Playing With Friends

Sitting down to write is always the hardest part of writing.

A really good friend of mine died last week, so I haven't felt much like writing. But, it's time to start getting back into my daily life.  I miss writing already, but not all my thoughts today are gaming related.

I've known my friend since we were around 3 years old.  I have memories of playing all sorts of games with him over the course of the last 20 years from NES to Xbox 360.  One of the memories that kept flashing through my head this last week was about playing couch co-op games with him while we were roomates in college.

Freshman year we lived in the dorms and we also got a little game called Guitar Hero.  We ended up socializing with a ton of people on our floor because we would rock out with Guitar Hero and leave our door open.  But the best part of the game was knowing that every night we could both relax for a while and hang out together.  Working on our skills and learning to master a new type of game together was an awesome bonding experience.

I still remember how elated he was the first time he beat "Bark at the Moon."  It was the final track of the game and, at the time, seemed impossible to complete.  I don't think either of us would have gotten as good at Guitar Hero if we weren't playing together.

When we were upperclassmen we got good at racquetball together the same way, by encouraging one another and playing in person on a regular basis. 

I guess this applies to anything that a person wants to get better at, but games are a fun experience and a great excuse to bond.  It's the perfect reason to build couch co-op into modern games.  Yes, we can connect online, but it's such a blast to play a game side-by-side.

There's something to be said for being face to face with your friends.  It's underrated today.  I love playing online with people, but something is lost when you aren't in the same room.  You can keep up with people on Facebook, text them every day, or call them up on the phone...

But don't forget to get together once in a while.  Those memories will stay with you for a long time.