How Video Games Raised Generations: From Arcades to the Metaverse

Some things shape generations better than any schoolbook. For some it was music, for others cinema. But starting in the 1980s, more and more children and teenagers received their upbringing from a different source — video games. What at first seemed like innocent fun with pixelated characters has today grown into an entire universe, defining not just childhood, but also the adult lives of millions.

The Pixel Childhood of the Eighties

Back then, teenagers didn’t rush to televisions or smartphones (they didn’t exist in the way we know them now) — they went to arcades. Among the humming cabinets, jingling coins, and flashing screens, the first “gaming generation” was born. Pac-Man taught patience, Space Invaders concentration, Donkey Kong quick reflexes. Each failure cost a coin, and kids of the 80s understood: if you want results, you pay with time and effort.

At home, games arrived with consoles. Nintendo and Sega gave children the feeling that adventure now lived in their very own living room. Mario, Sonic, and Zelda became more than just characters — they were symbols of dreams. For many, they were the first school of imagination: stories born from simple pixels inspired them to believe in something bigger.

The Nineties: Friendship and Rivalry

The next generation grew up in the era of true “console wars.” Some swore Sega was superior, others pledged loyalty to Nintendo. Even the choice of console became a marker of identity. But what mattered more was that games began to teach people how to interact.

PlayStation ushered in three-dimensional worlds. Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, Tekken — these weren’t just distractions anymore, they were universes demanding not only reflexes, but strategy, creativity, and decision-making. On PCs, teenagers discovered Quake and Warcraft, learning to plan and think several steps ahead.

But the true classroom of the 90s was the living room. Mortal Kombat, FIFA, couch races — they were real social events. Some kids learned to lose, others to share victory. Above all, children of the 90s felt for the first time that games could unite, even if it meant throwing punches on a virtual screen.

The 2000s: Life Moves Online

The arrival of the internet changed everything. If before your opponent sat beside you on the couch, now they could live thousands of miles away. In cybercafés, teenagers mastered Counter-Strike — and with it, they learned to divide roles, trust teammates, and build strategy as a team.

World of Warcraft became an alternate reality for an entire generation. Guilds were formed, alliances forged, and virtual weddings sometimes meant more than real ones. For many teenagers, it was their first school of global communication: you could make a friend in Germany or find a rival in Brazil, and the world shrank to the size of a server.

And The Sims? It turned into a textbook on adulthood. Millions of kids discovered that bills must be paid and careers demand effort. It wasn’t a lecture, it was a game — but it taught them to plan and calculate consequences.

The 2010s: Games as Profession and Art

By the 2010s, games were no longer dismissed as “child’s play.” Esports filled stadiums: Dota 2 and League of Legends finals drew more viewers than football matches. Teenagers no longer dreamed of being footballers but of stepping on stage with a keyboard and mouse.

Another revolution happened in parallel. Minecraft proved you could build an entire planet from blocks and teach kids creativity. Indie games like Undertale showed that it’s not graphics but ideas that move hearts. Projects like The Last of Us or Journey turned gaming into a form of art, capable of making millions cry or reflect on life’s meaning.

For the generation of the 2010s, games became simultaneously a career, a creative outlet, and a way to feel part of an artistic movement.

Today: Gaming as a New Life

In the 2020s, games fully merged with reality. Teenagers don’t gather on street corners, but in Fortnite. Concerts take place there, movie premieres, even parties. Roblox lets kids become architects of their own worlds.

Games have also become an economy. NFT, blockchain, GameFi — today, you don’t just play for fun, you play to earn. This is where new projects emerge, such as AXYC, which blend artificial intelligence, game mechanics, and tokens into entire ecosystems. Here, gaming no longer separates from reality: it’s work, education, and creativity all at once.

Modern games teach multitasking, adaptability, and financial literacy. They shape a generation for whom the boundary between virtual and real has blurred almost completely.

Tomorrow: Games as Universes

The future is games where artificial intelligence is not just an “NPC” but a real companion and rival. Worlds will generate before our eyes, adapting to moods and interests. These won’t just be entertainments, but living ecosystems where you can exist as fully as offline.

This is where AXYC comes in again — a project that shows what gaming’s future could look like: intelligent, social, economically meaningful. Games stop being “games” in the traditional sense and evolve into a new format of life itself.

From the 1980s to today, every generation has learned its own lessons. Some learned patience and imagination, others friendship and rivalry, others global thinking and teamwork. Today’s children are learning to manage virtual economies and interact with artificial intelligence.

Games have become a mirror of the times. And if once we pressed Start to escape into another world, today we realize: that world has become our home.