Games Build Communities
And we need communities more than ever right now.
I am lucky to have a lot of great friends.
Right now is a really chaotic and stressful time for a lot of the people I care about and having a community to lean on is important. As a straight (enough), white, cis man with a pretty steady day-job, I figured that I could help support my more vulnerable friends by being a stable point to lean on during these next four years or more as minority communities are targeted.
Unfortunately, the chaotic first weeks of Trump 2.0 has made me rethink that outlook. My day job is funded by federal grants and nobody knows what is going on with that right now. Now I don’t know how long I will have this job for, and the instability and uncertainty has me thinking differently. My privileged position of stability I was counting on is now also being threatened, and I’m grateful to have the community I do for if and when things go South.
When executive orders started coming out, a friend of mine in a similar position to me sent a group text with a sentiment that I think is important: if people lose jobs or need anything for any reason please, reach out and I’ll help as much as I can because if something happens to me you will be the people I turn to. He said “When things get awful the best thing we can do is support one another. I'm a strong believer in community support and y'all are my community.”
That community was built by the games we play.
That friend and I met through a game he was running on his college campus called Haunted Mansion which would become the project we grew close while designing and hosting for years. It was a community we spent many years cultivating where I built many of the friendships I have today.
Even those I met outside of games, we became closer because of them. My closest friendships are with those I play games with once or twice or even more times a week. My Wednesday night TTRPG group has been meeting weekly for 10 years now, and even as some individuals come and go due to life circumstances, it is part of my community that helps stabilize us when things get difficult. It is a constant I can always know will be there.
The shared experiences we have are the building blocks of our community, and games create shared experiences that everyone is invested in. The most impactful and longest-lasting connections in my life have been forged through the games we make and play together. I hope that whatever comes our way in the future, whatever obstacles we encounter as we stare down these horrible knowns and unknowns, we never give that up.
Take care of your communities.
I guess this is a sort-of call to action. Reach out to the people you play games with, the people you care about. Check in. Make sure everyone knows you are there for one-another. Don’t stop playing games, no matter how hard things get. Don’t let your community grow distant or fall apart as life get more chaotic and people scramble to figure out how to survive. Use games as a way to come together, to create moments of joy in an otherwise terrible world.
Don’t just protect your community. Strengthen it.
Play games.
Good luck to you and your community!
Beautifully written, and very well said.