Bill D. on The Game Group

I don’t mind online play, but GMing is a little more different. So far I have done discord audio and Roll20 Vtt for maps and images.

I miss being able to just quickly sketch out a map for an encounter. Where I could quickly pivot on a plot point, I now have to be prepared to show alternative images, when in the past I would just draw on the paper.

I also miss rolling behind the screen and asking for their awareness just to mess with their heads.

Beerleaguer comments on The Game Group

I have young boys and all of my gaming friends are in the same boat with young kids. That’s impacted much of my group’s energy and availability, and after a year of virtual work, there’s just no appetite to tack on more hours in front of a computer, staring at my own dumb, tired face during a virtual game night.

But here’s a positive angle: My boys, age 7 and 11, have formed their own, regular game groups. At first, my wife and I discouraged so much screen time, but as isolation wore on, we found our boys’ gaming pods to be healthy alternatives to the in-person socialization they were each missing.

My 11 year old has especially benefited from the competition, conversation and education that comes from being part of a game group. He and his friends are each making plans to assemble their own gaming PCs, a dialogue and vocation that never would have happened without the fellowship of gaming. My wife and I are thrilled he’s taken a shine to thoughtful innovation.

As for our seven year old, his vocabulary and reading skills have each improved, in large because of his need to keep up with his big brother and his friends.

All this to say – there’s something so undeniably healthy about the common bonds we share through gaming, whether we’re 7 or 97.