Video games are an escapist medium. That’s what everybody at all times says. And it is true! They permit us to be whoever or no matter we would like, regardless of the realm of chance. Wizards, monsters, survivors within the post-apocalypse, anthropomorphic marsupials named Crash – we will be something. We can escape our day-to-day routines and issues, and we will dwell a life past our wildest expectations.
In 2020, that is maybe important. Between COVID-19, election season, and a relentless barrage of unhealthy information, actuality is bleak. Exacerbating the whole lot is the truth that, you possibly can’t actually go away your home except you possibly can assist it, as a result of threat of spreading or catching the virus. There has maybe by no means been a greater time in trendy historical past to need to escape into the fantasy worlds of video games to only give ourselves a break from all of it.
But regardless of all of this, I discover myself wanting to attract my time in quarantine out, to make time go slower. I’m nonetheless escaping in a approach, however not within the methods I used to. Rather than disguise in a make-believe world on my own, I need to inhabit worlds with different individuals, I need to dwell in these moments and conversations.
Before this 12 months, earlier than the pandemic, I not often performed multiplayer games. Historically, single-player games have at all times been extra my fashion. I really like games that I can lose hours or days to, isolating myself from the world. Hell, I do not even like different individuals being in the identical room as me when I’m enjoying a game. I do not need something getting in the best way of my time in a digital world and with its story. That’s the way it’s at all times been for me, till now.
When the coronavirus began hitting the United States onerous earlier this 12 months, my life basically modified inside days. I’m a double most cancers survivor, and due to this I’m immunocompromised. On prime of that, I’ve respiratory points. I’m firmly within the at-risk camp for COVID-19. More bluntly: If I had been to catch the virus, that’d mainly be it for me. When circumstances first began sweeping the nation, I instantly needed to isolate myself from the remainder of the world, and I continued doing in order issues bought worse. Outside of the individuals I dwell with, I can not see any buddies or household. I can not even go down the road to get a espresso. Of course, this is not distinctive to me; anybody clever additionally is not going round seeing individuals like they used to. But the restrictions positioned on somebody in my camp are harsh. I by no means thought I’d get F.O.M.O. from listening to somebody goes to the grocery retailer. Physically, I’ve by no means been extra alone. Socially, I don’t suppose I’ve ever been higher.
Actual picture of me and my boys getting in at The Boneyard in Warzone
Every single day, one in every of 4 individuals texts me saying some variation of the identical factor. “It’s time to get the W.” Once that textual content is available in, myself and everybody else in my group chat assembles. It’s time to hang around. It’s time to see my buddies … sort of. I do not truly see them; I solely see their avatars in Call of Duty: Warzone, the stand-alone battle royale mode for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. But I hear them, and that is essential. That’s good. It’s what I wait all day for. I’m ready for it proper now, to be sincere. If I can not go over to their homes or see them in particular person, then dropping into Verdansk and taking pictures individuals will (and does) greater than suffice.
I do not blame anybody for making an attempt to flee from the whole lot happening proper now. How may you? This sucks, man! But for me, I discover I now not need to escape my day-to-day. When my quarantine first began, I couldn’t look forward to a day to be over. I’d sleep in, take naps all through the day, and go to mattress early. I performed single participant games that I knew would take me a ton of time to finish. I put 124 hours and 22 minutes into Persona 5 Royal in lower than two months simply making an attempt to make my days disappear. It was a catastrophe on my psychological well being.
Now, I don’t try this a lot. I’m nonetheless making an attempt to flee the bleakness of the world round me, however not in a approach the place I would like it to all disappear. When I lastly get the possibility to speak to my buddies, I need to be in these moments as a result of I need to hear about what they’re as much as, to speak as greatest we will like issues are regular, to keep up these relationships regardless of the time and distance. And it’s working! I’ve by no means felt nearer to my buddies I play Warzone with, a few of whom I’ve identified for greater than 15 years, which is a wild factor to consider. It’s additionally good to only discuss to individuals about how a lot the whole lot sucks proper now. Misery loves firm.
The boys having a pleasant night collectively in Verdansk.
It’s a little bit of a romantic view of friendship throughout a pandemic, but it surely’s additionally one thing to carry on to. And that feels actually essential proper now. Playing Warzone, racking up kills, going for the W (pronounced right here as “dub,” that means “win”), none of that’s actually all that essential to me. If circumstances had been totally different, I do not suppose I’d even play Warzone. It is tremendous not for me. It’s macho, aggressive, and online-only. It encourages gamers to be hostile and violent, to shoot first and suppose second. It’s the antithesis to the sorts of games I play. I ought to hate Warzone, but it surely’s my favourite game in years. It simply has little or no — if something, actually — to do with the game itself. It has the whole lot to do with the individuals I play that game with. Whenever somebody has to log out, I genuinely get upset.
I’m nonetheless maintaining with the large releases of the 12 months. I’m working by way of Mafia: Definitive Edition proper now (I very a lot agree with Jeff Cork’s review) and I completely can’t look forward to Yakuza: Like A Dragon to launch in November. I’m getting excited for the brand new consoles to come back out, too. I’m nonetheless dipping into fantasy worlds, nonetheless gaming the best way I used to. What’s modified, although, is the first motive I come to video games as of late. In the midst of what is possibly the worst interval of my lifetime in historical past, I now not need to devour myself in a faux actuality free from my very own, to make time go as quick as doable. I would like to pay attention to the time I’ve in Warzone. I do not need to escape my actuality proper now, as a result of it is all I’ve.
