Covid swept across the world nearly 3 years ago and created a ‘new normal’. In the lockdowns, people adapted and gaming came to the fore like never before, connecting people in virtual worlds.
It was a unique time and I’m glad that there is a new book looking back at this unprecedented time. Playing With Reality: Gaming in a Pandemic by Alex Humphreys is a fascinating book and there are mini essays which are broken down into chapters about how the videogame industry was affected, both positively and negatively, during the pandemic. The writing style is conversational, easy and very British with mentions of Greggs and the Lurpak commercial with Douglas the buttery trombone player.
The book is broken down into 6 chapters looking at key themes. The inside covers contain a montage of photos that are relevant and referred to in the articles, providing visual context.
Chapter 1: Stay Home, Play Games
- The Videogames industry wanted to help during Covid but we're wary of WHO, who had classified Gaming Addiction as a mental health issue in 2018, but they worked with influencers to spread the message using gaming imagery and music to support the various governments.
- Videogames made record profits in the West as people engaged with gaming in their isolation to escape from reality, connect with friends or just to pass the time. In Asia, many gaming cafes (where most PC gaming occurs) closed and haven't opened up whilst sales of mobile games and the Switch rose greatly in these territories.
- eSports and real world sports merged during this period with lots of professionals playing games of their sports to keep their skills sharp and fans engaged. It brought a kind of legitimacy to the eSports world for some. Codemasters hit gold with F1 and Dirt 2.0 recruiting new fans into the fold whilst shifting record number of units.
- Canned fan chanting and cheering from EA was used to make football matches behind closed doors in England less weird. There was some cognitive dissonance between seeing the empty stands and hearing belated cheers after a goal went in but it kind of worked. Also, Football Manager promoted men's mental health charities as they knew many in their fanbase would be struggling with issues.
- Zynga had to make the difficult decision to move to remote working and had to figure out how to support staff with their mental and physical health whilst still maintaining a high work ethic.
- King, creators of Candy Crush and other games, states that the mainstream medias dialogue around gaming changed and society generally has a better opinion of gaming as a social activity rather than the stereotypical loners choice.
- Blizzard discuss their Shadowlands update and how hybrid working helped to create this expansion.
- EA recorded the Star Wars Squadrons soundtrack using an orchestra but each person played their instrument apart together.
- Rare discuss how Sea of Theives connected many people, including those who struggled with socialising, and found it's groove a couple of years after it had been released, reaching new heights in the pandemic.
- Mental health took a battering during the pandemic but the free games offered to some key workers allowed many to destress and connect with others in the online community.
- Jamming the Curve was a game jam where the focus was to help spread a positive message about the vaccine and combat misinformation.
Chapter 2: We Are Gathered Here Today
- Revd Simon Archer, the Vacarious BIG, gained a following by streaming games and talking about god. By being his authentic self, he found a growing community who could ask him questions about god as well as his gaming skills.
- Twitch and Discord saw record numbers of people using their tools to join their community. Watching people playing games was a huge past time and long form content could not be supplied quickly enough.
- Over the lockdown, gaming offered solace for many and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Amoung Us, Rocket League were the big winners during this time.
- Girls Make Games moved to a digital camp during the pandemic and saw a huge rise in international collaboration.
- Melbourne, Australia was one of the most locked down cities in the world which lead to challenges for neurodivergent pupils. A server was created for these pupils to interact and the friendships formed were deep and menaingful: mode of communication not as important as the quality of interactions.
- Some games, including Minecraft, Second Life and Roblox, were used in education as a contextual hub for learning as well as for virtual tourism.
- The NHS has a Centre for Gaming Disorders but the word 'addiction' is bandied around a lot by people when actually the number of addicts is actually a lot lower. The horrible mass trauma of lockdown exacerbated other underlying issues for many and gaming was an outlet rather than the cause.
Chapter 3: Lockdown 2.0
- FMV games boomed during the pandemic as many had exhausted their streaming catalogue and wanted some interactivity. Some people think this may stop the brain drain in more rural or deprived areas as hybrid or Work From Home becomes more viable.
- Psychonauts 2 was a challenge to create during lockdown but the themes of mental health, isolation and empathy really found an audience.
- Asynchronous communication was challenging when creating a game but using other tools such as Zoom, Notes, Discord etc. helped to bridge the gap for Inflexion Games and showed the potential for remote working.
Chapter 4: Retrograde
- Tim Schafer liked to surround himself in stuff that made him happy in his home office as he spent an awful lot of lockdown there. His philosophy was surround yourself with stuff that makes you happyand you can obsess about for a bit- whatever it takes to get you through.
