WORK / LIFE : PLAY ON
Gamers who picked up or intensified their gaming during the pandemic will carry these new experiences forward as new games and platforms evolve to meet their needs . Here ’ s a look at what ’ s drawing more people to gaming , and why they ’ re sticking around .
WHEN GAMER EBBY [ his gaming handle ] met his online friend Matthew seven years ago through
League of Legends streamer
Trick2g ’ s Twitch channel , they became close , playing together and having side conversations about gaming and other aspects of their lives — like chatting with a friend at a bar . “ Over time , I ’ ve met a lot of people gaming through Twitch ,” Ebby says . “ I can ’ t stress enough how much it has influenced my life .”
When Ebby found out Matthew had died of COVID-19 , he rekindled his relationship with some of their mutual friends within the Trick2g community to let them know of Matthew ’ s passing . Since then , they ’ ve been playing games occasionally , and Ebby says it has helped them process their grief .
In the past nearly two years checkered with loss , isolation , and uncertainty , the gaming industry saw
a huge spike , as millions of people turned to game play for connection , distraction , comfort , and control . Kurt Dean Squire , professor of informatics at the
University of California , Irvine , who researches how video games can positively impact students and young people , noticed new kinds of gamers emerging during the pandemic , such as kids gaming with friends beyond their immediate circles . “ I see a lot of kids playing games as a primary form of social bonding and cohesion ,” he says .
New players joined and longtime players leveled up , spending billions on gaming hardware and software
in the first quarter of 2021 alone , discovering new games , and making new friends .
Reinvigorated gamers and workday escapees Rachel Gillespie , a 28-year-old
designer , has been gaming since she was four years old , but started playing a lot more party and multiplayer games in the early days of the pandemic , when she says she was on group chat app
Discord every day with the same people , sometimes bouncing between a dozen different games at once .
“ I think the variety of games is more influenced by the social factor ,” she says . “ I want to play the games that my friends are playing and also want to play the games with them .”
Tiffany Rodriguez , Product Manager for gaming PC monitors at HP , says that she noticed subscription levels rising for older games and longtime favorites , a trend she attributes to resubscriptions by people who had not had as much time to play in the past .
“ If I do have downtime , instead of being stuck in the office where I went to the break room or to have lunch , I ’ ll hop into a game for an hour ,” she says . “ I have more bandwidth now because I don ’ t need to go anywhere .”
Working from home — which is likely to continue in some form for many people — led gamers to not only find more time to play , but also reimagine their gaming setups to create a meaningful distinction between work screen time and gaming screen time . Gillespie , who already had a gaming setup on her PC , bought a separate laptop for work to keep the two worlds apart .
Rodriguez says gaming consumers bought more peripherals and accessories in the last year , and HP has seen a lot more customer inquiries about improving their gaming setup now that they work from home . The screen someone spends all day working at might be associated with stress and mental fatigue , and they can transform it into an escape with
personalized accessories like ergonomic seating , multiple mounted monitors , LED lighting , and backlit keyboards . In June ,
HP acquired HyperX and its award-winning portfolio of gaming peripherals like headsets , USB microphones , and console accessories to meet the growing demand .
“ For gamers and ‘ battle-station builders ,’ this is like their spa , their time to decompress from the workday and escape into a different reality ,” Rodriguez says .
ILLUSTRATIONS AND QUIZ BY GIANT SPOON AND METHOD NY
HP / INNOVATION / FALL 2021 68