Is gaming fashionable?

PALGN Feature | Skilled at disguising himself in his natural habitat.

The average gamer knows their hobby isn’t cool. They remember the awkward moments from high school, the time when they were too embarrassed to stand up for their gaming love when one of the cool kids were making fun of it. Or the time where they were picked on for playing their DS at lunchtime. Or the time when they were derided for confessing their love for Pokemon Snap on a podcast. Gamedaily once reminded those lucky enough to get paid for writing about games that “there's a very hot person in a bar that's going to laugh in your face when you inform them what you do for a living (they'll be sober, by the way).”

But are things actually changing? This article was inspired by a recent trip to a generic, trendy clothes shop where the cool kids go to buy their fluoru and pastel coloured tee-shirts and thongs. The shop was selling - wait for it - gaming wear. Tee-shirts with Nintendo branded on the front. Another with a SNES controller above the caption, ‘control freak’. There was even a ‘Wii Sports Champion’ shirt.

Wii Sports Champions?

In fact, the Wii Sports tee-shirt was the most perplexing of all. The other two could potentially be written off as smart marketing by Nintendo to tie in with the recent retro fad that’s going on. People love the ‘80s. And Nintendo sure was big in the ‘80s, along with Transformers, Ninja Turtles and other brands that seem to be making a comeback as children of the ‘80s go through their quarter-life crisis. But Wii Sports? That was released last year. Unless 2006 is the new retro, we’ve got something totally different on our hands.

So maybe we were a little hasty to assume that gamers don’t frequent shops like these. Trendy clothes shops run on a very tight consumer-driven logic, so someone has to be buying the shirts, and we’re guessing you wouldn’t buy a Wii Sports shirt if you didn’t know what it was. But Wii Sports is a casual game, isn’t it? That could explain it, right? Aha! You say. The infamous casual gamer is responsible yet again! Well, yes and no. Certainly, Nintendo’s strategy of marketing towards a more mainstream market is the reason we have a Wii Sports shirt and not a Call of Duty 4 one, but how do you draw the line between a ‘casual’ and a ‘hardcore’ gamer when all they are wearing is a t-shirt?

Your average gamer hard at work.

This is the difficult thing about fashion: while it often denotes association with a particular group or culture, it can also be incredibly difficult to detect irony, or exactly which group the clothes are associated with. Dreadlocks are a good example. If you’ve got them, does that mean you are a Rastafarian, or a white boy who loves reggae? Or a metal-head? Or a euro-techno lover? Or did you think they looked cool after you saw the albino twins in the second Matrix?

It’s the same deal with the Wii Sports shirt. Did you buy the shirt because you genuinely love Wii Sports? Or is it the only game you’ve ever played? Or is it the only game you ever play on your Wii because you can’t find the time to drop your PS3 or Xbox 360 for others? Did you simply buy the shirt because you thought it sounded like a fetishistic website, and you have no idea what the Wii actually is? All are possibilities. But one thing is certain: it is unlikely that it’s just the ‘casual’ crowd who buy the shirts.

After all, the ‘casual’ label is a bit of a misnomer. Gamers are really just gamers, no matter what type of games they play. A casual gamer can be just as serious about their hobby as a hardcore gamer can be lackadaisical. And spotting the gamer in the wild isn’t as easy as it used to be: a gamer these days may disguise themselves by appearing a fashionable, well-mannered and adjusted member of society. Attending eGames in Melbourne this year was illustrative - most segments of society turned up, including those who looked as though they had stumbled in from Sexpo next door, not quite knowing what they were in for. There were families, children, teenagers, adults, cool kids, geeks, women (women!) and even a few elderly. And most interesting of all, it didn’t seem that the geeky-looking attendees were necessarily the best at the games. At our booth we had a few mal-adjusted gentlemen fail miserably at Halo 3 while others succeeded.

The gamer in his native habitat.

But is gaming truly becoming fashionable? Are the tee-shirts a sign of the times, or a trap to entice us gamers out into the real world, only to be ridiculed and derided? While we wouldn’t recommend that you slap on your Pokemon Snap tee-shirt and skip out your front door in search of other Poke-pals, things are definitely looking up. Just check out the attendees to Spike TV’s videogame awards a few weeks ago: Kristen Bell, Dave Navarro, the Foo Fighters, Tia Carerre, Kid Rock, and of course, host Samuel L. Jackson. And most of them weren’t even paid to be there (we think)!

Even if gaming hasn’t become truly mainstream yet, take solace that you may now wear your Nintendo shirt out without immediately being judged as an uncool gamer. The myriad of possibilities of fashion means that you could potentially be wearing it for any number of reasons, and only a few of them will get you laughed at by that very hot person in a bar.

Just keep that Pokemon Snap love to yourself.

