It is that time of year again. Holidays are trickling down upon us and today marks Thanksgiving in the United States. A day to be thankful and express our gratitude. Normally spent with friends and family, the holiday tradition has slightly altered this year. With the Covid-19 pandemic still haunting everyone across the globe, many people are keeping things to immediate household members this year. It’s hard on all of us, but it is important to remember to stay thankful and grateful on this day. Here are some things that I and we as Gamer’s, could and should be thankful for!
Video Games! As gamers, what could top this list other than simply saying Video Games? This is easily the one thing that all of us Gamers have in common and should be thankful for. If you’re not going to spend as much time with others in person this year holiday, then you can certainly find some people to party up with and play games online. Video games certainly do bring the world together and have helped forge long lasting friendships since they first became a thing. Without them, I wouldn’t be writing this article. There are so many reasons to be grateful for video games.
Video games are good for your mental health! Remember when the World Health Organization deemed video games as the cause for mental health issues they called Gaming Disorder? Well, a recent study from the University of Oxford has come to find that video games may actually be good for your mental health and make you happier. While it was a rather limited study, the Director of research at Oxford Internet Institute, Andrew Przybylski said “Our findings show video games aren’t necessarily bad for your health; there are other psychological factors which have a significant effect on a person’s well-being.” Another reason to be thankful for video games! Am I right?
Solo campaigns! Sometimes, it’s just nice to play a video game alone. We all need a break from social interaction, whether it’s online or in person, it’s just nice to get away from everyone and while it’s true, you can play multiplayer gamers alone, this is where a well written story from a solo campaign comes in. You can get lost for hours while playing a solo game. Personally, I have been grinding the Demons Souls remake on PlayStation 5, as my solo game right now, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t calling in friendly phantoms to give me a hand when I need it. So, I am thankful for solo campaigns this year, because I can only take so much toxic behavior from call of Duty. You know what I’m talking about… looking at you right now, Treyarch. I am also thankful for Treyarch, though. Just saying.
Multiplayer games. How could I mention solo campaigns, but not multiplayer? I couldn’t and I won’t! I enjoy multiplayer games through and through. I have had moments that felt near impossible and thanks to multiplayer games, it was possible. Anything is possible. I can be a self proclaimed Rambo or squad leader taking charge of the team. Endless firefights, waves of monsters and zombies, it’s a wide range of genres and it comes along with making new friends and meeting all kinds of players along the way. Sure, we all run into people we dislike online, but a lot of the time we end bumping into cool gamers and that makes it pretty sweet if you ask me. Thankful for Multiplayers games? Check!
Publishers, developers and consumers! As a whole, we all make this industry what it is. Without one, the machine doesn’t work so well. So, a big thank you to all the publishers that take a chance and push games our way. Thank you to all the developers for creating the worlds we play in and giving us countless memories to reflect on and stories to tell. Thank you to the consumers. The Gamers. The fans!!! Without all of us, this industry would grow and would have fizzled out long ago. In the end, I guess we all deserve to get thanks as much as we should give it.
I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday today and thank you for reading. For you, the readers, I am also thankful for. Be safe and enjoy what you can, where you can, when you can. As always, I will see you online! Happy Thanksgiving and Happy ThanksGaming!