It is early 2020, and the news of a viral disease originating from China started appearing in the media. Initially, I didn’t take any particular notice of this story and continued with my daily life, which, at the time, consisted mainly of searching for employment – along with a few hours of gaming. I was restricted to mobile games owing to the lack of a gaming PC, and PUBG Mobile was the hot stuff. Accompanying me in this gaming session were a couple of idiots, Cenzer and Bullseye, and the fourth spot was up for auction daily on a first-come, first-serve basis.
After we graduated in 2018, life happened, as it happens with most of us. Staying in touch with friends became more of a challenge. This included the Midbenchers, my college gang, made up mostly of my classmates, including Cenzer and Bullseye. I believed that university was a gateway to better opportunities in life, turns out it is one of the gateways to life itself.
As days and weeks passed by, the viral disease – named COVID-19 – had spread across the world, and one fine day, a nationwide lockdown was announced to contain the spread of this virus. The lockdown was supposed to last for a few weeks, but everyone reading this knows what happened in the coming months and years and the havoc it created. We were officially witnessing a pandemic unfold!
COVID-19, with all its might and mutations, triggered a global panic – not just among governments and institutions but also among civilians. Media outlets were flooded with news about infections, demise, financial struggles, food insecurities, and so on – some hopeful but mostly bleak. Furthermore, there was one aspect that often went unspoken: the toll on our mental well-being. Suddenly, we found ourselves unable to meet friends, family, or lovers, and no more casual outings with buddies. And to top it off, it was uncertain when will this be over.
I can go on and on about the impacts of COVID-19, but we are not here to discuss this disease, are we? The title says something else. This piece is about friendship and gaming and how video games helped me stay in touch with my friends. I am sure there is an abundance of gamers – casual and avid – who can relate to this. This is something that I didn’t realize while the lockdown was in place, but looking back at it now, it is so clearly visible and something that I miss.
Coming back to PUBG Mobile (the hot stuff), somewhere in the second half of 2020, I got my first gaming PC. And yes, I got a job earlier that year as a Technical Content Writer, which eventually led to me writing this article (lucky me 😁). With this gear upgrade came a change in the games I played, starting with Fall Guys – another hot stuff of the time, which led to the creation of our first Discord server. Fall Guys was followed by Rocket League, Phasmophobia, Valorant, FIFA 2020, Raft, and many more. There were many single-player games as well, such as Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2 (THE best game I have played), Life is Strange, The Long Dark, Factorio, RimWorld, and the list keeps on going. Find my Steam Library here.
I enjoyed playing single-player games; however, during lockdown, I had more fun playing multiplayer games as there were always people available to play with. Evenings and weekends were spent on Discord channels with the time and energy to either try-hard in the usual games or try out new games. As months went by, new games were being continuously added to our Steam or Epic libraries, and the lockdown had become a perpetual presence in our lives. Along the way, I also got the opportunity to befriend individuals I’ve never met face-to-face, yet we’ve shared countless hours playing together and engaging in a variety of conversations.
Time doesn’t stop, and staying true to its nature, it was 2022 and 2 years of the COVID-era had passed by. Eventually, with the onset of mass-scale vaccination, the end to this lockdown was finally here. With 2022 came the normalization of our social lives, with people working out travel plans, getting married, exploring improved employment opportunities, and pursuing higher education in the country or abroad.
Something else changed as well; I started spending more time playing single-player games as there were not enough people to play multiplayer games with. In fact, in 2022, I didn’t try any new multiplayer game. From auctioning the remaining spots in the lobby on a first-come-first-serve basis, the lobbies started going unfilled. Although a few of us continued to carry on with the usual games (honorable mention Geeky), there was a lack of time and energy to try out new games. Moreover, Cenzer fled to the USA for higher studies and the roughly 12-hour time difference makes coordinating our schedules nearly impossible.
This trend continued for some time, when towards the end of 2022, I met the ‘Shi’ in ShiRo. When I met Shivangi, she was not particularly enthusiastic about gaming, playing the occasional PUBG Mobile (or BGMI at that point). Given that we both have full-time jobs, it was not possible for us to meet in person regularly – even though we live in the same city – and weekends were our jam.
As we moved into 2023, we felt that there was a need for a form of entertainment that both of us could enjoy regularly. And voila! She got a gaming PC as well and finally; we have become a gaming couple. Playing casual multiplayer games after an entire day of work seemed right, a place to decompress our minds with laughs and banter. Gaming gave us the opportunity to stay in our homes and yet do something together on a daily basis. Also, there is this game, It Takes Two, which helped us go through a rough phase and showed us that indeed, it takes two.
Fast forward to 2024, and the friends I consistently stay in touch with are the same individuals with whom I’ve continued to enjoy playing games. Everyone has something going on in their lives – work, love, travel, hobbies, etc. – and yet, we feel connected. I have more conversations with friends who are in different countries and continents than individuals who live in neighbouring cities. It seems, in today’s world, being connected is not restricted by physical distance but by something else that I am not able to explain as of now.
Turns out, those rage-inducing Valorant ranked matches, the rush of adrenaline following a last-second goal-line save in Rocket League, and the girly screams during Phasmophobia all hold a special significance. From holding my mental health together in the difficult times of lockdown to keeping me in touch with pals of many years, gaming has certainly been a lot more than just entertainment.
