For some of us gaming may be the answer to staying connected during lockdown

With the world on lockdown, gaming could be a great way of keeping in touch with those closest to us and keeping our minds active.

There are thought to be around two billion gamers worldwide and many have been saying for years that it’s possible to develop meaningful relationships online, without physical interaction. 
Now the rest of the world is catching up with that idea. Even the World Health Organization recently recommended that gaming as one of the ways we can connect with each other while remaining apart.

 “In many ways, video games offer far more complex collaborative tasks,” says Professor Daniel Johnson, director of the Queensland University of Technology’s Games Research and Interaction Design Lab.

“It becomes instinctive for gamers to maintain a connection using a headset and a shared activity.

“We know guys in particular aren’t great at opening up, but we know the notion of side by side activities or completing tasks together can help men connect. Video games offer that in a really accessible way in this situation.”

Daniel says that friendships he has developed through gaming have allowed him to be more open.  

“I have a large circle of friends I met through a game called Destiny,” he says.

“While gaming, we have talked through everything from divorce to the death of friends and family members – stuff that can be particularly hard sometimes for blokes to talk about.

“Gamers have been inadvertently preparing for this period of physical isolation. We are good at connecting without seeing each other and we’re good at sharing virtual time together and really benefitting from it.”

During lockdown, we are encouraging men to reinvent how they interact socially and find new ways of connecting with each other.
Shaking things up and doing things differently is ok but we also need to remember it’s not a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Every man is going to do things differently.

“Gaming might just be the way to connect with some new guys out there. Give it a go – what better time than now?”