Happy Weekend everybody! A while ago I made a promise to myself that I will post at least once a month for a year. I am going to try to fulfill that promise in 2020.
I just looked at my Plans for 2020 post and it is very interesting the picture I picked for the featured image…
Who could have guessed how relevant that image would be… with the COVID-19 and all. Just a very bleak time to be alive. Although people are trying to stay positive, the world is going nuts. I mean there are people losing their jobs… Losing their businesses that they worked on for more than a decade. The government is trying to give money away. The industry titans like Boeing are shaken and the analysts are not convinced they will survive. Not to mention, there are so many people working from home, that the internet is overloaded… I didn’t even know that was possible.
An incredible couple of months for sure, and that image above seems to represent it well. The emptiness and the chaos all in one setting. I am hoping all of this turns around and soon. Not being able to do things that have become basic needs like going to the store and getting what you want or even ordering online and getting it the next day, is depressing.
With all of that said, you know what didn’t stop being awesome? Video Games. If you are one of those folks that liked to get together with your friends and hang out you are out of luck. If you are one of those people that like to go to the park and do outdoorsy things you are out of luck. If you like to travel you are out of luck. Going to the theaters, shopping at the mall and even going to the gym… all of those are a no go right now. Video Games on the other hand… The perfect pass time. Also books, but you know that is not as common now as it was when I was growing up.
I was always taken aback when people would say, I would hate to be stuck at home, I would be so bored. Not once has that been a thing for me. Video Games, and if there is no electricity or the internet decided to not exist at some point, I could always read books, or even write them if I wanted to.
What is interesting during this time is that you see some companies make a great impression on their customers and others just kind of remain who they are.
One particular instance of goodwill I wanted to point out is when Lord of the Rings Online(Lotro) decided to make content available to everyone. It was such a good move on their part. At that point I didn’t play Lotro, but even I felt good vibes all the way where I was. In fact I started up my Lotro account, made a Hobbit and played for a month and enjoyed it so much that I went ahead and bought the subscription. I mean come on if that isn’t proof enough that this kind of stuff works I don’t know where to go from here.
Those of you who read this blog, know that I am a World of Warcraft player. That is my home game… but when picking between the two, I went with Lotro… twice. Why? One reason is that I don’t know the game, it’s all new to me, the quests, the stories and two it’s free to fire up and play.
Another major reason I am playing Lotro, is because the times we are living in are so very stressful. It is very difficult for me to force myself into a game where there is constant conflict and danger, like in WoW. When starting up Lotro, I specifically went with the Hobbit race, because of how soothing and calming the Shire is. The pace of the game is slow, the quests are simple, the scenery is beautiful. So during all this turmoil, I would log into Lotro and go do some postman quests, get people their mail. It’s simple and calming
In general as I am getting older I tend to gravitate towards games where the point is to do simple everyday tasks. Games that are considered simplutors, like Euro Truck Simulator, American Truck Simulator. Lotro seems to be a Simple Living Simulator to me. So if you are stressed out and need some time out of from all of it you have two options:
In that same vein, I bought another game I wanted to try for a while: No Man’s Sky.
This would fit the main theme of games I am playing right now. Very calming exploration type activities. I didn’t get it when it first came out partly because it didn’t have a super great release and partly because I was already playing a space exploration game Elite: Dangerous. But the other day I was watching a stream of someone playing it and they added Mechs to the game.. And yeah I was sold. It also helped the game was 50% off. I have played that the past week and it has been a joy to play.
I will probably do a more in depth dive into both Lotro and No Man’s Sky at a later point.
Before I close this off I wanted to let you guys know that you are all amazing! We will make it through this. Stay calm, keep your distance and play video games.
See you in the next one!
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