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26 Comments

Lord Haart

4 years ago

A friend of mine was wearing a space invaders t-shirt when we went out clubbing some time ago, and it actually got quite a few positive comments (yes, genuine ones). That could be more to do with it being retro then being cool, but I would agree that games have become, if not cool, then at least socially acceptable.

Actually, it's not so much that games have become trendy. It's just that they have been raised out of the pit of geekishness and placed alongside hobbies such as sports and music. Most of my friends are anything but nerds, but they play console or PC games. It's just become an acceptable habit - it's not particularily "cool" to play them, but as long as you socialise and keep an active life, people are hardly going to put you down for being a nerdy, isolationist gamerfreak.

(edited grammar)

Jaws

4 years ago

Well I suppose one could also look at the sorts of games that are made these days. They are more accessible to the regular joe / jody..

Compare, say.. Ultima IV or King's Quest with Halo or Grand Theft Auto - they are a form of entertainment on a more open plane.. thus more people are inclined to jump onboard. More of the non stereotypical crowd onboard means it becomes more of a social norm.

corder

4 years ago

yes i think we have video game consoles to thank for the respect that gamers receive these days. Mainly the big franchises Halo GTA and some casual games like Singstar Buzz Eyetoy and Wii Sports. Gaming is getting more and more mainstream all the time and it's great. Hopefully one day gaming will be as big as books and movies if not bigger. Ans we have to thank ALL gaming platforms for that. Whether it be pc's or consoles or mobile phones or ipods.

who ever created the first "casual" game we have to thank that person. For broadening the appeal of gamers. To all the people out there in the world that still have the wrong stereotype of gamers. So they can change that perception to a positive one. And perhaps become gamers themselves.

slapshakle

4 years ago

Another awesome feature article! My Mrs was told me she was going to buy me one of those snes 'control freak' shirts, does that mean she thinks Im some trendy **** or a full time nerd? Should I be offended ?

Oh by the way, Merry Sexmas everyone! HOpe you're all nice and intoxicated

pps 2000 post special edition coming shorty-ish. ( when I sober enough to make another 20 or so posts )

Love you all

/off topic

corder

4 years ago

slapshakle wrote

Another awesome feature article! My Mrs was told me she was going to buy me one of those snes 'control freak' shirts, does that mean she thinks Im some trendy f*** or a full time nerd? Should I be offended ?

Oh by the way, Merry Sexmas everyone! HOpe you're all nice and intoxicated

pps 2000 post special edition coming shorty-ish. ( when I sober enough to make another 20 or so posts )

Love you all

/off topic

she probably thinks your trendy Merry Sexmas if only i had a partner

Luke Mitchell

4 years ago

It's definitely interesting.

One guy I bumped into at a local shopping centre was wearing one of those green '1UP' T-Shirts, and I'd just purchased Super Mario Galaxy at the time. We sort of made eye contact in the food court as we queued for KFC, and I asked if he was getting Galaxy as well, as he seemed to be a Nintendo fan in a Ninty tee.

He said he had no idea what I was talking about. In fact, he bought the T-Shirt because he said it made his chest stand out and he looked good in green - the mushroom meant nothing.

He then sort of gave me a look as if I was incredibly dorky and then turned away. I mumbled something about green making him look fat as I grabbed my KFC and left. Sigh. And his chest didn't stand out that much, anyway.

So yeah, love your work Daniel.

Evan

4 years ago

Luke Mitchell wrote

He said he had no idea what I was talking about. In fact, he bought the T-Shirt because he said it made his chest stand out and he looked good in green - the mushroom meant nothing.

Wow. Just ... wow.

What else can I say, really ...

Frozencry

4 years ago

I wear my God of War, DMC3 and other gaming shirts out all the time. I've been complimented most of the time cos some of the shirts are just f**king hardcore looking.

Plus they make my chest stand out *giggle*

Jaws

4 years ago

corder wrote

who ever created the first "casual" game we have to thank that person.

I wouldnt thank the first creators of casual games, its the console companies selling a particular 'image' to the masses that you need to thank. Things sell if they are a trend and the companies who are in it pretty much for the dough put two and two together. "How do we sell more product?" .. make it 'cool'.. make it appeal... make it fashionable.

So they hire male models in their Wii adverts, they put the Playstation label onto soccer jerseys and plaster it across stadiums in real life sports to circulate amongst that particular crowd, they use a 'hip' n sexy group of people and make it look like they're just hanging out with their intricate hairstyles and designer garments playing Gears of War on a 360 and smile as the public lap it all up.

I think at the end of the day, game developers stood back and saw that the major issue plaguing sales was the fact that gaming was a niche because of the stereotype hanging over it, so they displelled that real fast.

corder

4 years ago

S.Jaworski wrote

corder wrote

who ever created the first "casual" game we have to thank that person.

