The 1960s birthed surf culture, a lifestyle centered on the beach involving everything from fashion to music and film. Whether someone ever picked up a longboard was almost beside the point: there were participatory cultural touchstones, from wearing flip-flops and board shorts to listening to the Beach Boys that fostered a “shared sense of belonging to that community,” said Gary Kleinman, a longtime owner of an experiential marketing agency.
Skate supplanted surf by the 1980s and ‘90s, with its own attire and soundtrack. Now, Kleinman argues, gaming is the latest counterculture to hit mainstream. He is the founder and CEO of WHAM, a new over-the-top network distributed by Cinedigm that will cover everything from competitive esports to Candy Crush as gaming follows the same lineage as surfing and skating.