Game Changers: James Rolfe(Aka. The Angry Video Game Nerd)

For the first installment of this little series I like to call Game Changers where I dive into some of the biggest names and faces that changed and helped shape the way games are viewed by the masses, I decided to pick an unlikely and unusual choice. A man known more for shitting on games, James Rolfe(The Angry Video Game Nerd).

Ever since his little passion project series the Angry Nintendo Nerd spread like wildfire on you tube and the internet, James has left a massive mark of his own on gaming and gaming culture in particular. For a lot of people, his popular internet review series was the first exposure many young millenial gamers had to the games of yesteryear and for better or worse, his profanity filled rants helped shape their views on them in one way or another.

For me personally, AVGN is synonumous with video games. He is that deeply entrenched into all things gaming in my eyes. And since he was one of the first to do what he did, he spawned legions of imitators as well as inspired so many of the currently most popular you tubers who are known for their takes on gaming. And speaking of gaming, the Nerd has crossed over so far into gaming culture that he has his own video game. How often does that happen? Where a popular internet gaming critic is so huge that he gets his own game? You can't get any more immersed into gaming culture as a whole than being the focus of an actual video game.

And yes. One can argue that James impact on gaming does have its issues. For one more people are willing to trash games a lot faster than before thanks to the success of AVGN. And to more people associating all kinds of bad things to gaming and the gaming experience. But that impact to me is far less than the positive one that he has had on the culture and community. 

I can't even think of a world without James Rolfe and his creation of the Angry Video Game Nerd. Gaming criticism would be a lot less vulgar but also a lot less fun. There was nothing like James Rolfe's series before it came along and it proved that you can even make bad games beloved by many if you could find the right approach. Heck, some of the worst games ever are immortalized in the annals of gaming history thanks to the efforts of James and others. And in some cases, these putrid piles of fuck are more memorable in many people's eyes than some legitimately decent or good games. That's how well James has gotten through to his audience.

And that's no small feat to turn turds into diamonds.