As the World fights against COVID-19 trying to contain the spread by nationwide lockdowns and social distancing measures, more people have moved towards gaming as their main source of entertainment. Even the World Health Organisation (WHO) themselves recommended people to stay home and game.
Since the spread of the virus, the number of gamers worldwide has risen exponentially. World’s biggest gaming storefront — Steam just breached 24 million concurrent users mark this week and may soon set another high of 25 million concurrent users within this month.
When compared to other sources of entertainment like TV series, movies, books, etc., games can be more entertaining for many. Games share some similar characteristics of every other form of entertainment; from great stories to breathtaking visuals, games are designed as an experience that connects with the user directly and lets the user enjoy the experience at his/her own pace.
Another outstanding aspect of gaming is socializing. Since we humans love to socialize and strive for social aspects, being cooped up in homes away from everyone has made many of us anxious and gaming will help in tackling that social itch by connecting us with others. Most games today have community hubs where people can come together and chat with each other about the game or form teams to play together.
Gaming isn’t only limited to personal experiences. With the help of several widely available tools and platforms, people have the ability to stream their games online which anyone in the world with internet can tune-in to watch anytime. The ability to stream is such a powerful tool that even several real-life events like the NBA, NFL, F1 League, La Liga, etc. moved some of their leagues online or made entirely new online-only leagues.
Since so many pre-planned events happen to cancel at the same time, these organizers were left stranded thinking about the future schedule of leagues and most importantly the fear of losing their audience. But, with the help of online-only events and streaming, the organizers were able to ensure that their fans are still entertained and remain interested in the future real-life events whenever they can be resumed, which for the time being looks impossible until a vaccine or miracle medicine is discovered.
