With humankind being forced to retreat inside their homes and wait patiently till the pandemic blew over, there was very little to do with all the time we had on our hands. Most of us worked from home and continue to do so. This left us with ample time to kill, reflect upon how we lived our lives and engage in things that we had never done before. One of those activities that most of us found ourselves indulging in was online gaming. Online gaming not just helped us kill our boredom and spend our time, but it also opened up a new portal to life. For a long time, Avid gamers have known something new gamers are just realizing. There is a world on the other side of the screen where new connections can be fostered and the old ones kept alive. The pandemic has isolated us from our friends and families. Most of us are stranded in different parts of the world, away from the comfort of known faces and the warmth of a familiar touch. As such, one of those things that have kept most people going is online gaming. Thus, with the pandemic toppling our lives and lockdown being imposed one after the other, people around the world resorted to online games like never before. In this article, we shall look at some of the ways in which online gaming has kept connections alive in a world that has been isolating since the end of 2019.
Building New Friendships:
Gamers know and vouch for the fact that online gaming helps in fostering relationships that you would have otherwise missed. When you enter the gaming space, you meet a bunch of like-minded people, albeit virtually, with whom you can share and exchange ideas. We do not mean to imply that such connections are possible only if you are an ardent online gamer. Once in a while, you might meet someone similar to you at the café or the movies and hit it off. But this ongoing crisis has left us with little room to make such connections because we can no longer visit a café or the movies with abandon. The online gaming space has come to our relief at this crucial juncture. Online gaming has always been a space where gamers could make new friends and connections, unite with the rest of the gaming world, and be a part of a larger community. However, this is perhaps the first time that people who have never been associated with gaming are now utilizing this space to the best of their abilities. This space is all most people have now for fostering new connections and meeting new people in a world descending into chaos.
Preserving Old Connections:
Besides opening up a whole new world for people to make new friends and connections, the online gaming space has also made it possible for them to stay connected with their friends and family members over fun activities. Online games have acted as a tether to those locked up inside their houses due to the lockdown and unable to meet their friends much. It has acted as a way to preserve connections to those who had to go back home and leave their friends back. These games have brought families together estranged due to the virus. Plus, online games have acted as a conduit for opening up a dialogue about topics like COVID-19 anxiety and depression. Therefore, this space has not just made room for finding lost connections and staying in touch with people’s kin, but also helped people navigate these extremely harrowing times with the help of games and interaction.
Wrapping Up:
Our lives have changed drastically and perhaps perpetually over the last few months. We have found ourselves doing things that we never thought we would. Online gaming has been one of those activities. However, as more and more people who never indulged in this space, took up online gaming, they realized that the domain had a lot to offer. It was not just about playing games to one’s heart’s content and perhaps even making some money out of it. It was also about fostering new connections and maintaining the old ones, especially in isolation and distance. And now that people have got the taste of what this space has to offer, it shall perhaps not be much of a stretch to state that online gaming shall keep drawing new gamers to themselves and long after all this is over!
