When I was in grade school, one thing I was constantly told was, "you'll grow out of that". This was true for some things. I grew out of certain clothing trends, I stopped liking MTV in middle school, and Blue's Clues got kinda stale after the second season. However, cartoons, video games, and all sorts of other things stuck to me like glue as I aged, and instead of growing out of them, my interests just broadened. My approach towards video games is similar to a Katamari: The more I consume, the more things I will be able to consume in the future. The only thing keeping me from experiencing it all is that pesky time limit.
Even when I was the prime demographic for channels like Nickelodeon, I was constantly told that life was going to get worse as I got older. Adults just didn't understand why kids love cinnamon toast crunch. Kids were decommissioned from the Kids Next Door when they turned 13. You lost your fairy godparents when you turned 18. In short, we were all doomed to grow up to be the boring adults we despised.
If these guys are the only ones capable of saving the world, maybe we're doing something wrong.
But that's not the case, is it? We know that games are, on average, played by 30-year-olds, with most other players being over the age of 18. Most AAA titles we see these days are collaborated on by people who are, at the youngest, just out of college, but probably at least in their 30's. Not to mention that many games are marketed towards an adult audience, Call of Duty being one of the biggest console sellers these days. We have mature stories told through games like The Last of Us. There have been huge debates on the merits of gaming as an art form. So why are games considered child's play?
Now, all adult gamers don't have to play Call of Duty to be considered adults. Matter of fact, if Brony culture has anything to teach us, it's that anyone can enjoy anything, regardless of age. We don't have to prove our adulthood by putting guns and politics into our media. We can tell all sorts of stories about the human condition in all sorts of ways. Thomas Was Alone tells us about friendship through unlikely partners who happen to be quadrilaterals. Octodad shows us that everybody has to fake it and fumble to some extent if they want to follow their dreams, even cephalopods. If these games have anything to teach us, it's that fear is our one crippling factor. Everyone was probably bullied to some extent when growing up, and unfortunately that feeling often follows us through life. "What if people think I'm strange?" is often the thing holding us back.
So ask yourself: what am I afraid of?
Who says an octopus can't love?
I play a game called Humans vs Zombies on my college campus, for which I often have to run across my campus carrying loads of Nerf gear, often shooting a zombie or two along the way. There are always a few people around who will laugh at us for playing with kids' toys, and, honestly, they're missing out. The. Nerf. community. is. HUGE. The only hurdle keeping so many people from a community that genuinely loves having fun is a little social anxiety over the stigma that toys are for kids. I've been playing HvZ for two years now, and I can say most players are the most honest, genuine people I know. They're not afraid of what the cashier will think when they ring up Nerf at the counter. They're not afraid of what people think when they're sprinting across campus to avoid getting tagged by a zombie. They have to wear their nerdiness on their sleeve if they want to have fun, and that makes them just that much more interesting.
Tell me this doesn't look fun.
Sure, maybe HvZ isn't for everyone. Neither are a lot of things. However, it's an example of how people will lock themselves out from entire life experiences over fear of a little embarrassment. I'll never grow out of being a nerd. There are just too many things for me to experience, and too little time. Why cut myself off from all these things when I hit a certain age? Why deny myself enjoyment? If hiding yourself away from the world is your jam, so be it. Meanwhile, I'll be driving to work with my windows down and my Anamanaguchi CD blasting, and I'll have my Octodad shirt on to remind me to be myself.
