At the time that I write this article, Markiplier, a YouTube celebrity who plays video games, has 13,289,180 subscribers; his most popular video has 50,215,640 views. He is 26 years old and plays video games for a living. But is he an adult?

Legally, yes. He is. However, most of my friends are 18 (legal adult age), and I don’t think any of us considers ourselves adults. We just graduated from high school. High school is actually what inspired me to write this article.

During my freshman year, I was presented with a dilemma. My English teacher said something along the lines of, “You’re not a man if you live with your parents, eat sugary cereal, and play video games." When I heard this, I agreed with the first two sentiments, but the third conflicted me. I loved video games.

Also, a few of my adult neighbors played video games. Sure, the video games that they played were rated M, (you have to be over 17 to buy them), but kids my age played those same games too because their parents would let them. I never considered those kids adults for playing those games, allegedly meant for adults. So, I thought the adults must be reflecting the children. After all, these same neighbors liked to play around during the block party, drinking like teenagers who had opened their parent's liquor cabinet for the first, illicit time.

This brings me back to Markiplier: even though he is a legal adult, he still behaves slightly immature. He overreacts to the games that he plays. Actually, his mannerisms are much like that of a small child. Children, of course, do not make up his entire fan base, but one could see how a large portion of this group could identify with Markiplier. As a matter of fact, in retrospect I have fallen victim to this phenomenon by watching penguinz0 religiously, busting my gut laughing every time.

I must refrain against and apologize to Markiplier, for he definitely isn’t the only Youtube celebrity that behaves in this way. I’m just using him as a poster child for PewDiePie, Tobuscus, and other similar personalities. For all of these people, the basic question reemerges: Does playing video games make you immature?

Often, studies regarding video games offer conflicting answers. There are several which highlight the positive aspects of gaming. For instance, some say that playing video games decreases depression. Others, however, put forth more negative views, and say that video games make you more violent. Trying to cure mental health is admirable and a mature choice, so that is a point for adulthood. On the flip side, aggression and violence are base traits, things that we as the human race should be above.

At this point, I should probably pick a side, and I think I'm going to disagree with my ninth grade English teacher. The world is changing. We are past the idealistic white collar lifestyle of the 50s. Today, most transactions are digital. The gold standard is irrelevant in economics. Much production of goods occur in second-world countries like China. Marijuana is legalized in Colorado, and gay marriage is legal in all 50 states. If video games are something that is being made by adults, for adults, and played by adults, then we should accept that adults can be gamers.

I should also note that I’ve been talking about men gamers throughout the article because most games are marketed to men, and this is also what my English teacher mentioned. We haven’t left the patriarchal standards of the providing man, but we are wiggling away from it. Mr. Mom was once an ironic movie concept that is now a reality. In fact, 16 percent of men stay at home. If gender roles are slowly setting on the horizon of the 21st century, women are along for the ride. Women gamers are sprouting across the nation, even throughout the world. My ex-girlfriend loved "Grand Theft Auto V" for the few minutes that she played it, and my best friend (who is female) has mentioned how she owns and actively plays "Fallout 4."

I think we should actively embrace the gaming culture. Gaming can actually be used to teach and stay healthy. The controllers are going to have to be resized for all hands big or small. Maybe that’s why there was so much buzz about "Minecraft" when it first came out: it was a game that was only limited by the player’s imagination. The violence didn’t alienate little children, and the tame nature of it attracted adults who wanted to return to their imaginative youth.

All this being said, maybe the question shouldn’t be, “Are you still an adult if you play video games?” but instead “What defines adulthood?” The answer to this, of course, is nothing. Acting "childish" is a dated term, and what makes certain people more mature than others is all subjective. After all, I think the manliest thing I’ve ever seen was my dad playing "Rock Band" with us on the Wii every christmas, keeping the difficulty at “easy” so we all have a fun time.