It became immediately obvious which geek interests are most popular in Morocco. It seemed like there was a gaming center in almost every neighbourhood. Games and gaming systems were advertised in phone stores, grocery stores, and on posters plastered everywhere. By far the most popular games are sports games, specifically FIFA, and also racing. While other games are played, the hours devoted to them are infinitesimal. This is, of course, due to the love of the live sport. Moroccans just can’t get enough football.
Video Games are King
Video games, starting with computers, began to be popular in the 90’s, with the first LAN gaming centers appearing in 2001. Online gaming didn’t become common until 2010. It was very common for games to be hacked and ripped due to the price and availability of games. While this does still occur, it is much less common. Availability has opened up, but with prices still high, video game centers gained in popularity. These centers are especially useful in Morocco as it is not usual to have people casually over to one’s home. The home is a private space for families, and homes are often multi-generational as well, making for crowded quarters. This issue of privacy and space also suggest why some other geek pastimes are not as evident.
No Space to Play
Our whole time in Morocco I saw one example of Dungeons and Dragons. A single display and dice set at Gaming Sekai, and a little talk with the house geek let me know that it does exist, though there are no places to play and at home play is limited. He was hopeful that a space would open up soon and has tried to find a way to incorporate it into his space, but with no luck yet. Board game cafés and TCG’s have the same fate. No dedicated places to play, as of yet. These geeks remain hidden from the casual traveler. While more complex board games do exist, the favorites that you do see being played and for sale are the classics like checkers, chess, parcheze, and the favorite of Morocco is a variation of checkers called Dama.
Read it in English (or French)
Most material, be they video games, RPG material, or books and manga are in English, or if you are of an older generation French. Books and bookstores are quite common, though the quality of the books varies significantly. There do seem to be a large amount of second-hand book stores though. Manga is a fairly new addition to the geek repertoire in Morocco. It started showing up in 2010-2015, but was mostly read online. There was a large boom in buying of manga that began during Covid. Seems opposite of what happened in Canada to me, where anything that could go digital went digital. Manga finding a place in Morocco is not strange however.
Childhood Anime
Anime has had a place in Morocco for decades. Generations have been raised on Naruto, One Piece and sports anime like Captain Tsubasa. The popularity of anime was one of the first things I notice upon entering Morocco. My very first day I saw someone wearing a One Piece shirt followed by a Naruto the following. Once I started looking for it, I saw it everywhere. I even found a few stores specializing in anime clothing and merchandise (though it seems stores carrying nerd merchandise only started appearing 2-3 years ago.) Moroccans also had the option to watch dubbed anime, rather than subbed, from early on. This helped gain the interest of the youngest generation and really create a foothold.
Which Language to Choose
When it comes to terms Morocco is happy using the english terms and all the meaning implied by them. It was suggested to me that Moroccans tend to try to emulate other cultures and countries. For the older and the richer population, French is their culture of choice. However, the younger population is focussing on english and english speaking countries. This means that english is their language of choice for what they play in and in how they try to view the world. The love of anime also has its hold. This means that those with a higher interest in manga and anime, may hold closer to Otaku culture (Japanese Nerd). Quite fascinating.
A Growing Culture
Overall Morocco seems to embrace nerd cultures a little later than other countries. There is an interest in a variety of geeky interests though. Major differences that stand out in Morocco involve difficulties of enjoying the culture with friends at home, and the lack of spaces outside the home. It seems that this is changing however. Hopefully there will be spaces for everyone and their specific nerdoms in the future. I look forward to seeing how nerd/geek culture in Morocco evolves.