{"id":1245,"date":"2025-04-19T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scubadiscounters.com\/?p=1245"},"modified":"2025-04-21T02:53:43","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T02:53:43","slug":"how-my-partner-finally-learned-to-love-video-games-readers-feature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.scubadiscounters.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/19\/how-my-partner-finally-learned-to-love-video-games-readers-feature\/","title":{"rendered":"How my partner finally learned to love video games \u2013 Reader\u2019s Feature"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Baldur's\t<\/div>
Surprisingly, Baldur\u2019s Gate 3 does have a split-screen mode (Larian Studios)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A reader reflects on the social nature of modern gaming and the positive experience of playing together with another person.<\/p>\n

I enjoy gaming, a form of escapism from the negativity of modern life. Recently, my partner decided she wanted to enter the digital domain and started looking into ways we could play together. She started looking at controllers and I started looking at games to play. Somewhat naively I presumed local co-operative multiplayer games would still be readily available, but they proved elusive.<\/p>\n

Dusting off the Xbox<\/a> Series X and browsing through the marketplace, finding a local couch co-op game was a challenge. There wasn\u2019t a plethora of titles readily available but, thanks in part to backwards compatibility, some of the greatest hits from the Xbox 360 library are available to play. Not an obvious title to \u2018enjoy\u2019 together but the first game that came to mind was Resident Evil 5<\/a> and a local split-screen option.<\/p>\n

Gaming has become a more solitary experience in recent years. A subjective viewpoint, I\u2019ll concede, but as a form of entertainment gaming seems increasingly focused on social dynamics and interaction. But looking at any random gaming stream, it\u2019s predominantly individuals on their own, communicating through comments and subscriptions, in the absence of another person.<\/p>\n

The architecture of modern gaming is built around facilitating immediate online access, so perhaps the notion of sitting beside someone and experiencing a game in each other\u2019s company is archaic. With some exceptions, the notion of multiplayer gaming today is built around online play, not local co-op. The halcyon days of dusting off GoldenEye 007 on the N64 on a weekend, with three of your friends on one small screen, is a distant memory.<\/p>\n

To avoid coming across like a cantankerous old man romanticising the past, the trajectory of playing online evolved through gamer demand and preference. There is, however, a tangible joy in experiencing gaming together with a friend or partner in each other\u2019s company.<\/p>\n

I picked up a green controller in the Boxing Day sales, when the sticks started experiencing drift in my old one. To lean into stereotypes somewhat, my partner decided to pick up a contrasting pink controller. We now have complimentary his and hers controllers to enjoy our gaming experience, although it did start a conversation on finding custom controller plates; I\u2019d quite enjoy a Borg themed design, she was musing on a Jane Austen print.<\/p>\n

Playing a game together was a lovely way to spend the day together, a few frustrations here and there but it reminded me of the joy of playing with someone else. Which isn\u2019t to denigrate online gaming, it\u2019s a popular way to play together \u2013 the main way today\u2019s gamers experience co-operative campaigns on modern releases.<\/p>\n

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