The Geek Generational Gap

Tonight my little brother turns 19. He was born in 1996 which means he has no memory of Earthworm Jim and no interest in 3rd Rock from the sun, the X-Files or Buffy. We are nearly a decade apart in years but through the many arms of entertainment, we share common ground.

 When he was nine years old he was already a great lover of The Pink Panther. I played Monty Python's Holy Grail in the car and watched with glee as he cackled and shook with laughter. On other days I was asked to babysit and we would stage a full Star Wars marathon in the living room. I was so proud when he agreed with me the new movies were rather awful. We never watched them again.

When returned from college for the holidays, It was shocking to periodically see much he had grown up. When he was 13 he started playing MMORPGs (Massively Multi-player Online Role Playing Games). I saw what he was playing and instead set him up on WoW (World of Warcraft) - which he took too immediately. Ok, so this was not my most shining moment, but I helped level him up, vouched for him in raid chat and we bonded over spelling mistakes and poor internet connections. For the first time in years, we had an immediate reason to work together and chat. I graduated college and stopped playing and we didn't play games together anymore. I would visit home for a week, bringing board games and the Dungeons and Dragons Red Box. Sometimes we would play a pen and paper games, others we would forget, get distracted or run out of time and I would return home.

I love my little brother and the time I spent with him over this past holiday has made it clear we are now part of a familial exchange of entertainment. A great exchange of things that make us passionately groan in annoyance, cheer with happiness and cry at beloved characters dying for no apparent reason. I show him Doctor Who, he recommends games on Steam. We had a great discussion on the problems inherent in translating a Manga into Anime.

We share interests and information; fantasy novels, graphic novels, debate superhero movie news and Cards Against Humanity. There are times he makes me feel old by calling one of my favorite games 'ancient'. There are times I overwhelm him with information on building a deck for Magic: The Gathering. The best times are when we are patient enough to learn something from each other.

So here's to chilling out on the couch with you, Bro. I can't wait to see who you become.




For those of you getting nostalgic for 1996, here's an arbitrary list of stuff that happened!