Florida. 1990.

Eight-year-old Jeremy (me) was down the street at a friend’s house. The friend’s dad was setting up their Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES if you’re one of the kool kidz. Having enjoyed nationwide distribution in September 1986, it took a few years to filter down to the poorer neighborhoods (mine).

My friend Alvin and I sat on his bed with the Ninja Turtle sheets, just bouncing our feet in anticipation. He told me, “You know, I’m the first black boy in the school to get a Nintendo!” I wasn’t sure if that was true, seeing as how about a third of the school student body was black. And what about the Hispanic kids? I think they were about a third of the student body as well. I think the Vargas twins had one. Either way, I did not have one and I was bad at math. I was the one sitting there with Alvin, about to have my mind blown. Alvin’s dad had a giant work truck that was always new and shiny looking, though I don’t remember the name. So, I didn’t argue his point.

This wonderful kid and paragon of humanity was, however, the first kid of any race to give me a Berry Tie-Dye flavor Fruit Roll-Up. A core memory. It was so amazing that I had the brief thought that my parents didn’t love me since keeping this sugary delicacy from a child must have been a war crime. So good my blood sugar spiked just writing about it.

I remember both of us gasping when the initial loading screen appeared. This was it! Alvin’s dad loaded in the Super Mario Bros. cartridge and left us to fall into the Mushroom Kingdom. We took turns playing Mario, then did some two player. It was just as fun to watch as it was to play. There were no save game features. You die, that was it, back to the beginning of the level. I would have other interests over the years, but this was a life changing moment for me. From then on, I was a Gamer.

The trouble started in middle school. Girls suddenly became very interesting and why did they smell so good? How come I couldn’t talk correctly when Kaley sat next to me? Of course, I thought, she (and all girls, really) would be impressed by my skills in Sonic the Hedgehog. This was 1994 and the Sega Genesis had me in a chokehold.

There was a noticeable shift in seventh grade. Suddenly I was a nerd. This was not something you wanted to be in 1994. Since when was Starwars not cool? What do you mean ‘Who is Earthworm Jim’? How was I back at the bottom of the social ladder?

Now anyone can be a “nerd”. Nerd used to be an insult, and it stung. Now people are proud to say things like, “I’m a book nerd”, or “I’m a nerd for comic books”, “I’m such a history nerd lolz”. It’s almost a badge of honor used to show your enthusiasm about something.

Since being a nerd put a target on your back for bullies, you had to find allies in secret. Nothing open. It was letting a Zelda Strategy guide peek out of your backpack in front of a potential nerd. Passing notes to a possible new friend. This must be what it felt like to be part of the French Resistance against the Nazi’s, probably.

That’s another thing. Nerdy interests aside, it was east to make friends as a kid. You could have the same color shirt as another kid, and bam, instant besties. As an adult, it’s awkward and dumb. I like to think of myself as socially confidant, but trying to make a friend as an adult feels more awkward than dating, somehow. At least for me.

Back to video games. I have to give credit to the women for taking much of the stigma off of the “gamer nerd” moniker. The mid 2000’s saw a huge expansion into console gaming by female players. Once phones became smartphones, the mobile gaming industry took off, enticing an even more diverse player base. Now, the mobile gaming industry is worth in total around $120 Billion dollars and commands roughly 50% of the entire global video game market.

This is completely amazing to me. Games became popular in my lifetime, but for my kids, they were always popular. They can’t conceive of a world where video games didn’t exist. For a while I had to reassure them that yes, we had electricity in the 80’s. My oldest son went to a birthday party a few years ago at a place that had an arcade and a whole bunch of consoles with “all those really old games from the 1900’s”. Thankfully that place also had a bar with soft chairs, perfect for the existential crisis I was having at the moment.

My whole family plays games. My mother is 73 at the time of writing and she’s been known to stomp a Goomba or two. My three-year-old plays some of the simple iPad games. We have a Playstation and a Nintendo Switch and one of those Super Nintendos (SNES if you’re one of the kool kidz) that have a bunch of games preloaded on it. I had thought about rebuying an old Sega Genesis, but then I had flashbacks of the Aladdin game. That’s the only game I’ve ever broken a controller out of rage, because fuck that game.

All those consoles aside, I’m mostly a mobile gamer now. Partly for convenience, and partly because phone technology has become amazing as of 2026. There are some complex games I enjoy like Honkai Star Rail, but I also play some of the more casual games with my kids like Pokemon Go. It’s something we can do together and it gets me off of my ass. Not that there’s much of an ass there. My wife says I look like a frog standing up.

In the last few years there have been ports of what people in the biz call AAA games. I’m sure this means something, but I don’t feel like giving it a goog at the moment. Older games like Knights of the Old Republic from the early 2000’s. Newer games like Red Dead Redemption and Resident Evil have come to mobile as well, which is amazing. Meaning games that were previously only on a PC or console like Xbox you can now have on your phone. The whole idea of it just blows my mind.

I guess the point of all of this, if there is one, is that video games are important. They teach problem solving and teamwork. Better hand eye coordination and emotional control so you don’t break a controller during the hoverbike level of the Battletoads game because fuck that game too.

Modern video games have become art, like it or not. The people that say otherwise have never finished Chrono Trigger or watched a cutscene from Ghost of Yotei. Games now feature some of the most emotionally intelligent stories and lore I can find. Compelling characters and amazing musical scores.

Obviously, I want my children to have the full gamer experience. I don’t want that to be at the cost of other interests. I try to make sure they have variety with these things. Thankfully I don’t get too much pushback from them went I have them take screen breaks to do other things. Since these games are a big part of their social life, we enjoy talking about them too.

I’ve gotten a bit defensive when my kids talk about video games in public. Some of the boomers give me a disappointed look. “You let your kids play video games?” the look says. I will usually let shit like that go. Especially from boomers, since they will be dead soon.

The entertainment world has changed. I mean, the world in general that I grew up in doesn’t exist anymore. A large portion of all entertainment is in some digital form. I’ve learned to accept that and not be some old man yelling at a cloud with my pants belted right under my nipples. I look forward to what the next generation of video games brings. Maybe in twenty years we’ll have the Playstation 30 that plugs directly into your asshole. I’ll make sure to have my frog pants belted a little lower by then.