An inquiry about the "social" aspect of being drawn to games

[LucyInTheSky]

I've read some articles describing some of the reasons why we're compelled to play video games, and one aspect that often comes up is the "social" aspect, being that we generally have more interest in multiplayer or co-op video games than single player video games as they fill a human need for communication. Interestingly, I never really liked multiplayer games that much. There were examples of enjoying some, but, overall, single player was more interesting to me always. Perhaps I've been a loner. I tend to communicate not through games but through Discord. I have real life friends but I don't really interact with them outside of school, which I feel maybe I should try and change.

I just find it kind of interesting that I've never really felt the need for games to be social, I dunno.

[Redmark]

I'm just like you.  I've mainly played single-player games.

Discord counts as being social I guess, if you're talking to people about gaming stuff?

[NannerZ]

1 hour ago, LucyInTheSky said:

Interestingly, I never really liked multiplayer games that much.

I'm definitely the same. Don't get me wrong I've definitely gone thru a few gaming phases where I played a bunch of online shooters and an mmo for 2 years but I rarely interacted with others on voice chat or anything like that. I would just keep to myself and enjoy my experience solo. I would also consider myself a loner in my personal life, however I have made significant progress on that aspect in my 60+ days on the detox so far. I just wanted to let you know there are others who've had a similar experience. I also wondered if there were other gamers like me who didn't really game for the social aspect.

[LucyInTheSky]

4 minutes ago, Redmark said:

Discord counts as being social I guess, if you're talking to people about gaming stuff?

Despite Discord being a "chat for gamers", there's only one server I've ever been on total that was a "gaming" server. Most of them are just generally social.

3 minutes ago, NannerZ said:

I would also consider myself a loner in my personal life, however I have made significant progress on that aspect in my 60+ days on the detox so far. I just wanted to let you know there are others who've had a similar experience. I also wondered if there were other gamers like me who didn't really game for the social aspect.

Very interesting to hear! I'll probably end up being more social irl during my detox whether I like it or not, haha.