Quarantine is a new experience for all of us, and for me, the amount of spare time I have is also new. I usually have homework, school itself, and soccer, which altogether take up a large amount of my days and evenings. In the little free time I had, I usually spent it on my phone watching videos, scrolling through social media, playing with a soccer ball, hanging out with friends, or napping … not playing video games.

I’ve always had a console in my house to play video games, but as I got older, I started to use them much less often because I just became busier. I’ve enjoyed video games forever and found them fun, especially the popular multiplayer games like the Call of Duty series, Minecraft, and, more recently, Fortnite, but I had to stop playing because I didn’t have enough time.

When I played a lot before, it was mainly for enjoyment and because I wanted to progress in the game. If my friends were playing, I’d play with them, but the social aspect wasn’t the deciding factor for me. This has changed during quarantine. Now, the main reason I get online, especially for games like Fortnite, is to talk with friends and do something fun. Progressing in the game or achieving the objective is not as important to me as having a good time and making contact with the people I used to see regularly. Video games are also a great way to kill time.

I feel this is a very common occurrence in quarantine culture; people’s less-used forms of digital entertainment have become much more vital to their daily lives. For some people, that may be Netflix and TV shows to watch, which not only help pass the time but also enable conversations about the show with your friends. For others, that may be FaceTime or even creative outlets like making videos, but for me, it is video games.

In quarantine, my days go by slowly. Homework takes up only a fraction of my day with school being canceled. I no longer spend hours a week on soccer. So, to say the least, I’ve found that I have a lot of extra time. Lockdown also has me missing my friends, and when I wanted to find a solution for both my problems, video games seemed like a very logical solution. Video games allowed me to kill time while also talking with friends and having fun, even if it isn’t in person.