Gaming to escape Covid… where have you been going to?

During Covid, popular games like Animal Crossing gave a lot more people a way to escape the intensity of the reality we are dealing with. Why is it that people like to escape reality so much? Gaming to escape covid, which games have we been playing? In this post we’ll give you 3 reasons why. 

Ready, Player One

In the universe of the book Ready Player One (also turned into a movie, which I only recommend if you haven’t read the book yet), people live their lives in two places: the real world, and the NET world. Almost everyone is connected to the NET via VR screens. You can take classes, get a job, play games, be anyone you want to be… the possibilities are endless. But reality is not far behind. If you have a VR headset, you can already walk around in a virtual world with all other people that are connected.

The reason why people escape to that virtual world in Ready Player One is that their reality is shit. The world has turned into a post-apocalyptic world, where only people with money have some kind of freedom and joy. That isn’t that far from the current truth we live in. Especially during the first lockdown, people were stuck inside their houses. We were told to stay inside, everything except the supermarkets were closed, we couldn’t hang out with friends, we couldn’t exercise, we couldn’t go to the movies or to a bar, nothing. The only thing to entertain yourself with was what you already had at your house, or what you could order online. And even what you could order online ran out fast.

Where could we escape to?

Luckily, when the first lockdown happened, the long-awaited Animal Crossings: New Horizons got released. The sales for this game skyrocketed. Within a year, Nintendo sold 7 million copies of the game in Europe alone – that’s one third of all switch owners according to Nintendo. The game came at a perfect time: people were stuck at home with nothing to do so you might as well start a game.

But there are more reasons for Animal Crossings success. In a time where you cannot even leave your house, it’s a great feeling to still be able to take a plane and visit other (in this case: virtual) places. To see the sand and the palm trees, to be able to swim in the ocean, to visit friends, to host parties… people were and still are crazily creative with everything they can do in Animal Crossing. From AC weddings, birthdays, to graduations, theme parks and even music festivals, I’ve seen it all. Everything we could not do in the real world, we could do in Animal Crossing. The game gave people a way out of the bland and grim reality we were living in. 

But Animal Crossing wasn’t the only game. Call of Duty: Warzone had 75 million players by the end of August 2020 (compared to 30 million in march 2020), FIFA doubled it’s players compared to a year earlier. League of Legends, Fortnite, Minecraft, Among Us, Roblox, Final Fantasy… all saw massive spikes in their player numbers. Phone games saw the same reaction, especially those free to play games that were within easy reach of many. Even board games (and digital board games like Jackbox) saw a spike in sales.

What games are most popular?

From a poll amongst a nerdy female facebook group we learned that out of the 110 people that responded, a whopping 97% uses games to escape from reality we are in. From those 97%, Animal Crossing is by far the most popular. Stardew valley and Final Fantasy are not far behind.

And two other RPGs, Zelda Breath of the Wild and the Assassins Creed series, are also not far behind. What makes it that these RPG titles are so popular, especially now? 

1 – In an RPG, you have control 

While in our actual lives some decisions are out of our hands, within the digital realm, we hold all the power. Lockdowns don’t matter: we decide if we want to spent our time fishing or battling the next boss. It doesn’t matter if you want to spend your time (and money) on getting a ridiculous outfit to roam the digital plains with, it doesn’t matter if you want your character to marry a guy, and then divorce and marry a girl instead. Anything is possible, and the most creative players generally will seek the boundaries of those possibilities. 

2 – You create your own reality

A reason why Dungeons and Dragons has been a popular game for ages is that in an RPG, you create your own reality. In that regard most RPG’s are  the same: it starts with building your character, choosing a race and class to play and then venturing off into the world to fulfill quests by NPC’s or creating your own storylines. Even in free-roaming RPG’s with little to no quests, people come up with their own goals for the game. Valheim for instance, has no quests other than to kill all five world bosses, but people have created their own challenges since the start of the game. From building complete city’s from other Games (like Skyrim and Zelda) to killing all bosses with tamed boars and wolves… even a American Ninja Warrior course has been build and completed by various players. Customization, progression and exploration: all key-ingredients to a good RPG and the reason the genre is so popular. Also a reason why RPG’s are so addictive: there is always more to progress on or more to explore. And even if there isn’t, people will create their own challenges.

Here are some examples of people who’ve created their own reality in various games.

Whiterun in Valheim

Whiterun in Valheim from valheim

3- Socialize and have fun with friends

Most of all, gaming became a way to connect with others. In a time where no one was able to travel and meet up, meeting up online became the new normal for more people than before. Even people who weren’t too technically skilled before learned how to connect online IRL with ZOOM and Google Meet. And people who normally wouldn’t pick up a game, stepped into the world of online gaming to fight loneliness and boredom. While avid WOW and GuildWars players always had their ‘real’ parties and holidays in the game, people created their own festivities in newer games like Animal Crossing and Valheim during this time as well. 

If you want to virtually have a wedding in WOW, you can book a wedding official.

World of Warcraft Virtual Weddings | Rev Deborah Ashe (wordpress.com)

And one of my favorites: Hellfest in Animal Crossing

How about you?

What has been your go to lockdown game? Let us know in the comments!