"Gaming has changed the world!"

In fact: The gaming industry is booming. And it’s doing so tremendously. Here, there are gamers, who are international superstars with huge fan bases, who quickly consume the budget of a Hollywood blockbuster and more in production and on the other hand, generate revenues, which can easily be compared to those of the German professional football league. And of course, Rocket Beans TV from Hamburg: the, according to its own description, “first German, independent and community-motivated 24/7 web TV”, which has been broadcasting “awesome content all revolving around gaming, digital pop culture and entertainment every day” since its launch in January. Daniel „Budi“ Budiman is one of the Rocket Beans founders and presenters of various formats. The 35-year-old knows what the gaming industry means for the digitization of Germany:

Budi, why are gamers so important to the digital development of Germany?

Each of us is a gamer or player, no matter which medium he or she uses to do it. And also no matter his or her age. Games are - regardless of whether with cards, playing pieces, instruments or purely digital - systems with fixed rules: Every player complies with the respective rules and in doing so, enjoys it for the moment. The search for new rules (of a game) dwells in all of us and questioning, modifying and ultimately mastering the rules are proof of us having achieved something.

And what does that mean for the digitization?

Gamers are important to the digital development of Germany because they understand rule systems playfully, in a free context and often want to question, modify and master them. They have been doing this for decades already and therefore, tend to have better skills in handling digital systems than people, who until now have not been open to this.

Let’s take a look at the looming changes on the job market. For me, gamers represent people, who can operate digital systems quicker, can comprehend them quicker and consequently, also better adapt to the ever-accelerating pace of digital everyday life.

So you’re saying that the obvious advantage of gamers is primarily quick adaptability?

Yes, but not only. Gamers are also the ones, who have engaged in the incomprehensibly diverse game culture for decades with topics such as social structures on the Internet or also with technological progress in operating systems as well as design disciplines of user experiences and user interfaces to performance and communication technologies. At the same time, the setting offers a worldwide market, the earnings (games) and technologies of which represent measurable units and therefore, standards for the development.

And that inspires you.

Yes, of course! I very much like being one of those gamers.

What does the gaming indistry mean for Germany as a business location?

Unfortunately, not very much yet. Meanwhile, “this gaming” has made it to the mainstream in the country culturally however, more through the commercial market and the respective end products or ready-to-use games. In my opinion, there is still a lack of willingness to understand video games in their entirety as a medium and to act in accordance with that. Only then can the national gaming industry experience a serious updraft supported by the federal government, which would improve the already positive sales figures and company data such as number of employees, location development and so on in this country.

What has to happen next?

It makes sense to invest in own (further) education, own companies, own technologies and own (culturally valuable) products. Many other nations have already better understood this.

Is the gaming industry changing our world? If so, how?

Wow, complicated question. I would love to respond to a lot of good concrete examples but that would simply take too long.

A few will do...

From modified gaming video cards, which are used for the scientific visualization of medical data and simulations, to platform-ecological achievements, without which there would be no Netflix or Spotify today, including augmenting and virtual realities to senior citizens, who train their memories using the specific application of video games ... Gaming has already changed the world and is an integral part of our world today.