you Howard, I actually think the Late 90s with the PS1 boom taking place.


I think you're right.