Hmm yeah true i agree with basically everything you said i wish there were more games advertised in the Australian mainstream media like in newspapers and magazines and on the internet and on television. Sure some games sell like hot cakes but some really great games hardly get any mainstream advertising. Oustside of gaming mags and that's annoying. Why can't we see Singstar ads in mags like Girlfriend or Dolly. And COD4 ads in mags like Street Machine Motor or Ralph or FHM.

Yuppieville

4 years ago

I come here carrying a much more cynical view of the whole nerd-chic thing.

I'm gonna steal a quote from an American radio program This American Life: "'Nerd', somehow, has become a badge of honor...It's like anybody who had anything that made them feel different now says they were a nerd...I believe we have forgotten the sweaty, unsexy, cringe-inducing face of hardcore nerd-dom"

Luke Mitchell touched upon it in his post, but I reckon nearly everyone wearing these '1-Up' shirts have no idea of the culture that lies beneath what they're wearing (rather, most of the males wearing these shirts are too busy wondering what's lying beneath that hot chick's top - THAT'S RIGHT I WENT THERE!).

Every time I see someone wearing these things, all I see is just another sheep following the whims of Father D&G, Mother Supre and Illegitimate Cousin Jay Jay. Sure they may have played a Mario game, and they may have even dabbled in a game-or-two of, dare I say, Tetris. But these fashionable folk will just as easily deny that they like games, dismissing their crimes as "OMG I'M SO RETRO LOL-iPOP!!!1!"

Although it may help push 'casual' gaming into the mainstream, at the same time, I reckon it's going to do nothing to legitimise 'serious' gaming. Most of these shirt consumers cavorting around their darkened rooms with their loud dancing musics, are as shallow as a fingerbowl, and will only accept videogame history as far as Mario and company. Once the gaming shirt fad is finished, to be replaced by some other bulk fashion DAG have to get rid of, the sheep will most likely drop their temporary gaming lust like a beat or bowel movement, and hop along to that Next Big Thing In Fashion(tm), leaving their 1-Up shirt to gather dust in the wardrobe like one's seldom used common sense.

The majority will leave this fad with only a shallow experience of gaming, and won't bother picking up something more 'serious', like COD4, Psychonauts, or even Portal. We'll just end up in the same old position: crying out like an Andrew Bolt or Jack Thompson, demanding, constantly demanding, for legitimisation and attention. (please don't bother pointing out any potential ironies from that last sentence, as I'm well ahead of you)

Call me completely cynical of today's yoof (just don't call me 'Susan', 'Arse-hat' or 'Alan Jones'), but I reckon the whole thing's pretty much completely motivated by fashion trends and image, rather than a true love of video games. I'm sure that plenty of people (including those hanging around the PalGN plains) do wear these licensed shirts as an homage to their childhood activities, but as Luke Mitchell's post implied (in much fewer words, as well), the majority are just following the leader (who I wouldn't be surprised if it tells its followers to drink the red cordial eventually). Besides, aren't all the real gamers wearing their Half-Life, Gears of War, or Portal shirts?

By the way, good feature, Daniel. Keep it up.

Gtpod

4 years ago

I get asked to wear my "For the Horde!" WoW t-shirt to parties, for some reason people find it hilarious when they're drunk.

Lord Haart

4 years ago

I tend to agree with Yuppieville, however I'll tinge that raw cynicism with a dash of hope. The worst kind of malignment of video gamers, from my experience, stems from the stereotype of the cellar/attic gamer, hunched over his (never her) PC in the dark, feeding of a mixture of discarded pizza crusts and XP.
However, with the advent of facebook, and it's subsequent rise to trendiness, the 'cool' people of today have found themselves conforming to the very stereotype they saw in others. Facebook has come and will go, but they will all remember that they aren't all that different from Harry the Hardcore Gamer (or Harriet; whatever lights up your chrismas tree).

Consoles represent a more lasting shift in the gaming paradigm. Hot summer day? Then why not simply miss the sweaty session of soccer in the park, and play Fifa (or PES, your pick) with your friends in the air-conned living room. You can always go to the gym later if fitness worries you, and the gym is air-conned too. The convenience and ease of console gaming is incredibly tempting, and I only see it growing over the coming decades.

Now for the real question: Suppose games are becoming trendy. Is that a good thing? May we not face a gaming pandemic down the tracks?

Fetidchimp

4 years ago

^
as long as i can still find some kind of validation from something that happens in a game, which is what i currently find lacking from say, the new format of "blockbuster" movies, which i find vile, then i don't mind trendy. Unfortunately trendy usually comes at the cost of integrity.

Robot Sieg

4 years ago

In the mainstream it's just a gaming shirt. No more no less, no one really knows no one really cares.

In gaming circles, the more underground the gamer shirt that you have the better. This way people in the mainstream just won't get it.

