Source: Pokemongolive.com
Well, let’s not do a usual “end of year” review, shall we? We all know what happened this year. Instead I want to focus on something that really helped me through the struggles of this year, and like many other people I turned to video games. Now, while I played too much Animal Crossing in spring, to the point that the kids were upset with me digging out all the fossils and catching all the rare fishes, Pokémon Go made me happy all year long.
For one thing, it regularly gets me out of the house. I don’t have a dog for good reasons, so there’s no wet nose that makes me get off my ass, and like for many people, “I should go on a walk because the movement in the fresh air will do me good” just isn’t enough for me. But “I should go outside to catch Pokémon” amazingly is. And since Mr plays as well, we go on walks together, spend time together on our hobby and get some mild exercise outdoors.
For another thing, it keeps me connected. The social aspects of the game are carefully crafted. There is competition, and trainer battles, but they tend to be anonymous over the internet. Real life encounters tend to focus on cooperation, as all players focus on battling the same boss together. Just last week we met a family on our walk who had mostly just started playing and the little kid of some 8 years or so was super happy to find some advanced players to play with and get the big bad monster. Those little things make me happy.
Of course it’s also something we do with our friends, as restrictions allow, so we plan whole weekends around Pokémon events, with food and drink and everything. Even when we cannot play together, we have something to talk about via video chats or messenger services, so we keep talking with each other, having some light hearted chats or rants about some thing or other that isn’t working (what, did you think the game didn’t have glitches?) without having to talk about serious matters.
And finally there’s the people we met via Pokémon Go who have become friends. Sometimes life puts somebody in your way and then you notice that it “clicks”. About a year ago we met a woman who was hoping for others to join her in a Raid, and we did, and we connected on social media, and we noticed that we actually like each other and now I’m looking forward to our Wednesday night raids and chatting for a while with her and her husband. So much for the people who say that video games make you lonely.
Oh, and as an addendum: It also provides and outlet for all the judgemental people who have nothing better to do than getting upset at other people playing some harmless game on their phones in public. I wouldn’t want to disappoint them, would I?
©Giliell, all rights reserved
Look at what we got for Christmas!
So, what is your favourite (video) game and why?
My favorite game genre is single-player RPG, and even there I am very picky so I did not play that many. Of those that I did play, I definitively enjoyed Witcher 3 the most. I only played it once, but it took me several hundred hours to visit all nooks and crannies of that beautifully crafted world and to finish every minor quest that I came across. And still, I know for a fact that I have missed at least one quest.
I have particularly loved that game not only because of its stunningly beautiful graphics and enjoyable gameplay but also because the story was a reasonably well-done continuation of the books it was based on. As a fan of the books, if the story was total crap, I would probably hate the game.
I think that it greatly helped the game that it was based on a series of novels because it provided each major character in the game with a compelling backstory and a fully-fledged world for the game.
Pokemon Go was nice, but I did not meet many people. But your experience shines a much brighter picture on that game, I might give it a … go again :)
I think over the years, it was a tossup between Morrowind and Gothic 2, as I loved both worlds to bits. But now I recently played Fallout New Vegas and it is just soo good, with depth, philosophy and weird quirky humor. And now that HBomb made a video on it, I want to play it again … . Uh and then Minecraft!
I love the game, though to get Galarian Mister Mime would have cost $13.99 and I’m seriously not cool with Niantic heading down that path. Doesn’t matter: I’m level 44 and I am as unto a god bwahahaha!!
Giliell, if you’d like random raid invites and Australian gifts, feel free add me: tbods, 1368 2006 6097
I’ve been thinking about giving it a shot, it sounds pretty darned cool.
Badland, I sent you a friend request. there’s probably more to come. We’re now at 5 accounts among 2 players, though I’ll say that two were accidental, but we kept them so we can do level 5 raids together. Yeah, I passed on the Mister Mime as well. I’m not above throwing a couple of quid at them occasionally, but I wasn’t very interested in that one. So far the pay to play things usually mean early access to Pokémon, so I’m OK with that. You still cannot buy access to the one Pokémon to dominate gameplay with, which would seriously put me off.