SOCIAL GAMING
How our hobby is bringing us together even as we stay apart during lockdown
How OPM’s readers are enjoying gaming their way through lockdown.
THE PREDICTABLE RULES GAME WORLDS FOLLOW CAN BE COMFORTING IN THESE UNCERTAIN TIMES.
Sony’s Play At Home initiative offers us all free games (see p19), but many PlayStation owners were browsing their game libraries long before that was announced in mid-April. Between 5 March and 5 April, Grand Theft Auto V, FIFA 20, and 2019’s Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare all saw massive increases in new players – and they were far from the only ones.
According to Gamstat.com, which bases its estimates on data drawn from the PSN API, Modern Warfare was the clear winner during this period with over 16,000,000 new players. Plenty of other battle royales enjoyed huge increases too, but it was recent PS Plus inclusion Sonic Forces that ranked second to COD with 4,000,000 new players. That’s quite a contrast.
Whether you’ve been dropping in on the lads or living out your Sonic fanfic fantasy, it’s clear there is a wealth of reasons why people have turned to games as a source of comfort during these unprecedented times. Joking aside, we interviewed some readers to find out how they’re spending this lockdown.
FLIGHT OF FANTASY
The online game PlayStation super-fan Ben Palmer has been playing might surprise you: “I find myself immersed in the Division 2 [which is ironic] given the [story’s] pandemic conditions.” But it’s one way he’s staying in touch with pals. “[My friends and I] talk about our day or week, how things are going, how we’re all coping with the ‘new normal’ and if we can help one another out at all.”
Games have also offered comfort closer to home as Ben and his family try to beat each other’s high scores in Fruit Ninja VR.
Final Fantasy VII collector Andrew Jahn is another reader using games to bond with family. “[My 14-year-old son] enjoyed both [the FFVII Remake and the Resident Evil 3 Remake] and it’s been a treat to sit and teach
him the stories of my favourite childhood games.”
Reader and Street Fighter collector Sarfaraz Janjua confides, “Although I’m an old-school gamer who had the original PlayStation […] I never played the original FFVII (I know, shame on me) […] [But] man [the Remake has] not disappointed me so far. It’s absolutely amazing!” He adds, “Dare I say, it could be my game of the year.”
IN THIS TOGETHER
Friend of the team and Fallout fan Charlotte Orchard says, “My girlfriend has finally found the time to finish Horizon Zero Dawn, after only getting halfway through previously. While we’ve not been playing any twoplayer games, we very much enjoy gaming together on separate systems […] While [we play] very different games, we did share a moment when she was in a battle, which was tense for her, while I tried to catch my first tarantula in [my game], a similarly tense moment with a lot of screaming!”
Mag contributor Nicole Hall says games are bringing her loved ones together: “[We bought] Monopoly Plus and Trivial Pursuit Live to kill some time during the evenings and, aside from the odd sore loser sulking, it’s proved to be heaps of fun. I fear without nights like this we’d have driven each other bonkers by now.”
Reader and Lara Croft aficionado Holly Nicholson tells us that gaming news is one way she stays in touch with her brother. She’s also suggested games to a friend with children, saying, “I texted her and suggested Crash Team Racing – which me and my brother played when we were young despite him somehow always beating me!”
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Nicholson herself has been playing Doom Eternal, saying, “If you are feeling a bit frustrated you can take it out on the evil monsters!”
Also only two trophies away from platinuming Death Stranding, she adds, “I find building all the roads [and exploring new areas] very therapeutic.”
Nicholson’s answers highlight one reason virtual worlds are appealing during these uncertain times: they’re spaces we can control.
Ben Palmer’s offline picks follow similar lines, highlighting the predictable rules game worlds follow and the comfort that can be found there, “I have been playing a lot of
IF YOU ARE FEELING A BIT FRUSTRATED YOU CAN TAKE IT OUT ON THE EVIL MONSTERS.
hidden object/puzzle games to just simply take my mind off the day-to-day […] They provide a great way to focus your brain on figuring something out and you [can just] lose yourself.”
Palmer tells us he’s also been playing a lot of FMV games, specifically naming three: “The Shapeshifting Detective, The Infectious Madness Of Doctor
Dekker, and Erica.”
Good old-fashioned escapism can’t be beaten, but the ongoing industry trend for remakes offers comforting familiarity too. Andrew Jahn, who has completed the original Final Fantasy VII over a few dozen times, is playing “Crisis Core, […] and even Dirge Of Cerberus” again on top of the new Remake. He says the Remake, in particular, is keeping his “love and passion fuelled during these tough times.”
Reflecting on 25 years of his hobby, Jahn explains, “Collecting is a passion for me that helps keep me connected with my younger self. It drives my imagination even as an adult and inspires me to never forget some of the best days of my life.”
And that’s the note to end on: let’s spend this time not just looking back on the good times, but looking ahead to those still to come.
Looking for an online community? Check out our recommendations on p56.
Andrew Jahn is known as ‘THE’ Final Fantasy VII collector. He started by collecting Squaresoft games at the age of nine.