Perhaps an example -> Your 1997 linux only strategy game shirt > my Super Mario Tanuki shirt.

Sin Ogaris

4 years ago

The only gaming shirt I even own is the one I won here, GRAW2. Although that being said there are so many gaming webcomic tees I want to buy, mainly from VGCats. Not exactly the same thing though.

samiboi

4 years ago

Lord Haart wrote

A friend of mine was wearing a space invaders t-shirt when we went out clubbing some time ago

is that... this shirt?

My parents got me this for christmas. You can't say that's not fashionable! You'd all wear it!

Lord Haart

4 years ago

Close, but I think his had "Space Invaders" written on it in big green letters.

I don't know. I've never really been maligned (or palgned for that matter, whatever that word means) for playing games, because I lead a productive and fulfilling life. Games are a hobby, and maybe a career path (creating games, not playing them), but they aren't my life. Just an enjoyable part of it.

Jaws

4 years ago

Agreed. I wouldnt consider myself a gaming nerd, but have an interest in picking up and playing a videogame as a pastime. A hobby as Lord Haart has mentioned. Difference between me and 'casual joe / jody' is the fact that i've been picking up and playing videogames since the Atari 2600 and Commodore 64. When taking advantage of trends is utilised as a money making tactic (for example; bringing retro into mainstream for Phillip Faker to buy), its easy to say that people are shallow, etc... because.. well.. some of them genuinely are. I suppose its a case of taking the good with the bad and grinning and bearing with the state of 'gaming' things these days. As Lord Haart has mentioned, things come and go and this fad may be gone quicker than you think.

ObsoletE

4 years ago

i'm a geek/nerd. i know it, and i don't really care.

i don't really see why wearing a sport-team emblem, or vehicle logo is acceptable, but wearing Mario (or other game), or a Movie/TV show logo, is rather stigmatised.

there are so many shirts i'd love to have, but simply put, they don't go big enough. i'm a big guy in all aspects, and the standard sizes for fashion simply aren't enough. a lot of the designs i like are those "Inside Joke" type designs that mightn't be initially recognised as a videogame (or "Nerd-wear") pattern, but there are also the Super Mario Kart and blatantly obvious designs that i really like also.

i did used to make Mortal Kombat (well, the dragon emblem) and Red Dwarf silk-screened shirts when i was in High-School on the schools screen-set.

Daniel Primed

4 years ago

This whole issue is very interesting. Heres my thoughts:

I think that the appeal of video game apparell stems from an appeal for "alternative". What I mean by "alternative" is the music, the fashion, the vibe. This whole "alternative" vibe is about being unique but still fitting in the field of acceptance. Its hard to put into words but if you are >50 years old then you should have some idea of what I am talking about.

You see "Alternative" (be it in whatever field) can't be classed as uncool or lame. Have you ever heard anyone pay out the alternative music genre? Probably not, I'd say.

For young people, if you play games. It (in my opinion) can be seen as alternative. Because you have a deep interest in something that is considered niche. Hence gaming can be seen as fashionable. The reason why CoD 4 shirts aren't as popular as Space Invaders shirts would be like how some hardcore/alternative music isn't accepted as cool but Snow Patrol(I dunno) is.

I hope that made sense. Anyone else catch my vibe. Basically its: fashionable to be unique but not different.

Lord Haart

4 years ago

Well, the day we see myspace, facebook or youtube tshirts, then we know we're all in trouble

But yes, I do agree. Games are certainly accepted by society these days. [In particular, they fall into 1 of 2 categories; the 'innocent fun' games, covering 90% of games, and the 'rebelious' kind (fps etc). Innocent kind is mainly arcade-y stuff, which is trendy as it is retro, and rebelious is obviously cool too (though it can appear to be overly tryhard)]. Not so sure about games being unique though, espcially with the EA-isation (or sequelisation, if you will) of the gaming industry. And the fact that games aren't changing much from their established genres will make it that much more likely that they will fail to evolve with the trends.

Mr Waffle

4 years ago

Luke Mitchell wrote

He said he had no idea what I was talking about. In fact, he bought the T-Shirt because he said it made his chest stand out and he looked good in green - the mushroom meant nothing.

Reminds me of the Cotton On tshirts that have either Tokyo, Osaka, or Akita written on them, sports-jersey style. While I sort-of understand Tokyo and Osaka, but Akita? That'd be like walking around Japan in a Wagga Wagga tshirt. It's all about the style, not the content...

Fly

4 years ago

I wear this occasionally, like when I know it'll keep it's white and generally don;t get hassled or anything by those who have played Dead Rising (mainly because I wouldn't personally touch a microsoft console) nor do I get weird looks from people when I wear it. So I guess things can be fashionable or just bland enough that only a few people would get the reference and the rest would think "what a retard." Oh well though, everyone likes zombies!