Scour the mainstream media for images of ‘gamers’ and even today you’ll generally find 100 or so variants of Matthew Broderick in WarGames—unathletic, unkempt and occasionally bespectacled too for good measure. It’s a vastly outdated trope that belies the most visible figures in modern gaming. The infuriatingly gorgeous YouTubers who make a living shouting at FUT packs. The shredded influencers doing boxing matches to promote their upcoming trap song or energy drink. But somewhere in that broadly drawn stereotype of the gamer, there’s a grain of truth.
PC gaming is a lot of things: mentally and emotionally stimulating and nourishing, stress-relieving and
