Over the past couple of years, the world has changed drastically. What once was everyday activities are now extremely limited. Most countries have placed restrictions, or even lockdowns because of Covid-19, and whatever side of the spectrum you fall on, whether you believe it’s as dangerous as people are saying or if you think it’s all over-exaggerated, I think we can all agree on one thing. The whole situation is fucked. Pardon my French.
Over the past two weeks, I have started a series of articles that I am now calling Video Games and their effects on Health. My first article Video Games and their impact on Mental Health talked about the effects of gaming on mental health. My second article Virtual Reality as a treatment for PTSD talked about how Virtual Reality is being used as a treatment option for PTSD. Now, I understand that not everyone could relate to those articles, so I decided to do one where the majority, if not all of you wonderful readers, could relate to, and that’s Video Games and their effects during COVID-19. As always, I will list my sources, and I hope you enjoy the read!
Being on lockdown sucks. Our movements are limited and many activities that we once enjoyed pre-Covid aren’t available anymore. So it’s obvious that people that are stuck in the house are going to be playing more video games, right? I mention in a previous article how video games are often an escape from people, and it’s no different during covid. A survey conducted by Ipsos, a market research firm, shown that more than 55% of players they surveyed said they had played more games during covid. The same percentage also said that they played games for stress relief while 48% said they played it as a distraction. So looking at those numbers, it’s easy to see that video games are being used as a coping mechanism for the hardships Covid brought us.
But that’s not all. There’s an old saying, the family that games together, stays together. Okay, maybe it’s not an old saying. And maybe I just made it up, or at least I think I did? But during the same survey conducted by Ipsos, it showed that 74% of parents surveyed said that they play video games with their children weekly, that is 19% more than a survey conducted in 2020 where only 54% of parents said this. (https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2021/07/13/video-games-2021-covid-19-pandemic/7938713002/)
You might be scratching your head, and saying “Gamergeek, what do the numbers above have to do with with this article?” Well, I wanted to tell you those numbers just so you could have a frame of mind about other gamers during covid. And I also have another number for you, 227 million. Big number right? Well, according to Entertainment Software Association, that’s the number of people in the U.S that play video games. I’m telling you this here because Ipsos conducted the survey that I got the numbers above from for them.
Image Source
I mentioned before how I use video games as an escape to help me with my depression and anxiety. And it seems that during Covid more people are doing the same, they’re using video games as an escape. And who can blame them? The stress the lockdowns and restrictions have caused can be extremely damaging to one’s mental health and more than one person has snapped because of it. So what has changed with gaming habits during Covid? Well, I’ll tell you below.
More gamers have reported to spend more time on games, and dive into genres they would have never played before. And I mean, the reason for this is pretty obvious. It’s because they have more time. If there is one silver lining to covid is that it has given us more time to do what we want. People who never had time to play games now have time thanks to the lockdowns.
Image Source
Socializing is important to anyone’s mental health. I know it’s a staple of mine. But once again, covid has affected that ability. But gaming is a way for people to socialize. I know a lot of people are going to say that it always has been which I would agree with, but now more than ever I believe it’s an important part of people gaming. When other social activities are either banned or extremely limited, gaming will never be. I have a cousin that lives a province away. He is someone I’d consider a brother considering that I grew up with him. Gaming is one of the big ways we communicate with each other. Once a week or so we’ll fire up cod, play for a couple of hours, catch up, etc. And in the Covid times, more gamers are using games for that reason, just to socialize. (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/15554120211017036)
I’m going to go off track for the next bit of this article and talk about the effects of Covid on the gaming industry. Now it’s obvious that with more people playing games, gaming companies are going to be raking in more money, but just how much? How has Covid affected the industry? Well, I’ll tell you below.
When the lockdowns first happen, most gaming companies switched to a work from home model. When this happened, I was sure that there were going to be a lot of delays in upcoming video games. I thought this because during my time at college, I had to work on developing a few mobile games with a group of friends as an assignment. ( The college I went to was horrible, had a horrendous reputation Canada wide, that I only learned of around six months in which is one of the main reasons I dropped out) The college I went to had 4 hour days, so as a result we spent a lot of the time working on our portions of the project from home. And communication could get tricky. Sometimes someone was working on a part that someone else in the group was also working on, and generally it was a mess. And the thing was, there were only four of us in the group. So I thought that with big teams that Video Game companies had, that they were in for a shit show.
