I believe that. But to me its within . Nobody really around me talks shoes unless they are jabbing me for having so many. Shoes have been a love of mine for 33 years now. Its not dwindled at all. The culture comes from the understanding of it more than numbers of pairs or value of them...
Ive never used the words culture or shoe game in any conversations about shoes. To me they are just other names for the community, people that are actually into this.