In the final chapter of Isbister’s book, she talks about the ways in which gaming and in particular online spaces of play can create unique, dynamic, and fun social bonding experiences. This pushes back a bit against what I might say is “conventional wisdom”, and I am glad it does and in agreement with her.
Chapter 3 talked a decent bit about local multiplayer. The infectious nature of being in the same room with someone, playing and competing (or co-operating…or co-opting…), feeling shared emotions and experiences, is precious and wonderful, and in many ways stronger with games than with other mediums. Local multiplayer is fantastic. However, I feel that there has been a push to say that local multiplayer is the supreme form of creating social bonds through games, that is to say online multiplayer is only a substitute for the ‘real thing’, or playing games together in the same physical space. I am guilty of this mentality, in fact. I think Isbister, in talking about the myriad of ways games can create a special online bond, which can even lead to real meetings and connections in the ‘meatspace’, kills this notion once and for all.
I can personally very much relate to the idea that online play can enhance our real-life bond strongly, in ways that playing together in the same room can’t always accomplish.
Me and my roommate like to play this stupid hockey game ‘Hockey Stars’ on mobile. At our peak, we were playing even though we were in the same room at night. This game lets us have fun through shared gameplay experience even when we are not around each other. Even though we are roommates, there is a finite amount if time when we are around. By filling up the spaces between when we see each other, I’d say this dumb little game has added an extra component to our friendship. Plus, it enhances the conversation when we do meet back up. “Aw man, I thought I had you cornered earlier today!” “That shot was stupid af, I can’t believe it went in!!!”, etc are some of the conversations we now have together, because of the proceedings of this game during the day, that wouldn’t have occurred otherwise.