The Death of Nerd Culture

AI Art by @nightcafestudio

As Marvel, Star Wars, DC, and Dungeons & Dragons all wither and die on the corporate vine, I get this feeling that pop culture, and more specifically, nerd culture, is dying as a corporate profit center.

And that is a beautiful thing.

Nerd culture will never die, but seeing it die as a reliable source of income for Wall Street is a good thing in my feeling. True nerds don't care if it dies, and we are used to being called pariahs for enjoying things others call stupid childish geeky stuff.

We, nerds, were always the outcasts, and we will welcome the feeling back.

Or we will find another marginalized form of entertainment and enjoy it while the mainstream nods and thinks they are remarkable for doing what big corporations say is "cool" these days. Bart Simpson was a fringe icon once until the marketers got a hold of him, and he became the poster child of selling out.

Just like Marvel, DC, Star Wars, LotR, and even D&D will be given the track record here. Do I enjoy D&D? Yes! Is it a positive force in society? Yes! Can I see the end of it, given the record of billion-dollar company stewardship of these franchises? Yes.

Like junk-food restaurants are junk food. I eat there and enjoy them, but I know they are entirely corporate and not the best for my health in the long run. Same with these billion-dollar nerd-culture franchises, fun in small amounts, but you can't feed a healthy imagination and a great life experience only by relying on them.

Relying on trademarked properties to express your imagination is not really imagination.

It is a reinterpretation at best.

Corporations need to do a better job stewarding nerd culture, inevitably telling more people they are not welcome to be a fan than they ever have expanded the fanbase. The few exceptions came early in the MCU, but this was due to the novelty of seeing those stories on the big screen for the first time. Like D&D, the novelty of seeing shows like Critical Role will wear off, and the fans will move on.

These pop culture touchstones have very little to keep them going after the novelty wears off.

And when you see them restricting access and tightening up the rules of who can use it, one thing can be sure, they are likely making the property more attractive as an asset for the balance sheet or a sale.

Without being negative or a hater, this isn't gaming (or what we love about it) we are talking about.

It is Wall Street.

And we can love a game and split that discussion apart from our love of a hobby or fandom and say we do not like the direction it is going or how it is being managed. But as a principal, I am moving on from superheroes in comics and building my own teams and characters to get excited about. I am writing my own fantasy stories and walking away from copyrighted worlds.

My imagination and creations are far better than something I have to "register on a corporate website" to be considered a creator and fan or even talk about the game on YouTube. And then have my "right to talk about the hobby" or even "share my play sessions" revoked by a license.

The mask is off.

So in a way, thank you, OGL 1.1 for opening the door for millions of people to walk away and be masters of their own imaginations again. Even if these draconian rules somehow get "rolled back due to feedback," the hand has been shown, and the writing is on the wall.

Nerd Culture Incorporated was sick and faltering already; this just drove the stake through the heart.