Gaming In The Time Of Social Distancing

At High Score, we love seeing people come together to play games, but with the spread of COVID-19, aka the Coronavirus, this is not the time for all of us to get together and rock out with our controllers out. You don’t need to hear it from us, but if you can stay home, stay home. Gaming together is great, but the most important thing right now is that everyone is safe and healthy.

Luckily for us gamers, we live in a time when playing games at home is easier, and better, than ever. Online play will let you keep testing your skills in the FGC, and while it isn’t the perfect replacement of actually sitting next to your opponent, it’s better than nothing, right? More than that, there are so many options on how to get new games!

Along with just buying digital versions of games for your PC or console of choice, you have the options like Xbox Games With Gold, Xbox Game Pass, and PlayStation Plus. For less than the cost of a single game, you can have access to dozens of games. For the month of March, PlayStation Plus subscribers can get Sonic Forces and the classic Shadow of the Colossus.

If you’re an Xbox Games With Gold subscriber, you can get Batman: The Enemy Within – The Complete Season, Sonic Generations, and Shantae: Half-Genie Hero right now. With Game Pass, you have access to 100 games, including the just-released Ori and the Will of the Wisps, NBA 2k20, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, and Kingdom Hearts 3. And that’s just what the consoles have to offer. There’s also Steam, Origin, Epic, and so many more digital game options.

We’re all at the start of what is going to be a very long journey. The CDC is calling for a halt to any events with more than 50 people for the next 8 weeks, and that would include your local weeklies. Schools, bars, movie theaters, and all external forms of entertainment are shutting down, and we each need to do our part to help slow the spread of the Coronavirus. It isn’t often that sitting on our butts playing video games is considered a way to help society, but like the old man sang, the times, they are a-changing.

Like you, we can’t wait to get out there and get back to tournaments, but for the time being, that just isn’t a smart thing to do. Please, more than anything, stay safe and healthy. Keep washing your hands, keep plenty of hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol close by, and practice social distancing.  For more information on the Coronavirus and what you can do to keep yourself safe and slow the spread, visit the CDC site here.