Read these before continuing: Part I — Part II
Nintendo Switch and Xbox One X sitting on the desk next to me, with my partner’s Netflix going in the background–I can barely hear the low tones of a tv show underneath my earbuds blasting Spotify. I’m reading a gaming blog I follow and thinking about how much Resident Evil 2 I can play before I have to get up for work tomorrow.
Keep consuming. Keep playing. Don’t worry, everyone your age has carpal tunnel. Your eyes? Oh, they were already going bad.
After all these years of gaming, growing with the industry and the internet community that comes with it (that horrid gift), I had a choice to make: do I grow ever cynical with the crowd of gamers that are never satisfied, ever-critical and toxic, or do I put all my effort into growing the positive parts of the community I’ve found, that celebrate technical achievement, originality, and bringing new and diverse voices into the industry?
Reviewing the real world environment of the pandemic, a barely-holding-this-job outlook on employment, the paralyzing grasp of depression over societal and political issues, and yet realizing that I can place food on the table, and I can still enjoy my passions…I feel the only logical choice would be to chase the positive.
I’ve become a part of GGKC, a mod for the LFG KC Facebook community, made friends and acquaintances with a lot of cool people that want to do the same–interact with a positive group of like-minded gamers.
With groups like this on the rise, so is Kansas City as an Esports hub. The Community Esports League, Local Legends Gaming, the KC Pioneers team–all have expanded in popularity and purpose, with so many big IRL events being shut down for 2020 (Planet Comicon and Naka Kon are big losses for the geek community).
With Esports teams coming to fruition and more gamers creating blogs, video content, podcasts, streaming for those of us living this “plugged in” life, now is the time to celebrate and help keep the movement from falling to the dark side.
I am a gamer that chooses to improve my community. I look forward to helping it grow, spreading a message of inclusivity and positive dialogue, and playing as much couch co-op as possible in this new socially-distanced world.
