Summary

Video games, through their evolution into online multiplayer experiences, inadvertently prepared society for the social isolation experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, offering a form of virtual socialization that helped maintain relationships and mental well-being.

Abstract

The author reflects on a transformative visit to a gaming store, where the search for a local multiplayer game revealed the shift in gaming towards online co-op experiences, mirroring the social distancing required during the pandemic. This shift, which began in the '90s, contrasts with the author's childhood memories of in-person gaming sessions. Despite the rise of remote interactions, the importance of in-person bonding is emphasized, supported by the author's academic background in human connection. The pandemic's impact on social interactions, from work to dating, highlighted the resilience of video games as a social tool, with platforms like Twitch and Xbox Game Pass seeing increased engagement. The article concludes by acknowledging the role of video games in preserving a sense of normalcy and facilitating social connections during isolation, while advocating for more local multiplayer games to foster in-person interactions in the post-pandemic world.

Opinions

Video games, once a shared in-person activity, have evolved to primarily support online multiplayer, which unintentionally prepared players for pandemic-induced isolation.
The author believes that despite the benefits of online gaming, there is no true substitute for the in-person bonding experience.
The pandemic has underscored the importance of human connections, with video games playing a crucial role in maintaining social interactions during lockdowns.
The surge in online gaming activity during the pandemic suggests that video games are an integral part of modern social life, helping people cope with loneliness and stress.
The author, drawing on their academic expertise, asserts that strong social networks are vital for resilience in the face of adversity, such as the Holocaust or the COVID-19 pandemic.
There is an expressed hope for the release of more local multiplayer (couch co-op) games to encourage face-to-face socialization as the world recovers from the pandemic.

RELATIONSHIPS

How Video Games Prepared Us for the Pandemic

Social distance technology readied us for isolation — and might help us recover

When I stepped up to the wall of cartridges, everything I believed about video games changed.

I remember thinking it was going to be a quick trip to the gaming store, just in and out, then back home to play video games with my son. But that’s not what happened.

Not even close.

All I wanted was a game that my son and I could play together in the same room. Something to expand our quality time, support us during the COVID-19 quarantine, and relieve our pandemic stress.

When I learned shocked me — and convinced me that video games prepared us for the pandemic.

I learned a few new phrases that day.

I learned that co-op meant playing video games with other players not in the room with you. It’s also known as online multiplayer.

Technically, the players could be in the same room as long as they played on a completely separate console. Most of the time, however, co-op games were played between people in different houses and sometimes in completely different states or countries.

Yet, everyone can communicate through the games, usually via headsets.

The other phrase I learned was couch co-op — also called local multiplayer or offline multiplayer. That’s playing a video game with someone in the room with you.

Which is exactly what I was trying to find.

Apparently, they didn’t make games like that anymore—or, at least, not many of them. At least at the time.

Somehow, video games had co-opted us into isolation.

This, of course, didn’t exist when I was growing up in the '90s.

If I wanted to play video games with my friends back then, we would huddle together in the same room and take turns with the limited number of controllers.

Most of the games back then featured one or two-player mode.

My friends and I spent epic nights playing the original Mario Kart until we passed out in a battlefield of leftover pizza and half-empty cans of Coke.

Yes, I played video games by myself. But, mostly, I played as a form of socializing, a way for my guy friends to interact without having to focus on our feelings.

According to a UCLA study, the primary way guys indulge in friendships is through shared activities. Women, on the other hand, tend to engage socially through emotionally based conversation.

By stripping in-person play, video games unintentionally co-opted us out of seamless male friendships. We can still bond, but almost entirely from a distance.

Based on 13 years of teaching and publishing journal articles on human connection, I believe there is no replacement for in-person bonding. Without knowing it, video games prepped us for isolation and social distancing. Without knowing it, video games prepared us for the pandemic.

When COVID-19 restrictions shut down the world in 2020, almost everything changed. Suddenly, everyone worked from home.

Those lucky enough to keep their jobs found themselves in a virtual world of zoom meetings, conference calls, and collaboration software. Isolated indoors, friends and family communicated by video chat or phone.

Even dating relationships often dissolved over distance. Ironically, at the same time, dating apps surged with activity—although few people met in person.

Mind you, this is three years after Vivek H. Murthy, a former surgeon general, sounded a siren call for what he called an epidemic of loneliness: “We live in the most technologically connected age in the history of civilization, yet rates of loneliness have doubled since the 1980s.”

Despite how the pandemic revolutionized most of daily life, video games remained largely the same.

Groups of friends flocked to social games like Among Us, Minecraft, and Don’t Starve Together. Nothing really changed except more people engaged in online co-op play.

Twitch reported record quarters during the lockdown. X-Box pass subscriptions reached 10 million. According to the Video Games Chronicle, Steam surpassed all previous player records.

I think this is one of the reasons why many kids adapted so well to the pandemic. Amidst all the changes, video games allowed them to embrace some form of normalcy.

They were able to maintain existing friendships and even build new ones.

Not only did video games prepare us for the pandemic but they also helped us survive it. They gave us something to engage our minds and emotions through virtual socialization.

Study after study shows the dramatic importance of close personal relationships on personal happiness and life satisfaction.

In fact, those who survived the worst periods in history, including the Holocaust, did so — at least partly — on the foundation of strong social networks.

It’s our relationships, more than anything else, that help us transcend pain.

Eventually, I found a couch co-op game for my son and me to play together. We love games like Super Mario Smash, Mario Maker 2, and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Yes, we are huge Mario fans!

There are still plenty of games for people to play with others in the community and around the globe. Video game companies rushed to meet the demand for online multiplayer.

As the recovery phase of COVID-19 unfolds across the globe, I’m hoping these same companies release more couch-coop games. We need more than normalcy.

We need each other.