- Milgemilge used The Sims 4 to create buildings from her youth including her Grandma's house as well as the Ukrainian city of Lviv. It's was a comfort to her and helped her think of better times.
- The Corrupted Blood in World of Warcraft game from over a decade before offered epidemiologists an insight into human behaviour during a pandemic. Disease modelling uses a similar dataset to project how they think people will react but people are unpredictable *ahem, toilet rolls anyone?*
- Gaming offered many a chance to reconnect with old friends through online play. The game wasn't the important thing but the interaction and camaraderie.
Chapter 5: Parallel Lines
- Build the Earth was a project kickstarted by PippenFTS to create a 1:1 representation of the Earth, including it's estimated 4 billion buildings.
- A Welsh bronze age site was recreated in Minecraft to teaxh audiences about the period and give them the opportunity to carry out virtual archaeological digs (see Brny Celli Ddu in Minecraft).
- Whilst mnay used gaming to escape from the pandemic realities others noticed the pandemic overtones in many games released over that time including, Spiderman (pathagen released me at citizens wearing masks), Assassin's Creed Odyssey (plague) and The Last of Us 2 (pandemic). Some embraced it whilst others struggled to play these games during these unprededented times.
- A philosophy professor found solace in Red Dead Redemption 2 as it looks at the end of the Wild West and the rise of a different world. He felt it mirrored life in that there was a pre and post pandemic world.
- An Asian American discusses how Animal Crossing helped her to socialise when there was a spate of anti-Asian attacks in the USA. She states that it is a reminder for many people that 'the freedom to exist as you are is conditional' and post-Brexit, I can see that as a British Asian.
- Animal Crossing features heavily in pandemic games played by people and became a pop culture phenomenon, being on the front page of the Financial Times when they discussed turnip prices on the stock market.
- The National Videogame Museum in England created an Animal Crossing Diaries exhibition to capture peoples' experiences of the game--they felt it was important to capture a moment in time before it is lost to the ether.
- Tim Schafer discusses Zoom fatigue but says that the pandemic has fast forwarded the transition to online and hybrid working by several years.
- The metaverse is a thing but no one is quite sure what it is or what shape it is going to take when it happens.
- The metaverse(s?) might exist but grifts like NFTs and Web 3.0 and dubious moneymen make it difficult to see how this will occur in a sustainable and equitable way.
Chapter 6: The (Final) Next Level
- Gaming trends and wider digital trends accelerated.
- Videogames were seen in a mostly positive light and even the mainstream media seemed very pro game.
- It helped many with mental health (especially in the UK) by in other places many still suffered, mostly due to lack of exercise and social interactions.
- However, there are many issues such as toxicity especially around gaming communities as well as the political and social fracturing through online discourse.
- The lines between the physical and digital world have blurred and there is a danger that the online mysogyny, racism and other -isms may bleed into the real world.
I very much enjoyed the book as it covers a lot of ground within the gaming industry. The sheer variety of people Humphreys speaks to ensures that you get a good overview of opinions and insight. However, she speaks often to CEOs, Production Executives and the like from companies such as Blizzard, Riot and Ubisoft so what we get is insight of their pandemic processes but done through the lens of corporate speak. They mention all the right things about supporting their staff, maintaining good mental health and work life balance but these companies have since been accused of horrific abuses as well as hiring excessively during Covid but now firing the same staff as they now seek to consolidate and maximise the profit for the elite few higher ups.
The accounts of the main chalk face people on the ground are not often discussed in this book but that may be because this is not Humphreys' aim; she is looking at the industry wide pivot in light of Covid restrictions and in this context, this book is a triumph of capturing a unique moment in time.
However, I would now like to see an 'all sides' account of what occured during the pandemic and the repercussions, beyond the corporate speil. I get that every business's wants to put it's best face forward but I do think a critical look at what occured post-Covid with mandated return to office, huge worker culls amid consokidation/ mergers/ acquisitions closures of many Games As A Service titles as well as the loss of hard fought rights, such as insurance etc which have been rolled back. Now, that would be an interesting but depressing book to read. Maybe a Jason Schreier type author would create a book that is a critical look at the industry. We'll wait and see as I'm sure it's incoming from somewhere.
LINK- Let’s All Create A ‘New Normal’
LINK- Straight Outta Quarantine: 14 Days in Blighty
LINK- Flying Home From Coronavirus
LINK- One Month on From Social Distancing in Saudi