When it comes to technology, the gaming industry has been growing at a steady pace, and so have gamers-they turned to modern gamers, giving a new meaning to that word. By giving a game a multiplayer option i.e. the ability to play with other people online, games have become more than just a way to spend your free time. This means that games and gamers have evolved. The classic gamers turned into modern gamers. The games turned into a way that you can make money so gaming is slowly, but surely becoming a profession. Besides the usual shooter, strategy and RPG games you can now play some traditional games online. You can find numerous sites that offer poker, blackjack, slots games and even bingo sites. Whatever you’re looking for, you’ll definitely find it online.
The question that poses itself is: what does it mean to be a gamer, a modern gamer? To answer that I want to back a bit, back to 90s when there was a boom in the gaming industry. Consoles ruled in that era. Games like Super Mario, Dungeons and Dragons, Street Fighter, Quake and many others were played over and over again. People were into games and appreciated them. It didn’t matter if you had an SNES or a Nintendo 64 or a Play Station. You could just go to your friends’ house and you could play together or if you had trouble with a certain level you would call a friend over so he/she could pass it for you. Friendships were built through games.
As years passed, computer games were pressing on and taking the lead. Sadly a few consoles survived, among them Xbox and Play Station. Games like World of Warcraft III, Diablo, Spacecraft, Counter-Strike, League of Legends, DOTA 2 and so on, can be played online. I have spent a lot of sleepless nights playing DOTA with my friends on Skype or if they weren’t online I’d just join a random match. Those were the days…
Nowadays, most of the popular games like Fortnite, PUBG and Team Fortress require an Internet connection to be played. That’s not the only thing that’s changed. You can film yourself while you’re gaming and even live stream a gaming session through services like Twitch. Gaming has even gone to the point where it has become a specific sport category-e-sport. Don’t get me wrong there were gaming tournaments in the 90s as well, but today’s tournaments are streamed online and viewed by millions of people. So the role of the modern gamer is that of an entertainer as well, whether it’s YouTube or any other platform you have to fight to get an audience, give them quality content and get paid while playing your favorite game. Sounds like a dream come true? Or is it too far-fetched?
To sum it all up, I would say that the modern gamer is the star of tomorrow. If you put enough effort in a game you can make it to a team that competes in a gaming tournament and become an official e-sportsman. You would have people coaching you and taking care of you all day and the only thing you would have to do is play a game, enhance your skills. Or if you want to, you can go solo. You can make gaming videos and put them on YouTube or you can stream on Twitch and live through donations on Patreon or other platforms. The choice is yours.
All in all, modern gaming is a source of infinite possibilities and is definitely here to stay.
