Making the gaming industry more emotionally intelligent — and bigger as a result

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This article is part of GamesBeat’s special issue, Gaming communities: Making connections and fighting toxicity.

When I was growing up, gaming was new. For many years, it was stuck in a subculture of nerdiness. It was toxic. It was full of bullies. And there weren’t many women. It was clearly in a subculture off by itself.

I was on a panel not so long ago with a young GenZ woman who was a creator. She said that for as long as she remembered, gaming was cool. And that’s the generational difference in perspective between an older guy like me and a young woman immersed in gaming every day.

While gaming started as a subculture, it is becoming mass culture with every day that passes. The average age of gamers is climbing (now at 33), and 66% of Americans play games. Gaming is the biggest entertainment industry with $184.4 billion in revenue in 2022, according to Newzoo. This is a great thing to see.

During the pandemic, we saw the number of gamers surge as games became a way to socialize when people couldn’t meet in person. They helped us get through tough times, and it became acceptable to acknowledge that. While people can now go outdoors again, they’re still playing games longer and more often.

Just when we thought gaming was big enough and massive enough already, we saw it get a lift this year from films like The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which has crossed $1 billion at the box office, and TV shows like The Last of Us on HBO. If you have played Wordle, you are a gamer. If you like movies like Detective Pikachu or shows like Arcane, you are a gamer. Again, the subculture is becoming a mass culture.

But it has