How Has The Global Pandemic Changed Online Gaming?

Back then it was restricted, both in who could access online games and who would play them — as portrayed in Halt and Catch Fire, it was a limited interest with limitless potential.

Now it’s worth an estimated $160 billion (or 88.89% of Jeff Bezos’ wealth) and counts 34.62% of the world’s population among its users.

One of the main reasons online gaming has increased in popularity is its ability to adapt to shifts in societal demands. The global pandemic has caused one of the biggest societal shifts in history and has forced huge changes to the way we live our lives.

We’ve listed three ways the global pandemic has changed online gaming, highlighting one underlying similarity between them.

Mobile gaming adapting to social distancing

Online mobile gaming has been on the rise since the technology was introduced. There are more smartphone owners than ever, a greater number of games than before, and quicker mobile connections than yesterday.

It’s growth during coronavirus is no surprise because it’s simply continuing as normal.

What’s perhaps surprising is the way that online mobile gaming has adapted in these abnormal times to meet the changing needs of its users.

It’s changed because people aren’t playing mobile games on the move in the same way as before — outside, in crowded areas, during their spare moments between tasks. Now they’re playing them at home, at a distance, and as a primary form of entertainment.

Pokémon GO is one of the clearest examples of this change, with the pandemic forcing the makers to change how its users play Pokémon GO online.

A central part of the game’s appeal is that you play Pokémon GO outside, bumping into strangers, trees, and other things. This element of the game has been ripped away by social distancing, so its makers (Niantic in collaboration with The Pokémon Company) have adapted the game to meet the change to its users' environments.

Now you can play it indoors and in the home, in keeping with social distancing norms.

It’s a big change for Pokémon GO but it’s one that every online mobile game maker and player is coming to terms with, as they battle the pandemic’s restrictions through adaptation.

Traditional gaming increasingly moving online

We’re defining traditional gaming as those games you’d expect to play in person. These range from team games, such as Dungeons and Dragons with friends to poker in the casino on your own.

The movement online of traditional gaming has been forced.

For team games like Dungeons and Dragons, you can’t get close enough to your teammates to play. For less contact-based sports, such as poker, you can’t guarantee the environment you’re in will be safe from this airborne virus we’re surrounded by.

It’s no shock then that fans of traditional gaming are generally faced with two choices:

• Put your love of playing these games on pause while the pandemic rages
• Find online versions that allow you to play your favourite games in a new way

We have no end date in place for coronavirus. This has forced fans of traditional gaming online, even for games that may have seemed less at risk. The lottery is a clear example of this, with the pandemic pushing lotteries online.

A big part of the history of the lottery is that you purchase tickets in person. With this now a less safe way of participating in these games, sites like PlayHugeLottos allow lottery fans to play Mega Millions, raffles and other games without having to venture into a store to get your ticket.

You have the option to continue playing your favourite games from the safety of your home.

While online lotteries aren’t exactly a new idea (they’ve existed for a while) the movement of towards people buying their tickets online ramps up the evolution of people’s gaming habits — more and more people were gaming online but coronavirus has sped this up, something we explore further in the next section of the article.

Online shifting from social ill to cure for loneliness

Online gaming has been scorned as something that creates physical and mental issues. Among other things, studies have argued that it can lead to obesity, anxiety, and social dislocation. The latter point has been completely flipped during the global pandemic.

Now online gaming is seen as a way for people to stay social during coronavirus.

A paper (The psychology behind video games during COVID‐19 pandemic: A case study of Animal Crossing: New Horizons) published in the Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies highlights that online gaming helps people to continue interacting with their friends.

This is just one example of the shift in attitudes.

Now there are an enormous number of articles listing the best online games you can play with friends, while you’re socially distancing and unable to meet with them in person.

While there are many, many games that have received an uplift in popularity during coronavirus, Fortnite is one of the clearest cases of people using online gaming as a way of filling the void of social interaction during the pandemic, with the game’s internet traffic increasing by over 70%.

Communication is key to playing Fortnite. You need to speak to your teammates to understand how you can support each other and have a winning session. This communication extends beyond the game, with countless Fortnite forums existing for fans to chat to each other.

Though, fans of online gaming would say this social element has always been a crucial part of why they play the games, the wider world is now clocking on to this.

Mobile gaming adjusting to social distancing, traditional gaming moving increasingly online, and online gaming being seen as a way to interact with people are three key ways that the pandemic has changed online gaming.

In all three examples you’ll spot one underlying similarity — these aren’t new phenomena, they’ve simply been pushed into hyperdrive by the pandemic and the online gaming industry is thriving because of it.

Will these changes continue at the same rate of pace once the pandemic ends? Frankly, we don’t know when it will end and by the time it does online gaming could be the norm.