The coronavirus is currently causing many restrictions in social life worldwide. Many gamers are turning to online gaming – especially two genres.
Which online games are particularly popular? Currently, two types of online games are experiencing a strong increase in players:
- Team shooters of all kinds
- MOBAs
As early as February, we reported that interest in LoL and PUBG has significantly increased in China. These figures can now also be applied to other regions of the world. For example, Italians are playing a lot of Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone.
But why are these games so popular? And does this popularity lead to problems?
Social contacts and distraction from the virus
What connects the two types of online games? Whether team shooters or MOBAs, both genres focus on action and competitive spirit.
While you often need to react quickly and have a lot of action in battle royales, strategy shooters like CS:GO and MOBAs like LoL or Dota 2 require a lot of concentration.
At the same time, you also come into contact with teammates, with whom you jump into the fray in small groups. Often, voice chats like TeamSpeak or Discord are used.
Why is this important? Focusing on a game and the social contacts in the chat help people distract themselves from the current situation and isolation.
You lose yourself in gaming and forget about the situation around you for a short time. This is important because some people feel trapped at home during this time.
Are people really gaming more? Verizon reported on March 17 about how Americans are now spending their time online. What stands out is that the share of gaming has increased by 75% compared to the previous week. For comparison:
- Web traffic has only increased by 20%
- Video data has increased by 12%
- Social media usage has remained the same.
Gaming is thus becoming a useful tool to pass the time and, above all, to distract from the current situation.
Record numbers across all platforms, but also problems
What stands out in the numbers? Currently, many games from the mentioned genres are seeing record player numbers:
- Counter-Strike: Global Offensive surpassed the mark of 1 million concurrent players for the first time on March 14 (via Steamcharts).
- LoL currently has too many players and there may be queues.
- Steam is celebrating a record of over 20 million concurrent users. The previous record was 18.8 million from January of this year.
But not only the players themselves are more active. The viewer numbers on Twitch also increased by 10% compared to the previous week, and on YouTube Gaming by 15% (via The Verge).
In China, viewing hours had already significantly increased at the end of January compared to the previous year. Many Chinese even had time off because of the New Year celebrations. Particularly popular is “Honor of Kings”, a type of LoL Mobile.
What are the risks of these increased numbers? With greater popularity and use comes the risk of exhausting capacities, leading to games or even the entire internet suffering from overuse:
- This is already the case with League of Legends. The MOBA that was the most popular PC game in 2019 is currently experiencing queues. Only professional players can bypass this to continue training.
- There have been more frequent issues with Discord lately (via Twitter). The platform is currently very popular among gamers.
First restrictions on usage are now occurring on Netflix. The bandwidth in Europe is to be generally reduced and further decreased under heavy load (via Heise).
Whether gaming will face such restrictions is currently unknown.
Many online games react solidarily to the situation
How are gaming companies reacting to the situation? Many gaming companies are using the current situation to help or offer players incentives to stay indoors:
- The MMORPGs The Lord of the Rings Online and D&D Online are currently offering all content for free.
- Pokémon GO has made many adjustments to ensure players do not have to go outside.
- A gaming studio has even given away free copies of an erotic game in China to encourage people to stay at home.
The actions are good, as the Federal Center for Health Education recommends staying home as much as possible and avoiding gatherings of people. Companies are currently digitizing significantly and are focusing on remote solutions. With online games, this works well, and you can stay in touch with friends at the same time.
The hardware giant Razer has even gone further than just offering free campaigns. They are participating in the fight against coronavirus by producing surgical masks.
