And if you don’t have a roommate, spouse, kid, or significant other to play a game with. Plus getting sick now, people are being less likely to go out. So if you want to game, sometimes it’s the only way to game. Some people are more prone to this – often times they use video games as an escape from their real life and immerse themselves into another “life”, where they don’t have to deal with real life problems. One way to enjoy playing video games alone is to take a gaming break for a few weeks. After that try playing a game that you enjoyed alone before and see how you feel.
In a world dominated by productivity culture and external validation, solitude is often framed as failure—a sign of social inadequacy, a lack of ambition, a void to be filled. Solitude is not an absence of engagement—it is a form of deep engagement with oneself. It is not a lack of direction—it is an opportunity to chart your own.
At the same time, I think it’s the reason why most MMORPGS end up failing and going F2P or B2P. Why pay a monthly fee, if all you’re going to do is play by yourself?
Even the most instance-heavy games on the market give players several chances to interact with one another via cities and chat modes that keep everyone in a common region with shared goals. That’s disregarding the moments that players can become antagonists, as well. I’m not fond of open PvP as a rule, but there are many times when the threat can force players to act differently.
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Scan the subreddit and you’ll find plenty of new parents sharing similar sentiments; and, of course, there are the only children, or those living in varying states of isolation, or even those who have tons of friends, but none interested in playing board games. There are a number of reasons that people play solo games. But I want to touch on some of the reasons that I play solo games. The idea of solo gaming is likely odd for a lot of people because gaming is often a social experience. But let’s talk about why you might want to, and why it is booming. This is where the game’s at Sometimes, there are games you want to play that just don’t exist as a single-player ride.
OK, I admit it.Solo games really are [also] great for people with no friends.But if Highlander and Blind Fury has taught us anything, being a lone wolf can sometimes be a noble calling. So say I go fishing and see some guy, we chat for abit, but don’t add friends or anything, log out and come back the next day. I’ll most likely, never see him again because of Mega-servers. Meanwhile in older MMORPGs, with dedicated servers, I might see overwatch guide him there again and a few times, or just locations where you always see someone for some reason, or see them in passing as I travel the world and that builds a community. Basically around the time WoW was becoming popular, the “Solo player” started becoming a thing. Someone who wanted to do the entire story and hit max level / content by themselves.
The Loneliness of the Long-term Gamer
All content in this blog was created by a human, for humans. I have spent hours researching and creating my posts and images. We weren’t wasted by 7pm in the middle of the Côtes du Nôwhere. Lockdown had put an end to that, like everything else. Instead I’d switched on my PS4; a return to a teenage ritual that had become something of a habit in These Strange Times. Unlike the all-consuming angst brought on by countless bottles of red wine (which had been furiously consumed because of too much uncertainty), this felt more soothing.
Finding a Community on Twitch/Youtube
However, a number of recent articles have concluded that MMOs, in particular, mitigate the effects of social isolation generated by many digital devices8,9. For example, involvement in MMOs leads to the establishment of a self-identity (at least, as a “gamer”), improves “social capital” (although not necessarily friendship), and fosters bonding (online). Then there are solo games that tweak the rules slightly.
They are not environments in which lasting, supporting friendships can develop easily—the lasting relationships that we hear about tend to occur when people step out of the digital and into the real world. The virtual nature of the relationships, the purpose of the games (to win or succeed), and the instability of the digital community make it hugely unlikely that any long-term social benefit will accrue from this digital activity. You can have as much fun playing video games as when playing with other people. When I was younger in the PS2 era, the games were mostly all single player, and I had no problem playing them from start to finish, even multiple times. The Ratchet & Clank and the Jak series’ were (and still are) my favorite games of all time.
The thing is, though, that some people actively prefer the challenge that comes with trying to do something solo that ought to require a full team. Back when I was first playing World of Warcraft, one of my great joys as a Paladin was finding ways to solo quests that should have required a full group. It was slow, it was difficult, and every so often, I had to admit that it just wasn’t possible. But it was an added challenge, and it was accomplished without messing around with a difficulty slider.
These effects only weakly help self-esteem, only weakly alleviate real loneliness, and do not improve real-world social competence8 or the likelihood of having a real-world friend10. But when you play games solo, that means that you can play more games. It ties into it might be the only way to game for an evening. But even if you can normally game in person it allows you to play more. Everyone else busy, you can still game if you really want to game.
They’re a tangible reminder that you’re not at home, nor do you want to be. And you sit, and you look out in good company, and share a general anticipation of the general unpredictability of such evenings overseas. You might be feasting upon a Dwayne Johnson portion of Italian carbohydrates. You might be throwing back a Princess Margaret portion of gin and tonics. Or, like me, you may simply gaze out into the distance as Galactus, eater of worlds and wearer of A-level design headwear, closes in to consume your planet, and destroy your universe. Only I (and cherrywaves11, and signori__smeagol, and countless others) could stop it.