Nostalgia is not something immediately understandable to the vast majority of people, but it is something many experience in their day to day life—whether consciously or unconsciously—when it comes to the media they interact with. In deciding things such as which t.v. show or movie to watch, which book to read, or which game to play, nostalgia tends to play a big part. I think the most common manifestation of this concept that I’ve personally witnessed is the idea that, more often than not, people will gravitate toward things that are similar to what they were interested in/impacted by as kids. This is undoubtedly true about the games people buy. In chapter 38 of How to Play Video Games, Shovel Knight: Nostalgia, John Vanderhoef writes, “Because of its intimate connection with our cultural experience, media have historically been linked to strong feelings of nostalgia. This is particularly true for gaming communities, whose adult members started playing games early in life and now associate particular eras of gaming with the pleasures of childhood.” (Vanderheof, 317) The book further discusses how nostalgia influences perception, too. Many of us grew up with just one device for playing games (ie. PlayStation, PC, Xbox, Nintendo….) In most instances, that device will hold an important place to us years down the line and even be a contributing factor to what kinds of systems we buy later in life. While I’ve had multiple different consoles/handheld game devices over the years, the first one I had as a kid was the PlayStation I played nearly every day with my twin brother. Today, it’s still something the both of us use the most often and talk about when spending time together. The only difference is we’ve broadened our taste in games beyond just Tekken and Dance-Dance Revolution—and it’s the PS4 instead of the PS2 with its limited graphical potential, wired controllers and tiny box-shaped t.v. 

The point of this is to say that the things we had as kids influence us as teens/adults whether it’s obvious or not. Those whose first system was the Nintendo (64, Game Boy, DS….) or those who played on PC are probably still gravitating toward those things as adults, too. It’s more or less inevitable. It’s what they’re used to, what inspired them, what took their breath away when they defeated that final boss and watched the credits roll through tears. Interacting with these kinds of things today takes us back to a different, possibly less overwhelming time. This isn’t to say that people’s interests don’t change, but there’s something exciting and even tranquil about delving into things from back in the day with improved technology and further personal life experience. This applies to genres, too. People who were JRPG fans as kids probably still are today, and the impact is probably much more personal than it would be if that hadn’t been the case. Then there’s third-person action adventure, platformers, puzzle games, and so forth. Most if not everybody holds a certain gaming system, gaming genre or particular series/title close to them for reasons which transcend the present moment in which they’re playing them. They spark the joy or intensity of playing those games/systems as kids in ways only they truly understand. Gaming itself, then, is something of a nostalgic practice for a lot of us. Wanting to dive into different universes/play as different kinds of people isn’t a brand new thing for those who’ve held controllers in their hands—trembling with anticipation—thousands of times. Nostalgia is present in gaming to degrees which go beyond what those who don’t play them typically understand. It’s influential, transcendent, and broad in its reach around the world when it comes to interactive media.

Works Cited

Huntmann, Nina B. and Payne, Matthew Thomas. How to Play Video Games. New York, NY, New York University Press, 2019.