READY PLAYER TWO

Gaming was always meant to be an experienced we shared. From arcades to the early Atari, it always came with extra controllers and loads of games to be played with other people.

One of the earliest games to catch our eye in India was Contra, and playing with a friend was always something you could look forward to, especially over a weekend. Consoles like the Playstation became popular and our lives were forever changed after we could call our friends over when school was out to frag out on the couch. We grew up in the age of gamelink cables for our gameboys, and battling and trading pokemon with our friends during the Pokemon games era.

A scene familiar to our childhoods, friends and teammates watching and playing together.

Simply put, the intensity of playing with a friend could be captured in a moment playing FIFA. Communicating and coordinating with your friend to pull off amazing combos bringing you closer to that big win. This part of being connected is seen clearly in the popular Smash franchise that has kept its community alive through regular community driven offline meetups and sessions since the early 2000s with the gamecube going into the current day with the now Nintendo Wii driven game being a staple and center of these multiplayer player brawls. The ease of Smash as a Wii game has turned it into a fan favorite, and offline meetups happen in most major cities all over the world.

Intense button mashing moments of Smash at a meetup hosted earlier in LXG Bangalore

Then came the rise of PC gaming with World Of Warcraft hitting over 12 million concurrent subscribers. Due to the lack of everyone owning a gaming PC, gamers began to gather in cafes all over the to play the popular Blizzard franchise together, with guilds often forming between people in cafes. Counter Strike and Unreal Tournament swept through Indian cafes like a wave and many pros say their love of FPS shooters started there, and this is quite obvious with our love for CS:GO in the country. Of course, one can’t forget DOTA 2 which had a similar effect on the gaming scene all over the world.

In the early days of PC gaming it wasn’t uncommon for people to carry their cases and monitors to friends houses to enjoy a few lan sessions of Quake together. This offline gaming culture is still celebrated with the DreamHack festival having more than 22,000 people bringing their own computers to gather and host lan events every year in Sweden.

With so many people meeting up to enjoy a host of games at cafes all over the world one can ask the question why and be greeted with a simple answer, it’s easier and more fun with friends. Catching up with Rishabh “Formless” Tomar was interesting, as he said he met a lot of his friends and teammates while hanging out at the LXG cafe, and continues to play with these friends over time, the game may change but the friends usually stick around.

Teams that play together usually stay together, and the one element that gaming by yourself can never capture is a friend to lean on. Psychology has proven one can handle loss better when in good company, so why should gaming be different? Losing a game in good company is easier to laugh off, and the sting of losing doesn’t feel so bad when the person sitting next to you takes his headset off and joins you in post game talk. The wins feel electrifying when you’re with your friends and you can celebrate an epic beatdown of the guys you’re up against and share the adrenaline rush.

Playing together is intense, and having a friend with you, especially during the ILG helps you push harder.

The ease of post match chatter shouldn’t be ignored either as having a friend watch over your shoulder and guide you while you play can help you improve a lot faster than you would on your own. The same goes for strategy, being very effective with a team discussing strats face to face, and that transitioning better into gameplay than with teammates over the internet. So what better way to improve your gameplay, than hunkering down with a few friends, and playing together?

Grouping up and gaming together can bring you closer to your epic win this season two as well, and we have challenges for gamers to meet up and compete all over the country, so what are you waiting for? Bring your friends and sign up at: https://ilg.lxgindia.com/register