But, like usual, I was wrong. In fact, the video game industry in Canada thrived. Video game companies in The Great White North had reported a total of 4.2 BILLION dollars in total revenue for 2021. That’s a whole 20% more than 2019! But it’s not only the video game industry that is thriving in these times. (https://financialpost.com/technology/gaming/canadian-video-game-sector-thrived-through-pandemic-but-came-out-changed)
Image Source
If I were to describe my gaming PC, I’d use three words. It’s a starter. I bought an Alienware aurora r5 around 6 or so years ago and thought it was great. Over the past couple of years, I have been slowly upgrading it. I got a new GPU for it, more RAM, and got myself an SSD. I’m hoping to have it fully upgraded by the end of next fall, which includes swapping it into a new case. In fact, I just went and bought a new mobo, cpu, and case for it. And to say it cost me a pretty penny is an understatement. During covid, there has also been a markup on pc parts. More people are looking to kill time, and a lot of them are deciding to either upgrade or build their own PC. Because of this, retailers are running out of parts, and the price of said parts is going up. Now I could always wait until covid is over, but who knows when that will be, and plus, I’m an impatient bastard.
Image Source
Overall, gaming has been a godsend to some people during covid. In a time where our usual routine is so messed up, it offers people a sense of normalcy. It offers an escape from the shitty situation we are in, a form of socializing, and just a way to have fun and kill some time. The effects of gaming during this lockdown have been positive and I think a lot of people may have driven themselves crazy without it. Covid has affected us all in one way or another. Black, white, rich, poor, straight, gay, vaxxed, unvaxxed, etc. It doesn’t discriminate. Now more than ever, it’s important to stay positive. Sure, some people may be better off, but don’t let that fool you into thinking we’re not all in this together. In days like the ones we are facing, we always need to look for the light at the end of this tunnel, and when it passes, because it eventually will, we will look back on it as nothing more than a nightmare we overcame. Thanks for reading!
Image Source
español
En los últimos dos años, el mundo ha cambiado drásticamente. Lo que antes eran actividades cotidianas ahora son extremadamente limitadas. La mayoría de los países han impuesto restricciones, o incluso bloqueos debido al covid-19, y sea cual sea el lado del espectro en el que se encuentre, ya sea que crea que es tan peligroso como dice la gente o si cree que todo es demasiado exagerado, creo que todos podemos estar de acuerdo en una cosa. Toda la situación está jodida. Perdón por mi francés.
En las últimas dos semanas, he comenzado una serie de artículos que ahora titulo Los videojuegos y sus efectos en la salud. Mi primer artículo Los videojuegos y su impacto en la salud mental hablaba sobre los efectos de los juegos en la salud mental. Mi segundo artículo La realidad virtual como tratamiento para el PTSD habló sobre cómo se usa la realidad virtual. como una opción de tratamiento para el PTSD. Ahora, entiendo que no todos pueden relacionarse con esos artículos, así que decidí hacer uno con el que la mayoría, si no todos ustedes, lectores maravillosos, pudieran identificarse, y ese es Videojuegos y sus efectos durante COVID-19. Como siempre, haré una lista de mis fuentes, ¡y espero que disfrutes la lectura!
Fuente de imagen
Pero eso no es todo. Hay un viejo dicho, la familia que juega unida, permanece unida. De acuerdo, tal vez no sea un dicho antiguo. ¿Y tal vez me lo inventé, o al menos creo que lo hice? Pero durante la misma encuesta realizada por Ipsos, mostró que el 74% de los padres encuestados dijeron que juegan videojuegos con sus hijos semanalmente, eso es un 19% más que una encuesta realizada en 2020 donde solo el 54% de los padres dijo esto. (https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2021/07/13/video-games-2021-covid-19-pandemic/7938713002/)
Fuente de imagen
Es posible que se esté rascando la cabeza y diciendo "Gamergeek, ¿qué tienen que ver los números anteriores con este artículo?" Bueno, quería decirte esos números solo para que puedas tener una idea sobre otros jugadores durante el covid. Y también tengo otro número para ti, 227 millones. Gran número, ¿verdad? Bueno, según la Entertainment Software Association, esa es la cantidad de personas en los EE. UU. que juegan videojuegos. Te digo esto aquí porque Ipsos realizó la encuesta de la que obtuve los números anteriores para ellos.
Fuente de imagen
Mencioné antes cómo uso los videojuegos como un escape para ayudarme con mi depresión y ansiedad. Y parece que durante el Covid más gente está haciendo lo mismo, están usando los videojuegos como escape. ¿Y quién puede culparlos? El estrés que han causado los bloqueos y las restricciones puede ser extremadamente dañino para la salud mental y más de una persona se ha quebrado por eso. Entonces, ¿qué ha cambiado con los hábitos de juego durante Covid? Bueno, te lo cuento a continuación.
Más jugadores han informado que dedican más tiempo a los juegos y se sumergen en géneros que nunca antes habrían jugado. Y quiero decir, la razón de esto es bastante obvia. Es porque tienen más tiempo. Si hay un lado positivo para covid es que nos ha dado más tiempo para hacer lo que queremos. Las personas que nunca tuvieron tiempo para jugar ahora tienen tiempo gracias a los bloqueos.
