An Escape From Reality: Video Games During the Pandemic

Nobody expected the pandemic to have such a powerful impact as it did this past March. What started as a week off from school evolved into a month, which stretched into multiple months and what has now become a year. The isolation many of us have faced has been rough. In response to that, the popularity of online gaming has skyrocketed, and for good reason: if 2020 has taught us anything, it’s the power of online gaming. Whether through a console, computer, or even your phone, online gaming provides people two important things necessary for survival during the pandemic: distraction and communication.

For example, take two of the most popular games played during quarantine: Among Us and Minecraft. For anyone who doesn’t already know, Among Us is a murder mystery game centered around you and a group of players completing tasks onboard a spaceship; the twist is, one of you is “the Imposter.” The Imposter cannot do tasks, but instead must beat all the other crewmates while also making an effort to stay inconspicuous in order to avoid getting voted off the spaceship each round. The other players must figure out who the imposter is in order to vote them off before he wins. 

The other game that increased in popularity is Minecraft. Minecraft is a blocky, survival-oriented building game, with two primary game modes: survival and creative. In survival, your objective is to survive in your world to go on and achieve various milestones before traveling to the End and killing the Ender Dragon, all while fighting various monsters along the way. The second, creative mode, is purely for building and creating various structures. Both modes can be played either in single-player mode or with friends online.

So why are these games so popular, especially now? Well, for one, both games provide replayability. In other words, they are games that you could play over and over again, getting a somewhat different experience every time, making them the perfect distraction for the dreary days we have all been having lately. During quarantine, many of us have gone from going out with friends a few times a week to having little contact with anyone outside of our homes. In this respect, both games give an opportunity to spend time with friends without having to leave your sofa.

For many North students, the situation is mostly the same. For instance, senior Cole Witko has said that for him, the three games he’s most often played are Among Us, League of Legends, and Rocket League, all large scale multiplayer games online. Additionally, he credits those games with helping him keep in touch with friends during the pandemic saying, “if both of these games were not free, I doubt I would still be in touch with as many people as I am now.”

Video games have become a surprisingly large part of many people’s lives, both young and old. Especially now, video games serve not just as a distraction, but as a reminder that we’re all in this pandemic together, whether that be in person, or through a screen.