I have to admit, I’m kind of weird when it comes to playing most games. Unlike a lot of people, I actually find it pretty hard to validate playing single player games on my own, although that’s not to say that I didn’t or don’t now. This is to the degree that I find it incredibly difficult to actually play many games with a significant time investment if they don’t have an online component, regardless of my actual interest in the game. But, I’ve managed to play three most of these time consuming games in spite of myself. Not through sheer will, but by playing these games with other people.

I likely picked up this habit as a kid. I was the only one amongst my friends to own an N64 growing up, and as result they would come over and we would hand-off after someone died. While I can’t say that that was necessarily a fair system (having constant access to games left me at a distinct skill advantage), it still produced some enjoyable times. When I moved to Bozeman during middle school I befriended individuals who actually did have an interest/background with video games. This in turn led to a focus on multiplayer games, and is where my interest in competitive Super Smash Bros., and competitive games in general, originated. Due to logistics and the technology of the time, we spent the vast majority of our time playing together on one couch, as opposed to over the internet. This continued even when we did get access to online gaming, leading to multi-monitor lan parties happening almost every week. Eventually we (or at the least I) grew bored with many of the games we were playing, either due to skill gaps between us or simple degeneration of interest, and we turned to playing through co op games. The usual targets of our interests were those long, arduous JRPGS I mentioned being unable to play. The tedium of repetitive gameplay became time to chat and socialize, and the (usually) hackneyed stories became opportunities to riff and crack wise. This was the answer to entering an arena of play I had so commonly passed over, and I never left.

Initially, it was only co-op games that I did this with, but this practice soon became standard for even exclusively singe player games. This usually meant simply being in the same room and playing something while the other person plays something else and simply making exchanges about what’s going on, at least with one group of friends. But with another it was taking turns on stages, letting the other person do levels you didn’t care for. And yet with another it could be one person playing exclusively while the other simply watched. Each of these offered a more enriching time to me than just playing by myself, because it provided the opportunity to participate in a shared experience and engage in otherwise disjointed dialogue.

The point of this all is that, at least for me, video games are one of the most social mediums of expression out there, if not the most social.I doubt that this behavior is exclusive to me (I’m pretty sure it’s a common practice for a lot of couples, for instance) and I think that illustrates some of the ways in which video games are unique. I’m curious to see what other practices people have for playing games with other people. From only playing games with your best friend to competing against anyone you can find, games create interesting and diverse social scenarios that everyone engages with in their own way.