Fuente de imagen
Socializar es importante para la salud mental de cualquier persona. Sé que es un básico mío. Pero una vez más, el covid ha afectado esa capacidad. Pero los juegos son una forma de socializar para las personas. Sé que mucha gente dirá que siempre ha sido algo con lo que estaría de acuerdo, pero ahora más que nunca creo que es una parte importante de los juegos de la gente. Cuando otras actividades sociales están prohibidas o extremadamente limitadas, los juegos nunca lo estarán. Tengo un primo que vive a una provincia de distancia. Es alguien a quien consideraría un hermano considerando que crecí con él. El juego es una de las grandes formas en que nos comunicamos entre nosotros. Aproximadamente una vez a la semana, activamos el bacalao, jugamos un par de horas, nos ponemos al día, etc. Y en los tiempos de Covid, más jugadores usan juegos por ese motivo, solo para socializar. (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/15554120211017036)
Fuente de imagen
Me desviaré del tema en la siguiente parte de este artículo y hablaré sobre los efectos de Covid en la industria del juego. Ahora es obvio que con más personas jugando, las compañías de juegos obtendrán más dinero, pero ¿cuánto? ¿Cómo ha afectado el Covid a la industria? Bueno, te lo cuento a continuación.
Cuando ocurren los bloqueos por primera vez, la mayoría de las compañías de juegos cambiaron a un modelo de trabajo desde casa. Cuando esto sucedió, estaba seguro de que iba a haber muchos retrasos en los próximos videojuegos. Pensé esto porque durante mi tiempo en la universidad, tuve que trabajar en el desarrollo de algunos juegos móviles con un grupo de amigos como tarea. (La universidad a la que fui era horrible, tenía una reputación horrenda en todo Canadá, que solo supe de unos seis meses en los cuales es una de las principales razones por las que abandoné) La universidad a la que fui tenía días de 4 horas, así que como resultado pasamos mucho tiempo trabajando en nuestras partes del proyecto desde casa. Y la comunicación podría complicarse. A veces, alguien estaba trabajando en una parte en la que también estaba trabajando otra persona del grupo y, por lo general, era un desastre. Y la cosa era que solo éramos cuatro en el grupo. Así que pensé que con los grandes equipos que tenían las compañías de videojuegos, les esperaba un espectáculo de mierda.
Fuente de imagen
Pero, como siempre, me equivoqué. De hecho, la industria de los videojuegos en Canadá prosperó. Las compañías de videojuegos en The Great White North informaron un total de 4.2 MIL MILLONES de dólares en ingresos totales para 2021. ¡Eso es un 20% más que en 2019! Pero no es solo la industria de los videojuegos la que está prosperando en estos tiempos. (https://financialpost.com/technology/gaming/canadian-video-game-sector-thrived-through-pandemic-but-came-out-changed)
Fuente de imagen
Si tuviera que describir mi PC para juegos, usaría tres palabras. es un motor de arranque Compré un Alienware aurora r5 hace unos 6 años y pensé que era genial. En los últimos dos años, lo he estado actualizando lentamente. Obtuve una nueva GPU para él, más RAM y obtuve un SSD. Espero tenerlo completamente actualizado para fines del próximo otoño, lo que incluye cambiarlo por un nuevo estuche. De hecho, acabo de comprar una placa madre, una CPU y una carcasa nuevas. Y decir que me costó un centavo es quedarse corto. Durante el covid, también ha habido un marcado en las piezas de la computadora. Cada vez más personas buscan matar el tiempo, y muchas de ellas deciden actualizar o construir su propia PC. Debido a esto, los minoristas se están quedando sin piezas y el precio de dichas piezas está subiendo. Ahora siempre podría esperar hasta que termine el covid, pero quién sabe cuándo será eso, y además, soy un bastardo impaciente.
Fuente de imagen
En general, los juegos han sido una bendición para algunas personas durante el covid. En un momento en que nuestra rutina habitual está tan desordenada, ofrece a las personas una sensación de normalidad. Ofrece un escape de la situación de mierda en la que nos encontramos, una forma de socializar y solo una forma de divertirse y matar el tiempo. Los efectos de los juegos durante este confinamiento han sido positivos y creo que mucha gente se habría vuelto loca sin ellos. El Covid nos ha afectado a todos de una forma u otra. Negro, blanco, rico, pobre, heterosexual, gay, vacunado, no vacunado, etc. No discrimina. Ahora más que nunca, es importante mantenerse positivo. Claro, algunas personas pueden estar mejor, pero no dejes que eso te engañe pensando que no estamos todos juntos en esto. En días como los que enfrentamos, siempre debemos buscar la luz al final de este túnel, y cuando pase, porque eventualmente lo hará, lo recordaremos como nada más que una pesadilla que superamos. ¡Gracias por leer!
