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The author of this article seems to think that social interaction in video games is a new thing. > many newer games blur the lines between video games and othe

The author of this article seems to think that social interaction in video games is a new thing. > many newer games blur the lines between video games and other types of social activities. Pokémon Go, Fortnite and Among Us... I agree that video games are reaching a wider audience now, but the big online multiplayer networks have been active for a couple decades now. For years for me, catching up with long distance friends has often been over a video game. It's a low social stress situation when you have something to focus on and talk about, but can also catch up on what's been going on in each others lives.

wldcordeiro 5y ago
Even non-long distance friends it's been a great way. The pandemic reinforced that. I had friends start playing games they never did before and I even started playing some I hadn't so we could socialize.
Hamuko 5y ago
Yeah, this is nothing new. I would log into World of Warcraft in 2008 just to be in the guild chat.
gota 5y ago
The author does not play video games, apparently. And (I hope) I'm not gatekeeping - she states it herself in the article: > "I’m excited for this development, even though my own avid video game playing ended in the era of BrickBreaker for the Blackberry." So it's likely she has not followed what games were, are or will be through the decades that turned them into major cultural phenomena. I wonder why she felt compelled to write a piece about something that is not part of her universe when there are so many journalists out there with plenty of experience...? I mean, it's one thing if you decide to write about niche stuff being an outsider; but trying to discuss (and influence) terminology of a field that is, by any metric, completely mainstrean... just seems superfluous
- BitwiseFool 5y ago
  She had to meet an article quota and this is the best she came up with when faced with her writers block.
- mrguyorama 5y ago
  The worst part about all this is that video games as a social network or social medium has been around since at least the late eighties! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_(video_game)
cassianoleal 5y ago
But even before the social aspects went online and remote, they were already there. The arcades of 20-30 years ago were a place to meet friends and make new ones, playing games, competing. Then we'd meet at each other's houses for FIFA/NBA/NHL championships, to play Street Fighter or Mario together, etc. Then there were the LAN parties, where friends would take their desktops with big CRT monitors so they could share a low-latency LAN for multiplayer gaming, whilst being able to talk to each other. It's really just that much of this is now online rather than in person, like many other activities.

wldcordeiro 5y ago

Even non-long distance friends it's been a great way. The pandemic reinforced that. I had friends start playing games they never did before and I even started playing some I hadn't so we could socialize.

Hamuko 5y ago

Yeah, this is nothing new. I would log into World of Warcraft in 2008 just to be in the guild chat.

gota 5y ago

The author does not play video games, apparently. And (I hope) I'm not gatekeeping - she states it herself in the article: > "I’m excited for this development, even though my own avid video game playing ended in the era of BrickBreaker for the Blackberry." So it's likely she has not followed what games were, are or will be through the decades that turned them into major cultural phenomena. I wonder why she felt compelled to write a piece about something that is not part of her universe when there are so many journalists out there with plenty of experience...? I mean, it's one thing if you decide to write about niche stuff being an outsider; but trying to discuss (and influence) terminology of a field that is, by any metric, completely mainstrean... just seems superfluous

BitwiseFool 5y ago
She had to meet an article quota and this is the best she came up with when faced with her writers block.
mrguyorama 5y ago
The worst part about all this is that video games as a social network or social medium has been around since at least the late eighties! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_(video_game) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_(video_game)

cassianoleal 5y ago

But even before the social aspects went online and remote, they were already there. The arcades of 20-30 years ago were a place to meet friends and make new ones, playing games, competing. Then we'd meet at each other's houses for FIFA/NBA/NHL championships, to play Street Fighter or Mario together, etc. Then there were the LAN parties, where friends would take their desktops with big CRT monitors so they could share a low-latency LAN for multiplayer gaming, whilst being able to talk to each other. It's really just that much of this is now online rather than in person, like many other activities.