I am on an almost complete news lockdown. Only the morning paper and a cursory glance at the p&r threads here. No more. This keeps me sane.
I am cooped up with kids, three and six year old. I get to game even less than when they still had preschool and school.
I hardly get to go out and work anymore. That sucks. I miss my comrades! I am also growing fat and weak. So as much as I would love to get into three kingdoms, rdr2, that starwars game, I just don’t get any time.
Nope. Finally playing Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC. It’s a little odd playing through chapter 6 given all that’s going on in the world, but still at it.
For me, I went through stress and trouble sleeping about 2 weeks ago, right as things were getting started. While still not completely worry free, I’ve calmed down and just continued living life. Which, given that I’ve worked from home for 15 years now, hasn’t changed too much (aside from not going out on weekends, no more hockey games, etc). Every day when I wake up and feel fine, I know it’s one day closer to (hopefully) getting at least through the peak so that if I do get sick, there’s at least a hospital bed for me. It also helps that I only go out once a week for grocery shopping, and that I go early in the morning before too many people go through the store - better chance to find what I want, and less people to contaminate things (assuming they sanitize overnight, of course).
Still have my moments, but in general, sleeping is fine, and still having a job helps a lot (games are for early morning before work, late afternoon afterwards, and weekends).
I’ve been in “probably getting furloughed” mode for two weeks, combined with the realtors on my potential house purchase being awful about the situation and pressing me for details I don’t have. Anything more involved than an idle game (NGU Idle) and Animal Crossing have been pretty much no-go. Thankfully I’ll know today or tomorrow my job status and hopefully can get back to it with clarity in either direction. Maybe jump into some big long games that weren’t really feasible the past few months.
I’ve been playing a lot of Magic. Short attention span, short games, no need to save and reload. It’s perfect for my current state of mind.
More video games the last week or two than the last 6 months combined.
Which is still maybe 20 hours in the last two weeks, about 6 of which were Jackbox with family back east.
My lack of ability to go play board games/X-wing certainly contribute
Rocket League. For whatever reason playing this game online competitively doesnt stress me out, its just fun.
Not even quarantine can get me into solitaire boardgaming.
Almost every game I have tried just totally loses its proper flow when I play it solitaire. This is either because I will mess up rules or skip steps (I move too quickly when playing solitaire) and so I have to rewind or redo stuff, or because I proceed extra carefully to prevent messing something up and it feels like I’m playing Rules Enforcement: The Game instead of the game I’m playing.
My friends are trying to convince me to play games online, too, and I just have very little appetite for that either. When there’s no one at the table, boardgaming retains approximately 20% of its fun factor.
My gaming has been fine, been playing lots of Nioh 2, but I’m not catching up on my TV/Movie backlog like I thought I might.
I’ve been playing more than before and it’s because playing games like Call of Duty: Warzone or Apex Legends matches me up with people all over the country. I’ve met some new online friends this way, and we all can chat about how the virus is affecting our area, our lives, and where we go from here. It’s been good to have a lot of other voices in my head other than my own and we always have a focus on playing the game too while we chat.
I also got some friends from here to play with me and that was just as cathartic. These games are best played with a mic and sure, sometimes you’ll meet a person that isn’t your style, but more often than not everyone’s cool.
I will note that my main gaming time previously was my commute (40 min. train each way). Losing that means a lot less enforced solo time that I was using for games. Having kids the same ages, strategic concentration isn’t really a thing with them around, so if I am gaming with them in the room, it’s been pretty casual stuff.
I’ve been playing Lego City Undercover with them, as a free-form drive around/do silly things simulator. But they’ve really been taken with Animal Crossing since that released, as well.
I’ve been gaming plenty, but streaming more. Probably has to do with the lack of direct human contact, so the visualization helps.
Edit - and I really have noticed wanting to keep work calls going longer.
I’m finding single player games aren’t holding my attention as much. Been downloading random MMOs to try and also looking at Roll20/Fantasy Grounds to see if I can add a bit more social interaction outside of work/family.
It turns out I’ve been practicing “social distancing” for many, many years. Other than the news, nothing much is different at my home. (Kind of useless advice for you, Jeff. I won’t even bother telling you to try…)
Not quite true…one change that began 2 months ago is that I’ve stopped walking my dog at night, which gained me back some energy and time to play games. I’ve been playing Yakuza Zero on PC for a month now, and it seems like the perfect game/soap opera to play at this time.
Muting the Cornavirus thread is the best thing I ever did for myself. No disrespect to the participants, but it’s not a psychologically healthy place for me to spend time.
The GIF thread on the other hand… :D
Gaming lost its grip on me a while ago when I really started seeing progress from the time I’ve been putting in at the gym. Even now with the lockdown I make sure to exercise at home every day. Oddly enough pushing gaming a few steps down the priority ladder made me enjoy it more when I do actually get around to it.
I’ve found it hard to pay attention when playing single player games, so I’ve been sticking with Antihero and Deep Rock Galactic.
Yes, too many games to play and not enough time. I guess that’s the same trouble I always have… but I’m painting a lot lately instead of gaming, so it’s kind of my own fault… :)
In stressful times like these, I would agree that Animal Crossing is the perfect antidote and stress reliever.
See this short review, for example:
As far as computer games go, that’s my pick for current times.
When it comes to tabletop, I find the process of setting up a board game, playing a solo session and packing up quite peaceful and relaxing.
I’ve also found more time to read up on and prep the very first D&D campaign I’d like to run. Immersing myself in that world and thinking about the story is also a good antidote to reading Covid 19 threads or dwelling on other real life issues.
But yeah, I don’t generally game as much as I used to 10 years ago. And a lot of it has had to do with stressful times during that period.
It is comforting hearing all of this. I played a little Alien Isolation last night on PS4. Seemed fitting :)