My partner and I game together, and my son and I play Minecraft together and occasionally when I'm feeling particularly gracious, I'll deign to play Roblox with him too. Ugh. Roblox. 😂🤣
Times change! When once families would play Monopoly together and get all cranky at the person owning Mayfair and charging ludicrous hotel fees, now they play videogames. There are still a lot of people out there that will say, "Eugh, they play videogames? How antisocial. I bet they don't even talk to eachother. I bet they don't have lives. Nerds." but that's a stereotypical, simple-minded thought and is just not the case.
I find that most families around my age are exactly the same too. They all play games together as a family, as partners, as parent-and-child.
As for Covid Related Gaming. It only makes sense. People are stuck at home all the time. They've never been in this position before. "What do I do? What do other people do? This is so boring. I've watched everything on Netflix. I need something to do!!" people who have only ever dabbled with games on their phones needed something more and they found it. I've been on Final Fantasy XIV and seen people talking about how this is the first MMO and first PC game they've ever played and it was thanks to Covid. I saw a few people saying the same thing in New World too, actually. A pity that game didn't really turn out though...
Sorry, I've babbled enough! 😅 You've written a very thoughtful post!!
Babbling is good! I always enjoy hearing other people's experiences/opinions on the things I post. And I know what you mean about people saying "Eugh, they play videogames?" Hell, my mother still thinks it's only a phase I'm going through and that video games are for children, yet she'll sit down and play those mobile puzzle games they have on fb xD
Gaming has really taken off in the last 10 years. I feel like the idea of gaming only being for geeks changed around the time that Facebook started out. I phones ( or more to the point smart phones) were the icing on the cake and soon everyone was connecting via social media and playing games with their friends.
Then throw Covid into the mix 10 years years later and and all of a sudden the only way for many people to connect is on line. It is no surprise that we are spending more time playing online games and games with our kids as we need something to fill our spare time and a way to stay connected with others.
Another thing that has really taken off is online shopping, at least it has in our area. The need to Isolate has helped drive up adoption of online grocery shopping. Many people were already buying things on line anyways. But now groceries which people had still preferred to go out and buy in person are now being bought online. I feel like the more people use online shopping the less shop fronts we will start to see. After all rent is a large cost for especially small business. If it is easier for them to trade online I believe more will do so and businesses will stop renting shopfronts.
Anyways Great Post, Have a great day!
Thank you! And I know what you mean. I grew up in a mess up time (I'm 24) but when I started going to school, and pretty much right up until I was in around 7th grade, I was always looked at as a nerd or geek (hence the username) then it just seemed like overnight it became more normal to play games and that!
Congrats on the big payout, mate. Well deserved.
Thanks dude! I was actually out of town for the past day and a half so wasn't able to comment or anything but I did check in through my cell every now and again. When I saw that it hit 99 I just started laughing. Nearly gave me a heart attack when I saw it reached 155.
Bufff, el juego que más impactó durante el covid, creo que fue Animal Crossing, creo que más por lo alegre que era, el juego es muy bueno, no soy de ese tipo de experiencias, pero le agarre el gusto luego de jugar Harvest Moon y Stardew Valley, y Animal Crossing es único en ese sentido también.
Nunca jugué Animal Crossing, pero durante mi investigación descubrí que esa era la conclusión. Que los juegos como el cruce de animales proporcionaron el mayor alivio del estrés. Un juego que quiero probar es Stardew Valley, pero no estoy seguro de cuándo será.
To me Covid was awesome because now I could spend my days playing video games all day instead of going places I didn't want to or meeting people I didn't want to meet. Life just became more laid back for me. Of course, Covid sucks but if there was anything good about it then that was it.
Awesome line that deserves some !BEER.
!BEER
View or trade
BEER.Hey @pusen, here is a little bit of
BEERfrom @rentmoney for you. Enjoy it!Learn how to earn FREE BEER each day by staking your
BEER.Thats the thing about situations like this one. It's best to see the good in it. For some people the lockdowns and restrictions gave them a much needed break.
Congratulations @gamergeek56! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s):
Your next target is to reach 3500 upvotes.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPCheck out the last post from @hivebuzz:
Support the HiveBuzz project. Vote for our proposal!
!BEER
!LUV
!LOLZ
!PIZZA
@rentmoney(1/5) gave you LUV.
PIZZA Holders sent $PIZZA tips in this post's comments:
@rentmoney(2/5) tipped @gamergeek56 (x2)
You can now send $PIZZA tips in Discord via tip.cc!
!BEER
!LUV
!LOLZ
!PIZZA
@rentmoney(2/5) gave you LUV.
Your post looks amazing!
Thank you!