The Virus That Changed My Life

February 2020

It was another time when I was sad to be at home during the winter months. I was looking for an opportunity to work abroad for a few months and then come back to Turkey (Turkiye) in the summer to take a good vacation. Because of the Covid virus, many places in my country had started to take precautions. Even the flights were being canceled due to the rapid increase in the number of cases all over the world. I started to stay at home like all the other people, just when I had a good job.

The phone interview went very well, and I was accepted for the job. I was going to work for good money and my contract would last for 4 months. I was going to work in a power plant in Africa, more precisely in their oil storage place. I would come back in the summer, and it would be just the arrangement I wanted. Summer would be mine. After the phone call was over, I had a bad feeling. Especially after watching the evening news, I felt more and more fear and pessimism.

March - April - May 2020 The LockDown and Losing My Job

I found a Turkish friend working in this power plant, and she was very excited. She wanted to come back home after 4 months. We were texting, and I told her that I would come and take her place. Both this girl and I, were afraid that our plans would be disrupted by the virus. Soon I realized that I was right to be afraid.

It was announced that flights between countries were banned. One day at noon, when it was raining outside, I received a phone call from the company, and learned that the job was canceled and the next departure time was uncertain. The change of the engineers is… postponed…

At that time, I felt as if my life had turned… dark. It was as if I would never earn money again. I would never be able to travel with my loved ones again. I was very afraid that this virus would kill the entire population of the world and the news was feeding this fear.

Although I am not usually a person who follows the news a lot, in such a situation, I felt very bad seeing these negative things constantly, both on social media and on TV, and even being forbidden to leave the house. Like everyone else. But in the meantime, I had to find something to hold on to.

I was constantly fighting with my family, and after a certain time we started to get bored because we kept seeing each other as only people locked in the same small house. We even ordered some puzzles because there was nothing else to do…

But apart from that, I realized that I needed some private time for myself. That's when I knew for sure that it was time for me to get my own place. After covid, I was going to start living on my own very quickly. But until then, there was something I had to do.

To psychologically distract myself and find a new occupation.

Source, Fair Use

Critical Role & Dungeons and Dragons

One day I was hanging out on YouTube. I felt like a dark cloud was hanging over my head. It was late in the day. It was probably the middle of the night. I could see the hot smoke rising from my tea on the coffee table.

I saw something about dungeons and dragons and fantasy role-playing tabletop games in the recommended videos on the right side. I was intrigued. Because I was very bored. After I clicked on this video, my life changed. I don't remember who the video was by, I don't remember what it was about, but then I found myself watching Critical Role. This show was on Twitch and Youtube and there were so many episodes to watch. I remember turning on a random episode and watching it for about half an hour.

This was the episode that first gave me the pleasure I had while watching Dungeons and Dragons. Then I went back to the beginning of the season and started watching. With each episode I watched, I was getting more and more attached. I was learning the rules. I was realizing how enjoyable tabletop games were. I was adding something new to myself. Since I was watching something in English, I was also improving my language. Suddenly there was a positive development for many things, but the most important thing was that I started to realize that I was psychologically saved.

By this time I realized that my tea was already cold. It was morning and the sun was starting to rise.

Source, Fair Use

Escape Literature & Role Playing Board Games

When we read some stories, we feel ourselves in that world and get lost in it. When we watch some movies, the magic of that world attracts us. That's how I used to feel when I watched fantastic things. When I watched The Lord of the Rings movies, I watched them with rapt attention. When I read the Harry Potter books, I imagined myself as another student in that school. When I watched Star Trek movies, I imagined what it would be like to be a spaceship captain.

After I started watching High Rollers and Critical Role, I started to search for other Youtube videos. I used to go to the balcony because there were other members of the family in the rooms at home… and I remember like it was yesterday… the episodes I used to watch under the blanket while sitting on the balcony…

Even today, when I listen to the music used by these shows, I feel happy.

I discovered the tabletop game Dungeons and Dragons because I had time to watch it at home. I had lost my job, but I had gained a whole new world for myself.

I could do it as well. It was up to me to create a world where I could put my imagination and creativity. In this fantastic world, I was planning to have beautiful adventures with my friends. I felt like I had escaped from the real world, escaped from the dark dark covid days.

Source

And Now, A New Door

2.5 – 3 years have passed. I've played tabletop role-playing games almost EVERY WEEK. I've definitely watched a lot of RPG tabletop gaming episodes and podcasts every week, sometimes daily. I've become a dungeon master for many different groups and met new people. I've made new friends on Discord and we've shared fantastic stories for hours. I've managed to show my other friends how much fun this hobby is, and now many of my friends are playing dungeons and dragons. We think we have improved ourselves a lot.

In the next year, we are thinking of making a Turkish broadcast to show people in our country how beautiful this game and games are. Twitch, Youtube, Podcast... I am sure that when I show this door to others, they will be happy too. They will be happy to forget the troubles of real life for a few hours, even one day a week. They will dream and think of new characters. They will use the friendship bonding and problem-solving skills they learn from these games in real life. They will go on adventures and manage to defeat the bad guys.

To trigger all this... to open a new door in people's lives in my country, I will do my best over the next few years.

Thank you very much for reading!

This blog is inspired by; The Inkwell Creative Nonfiction Prompt 24 ‘’When one door closes, another door opens’’. Thank you so much for the opportunity to share our stories!

D&D is a pretty amazing game. I discovered it more years ago than I care to remember, when I was still at school. As a kid, I was totally wrapped in my own universe - D&D taught me all kinds of analytical, planning, problem solving and communication skills I'd lacked until then.

It amused me that when I started playing with a new group a little while ago, I pulled out the (huge and hand-drawn) map of my homebrew world. One of them asked me how long I'd been running it; when I said "nearly 40 years" she fell over sideways, it was almost twice as long as she'd been alive.

If you want a YouTube channel that's D&D related and hugely amusing, 1 For All from Deerstalker Pictures is just awesome - they've just finished season 5, and it just keeps getting better and funnier.