The Donut Guy Blog

As much as I wanna write about  Gen Con and the amazing parts of this convention that are exhausting me to no end in the best ways, tonight I’m reflecting on how much games have meant to me building friendships.

I for years was the kid who struggled making deep friendships. I was always a kid who was on the fringe, wanting to be friends with everyone, but not best friends with anyone. ADHD and being socially awkward made my connections to others difficult. In turn, being an empath meant I could feel everyone’s emotions, but I could not contextualize them socially.

During this time, I spent my youth in single player games. Many hours of RPG’s and solo modes that allowed me to escape in the places. Although those places didn’t socialize, they were comforting as I love gaming. College would begin to take me out of that into multiplayer and social games. It was like a breath of fresh air with a new place and a feeling. It was a long road from there, but I continued to grow.

Becoming an adult I honed my communication as I spent more time with people. I found who I myself was and allowed myself to be that person with those I cared about. I found my friendships growing as well, deeper and richer. Eventually, I found great friends who I consider best friends.

At the core we connected because of gaming. I always found it easy to work through and talk through games with people. These other gamers related to who I was, and found joy alongside another round of video games. To this day they are my best friends.

Coming back to Gen Con I find myself building those quality relationships again with new people in the analog gaming space. I have made friends with people gaming from across the country who love the same things I love about games. They are also parents. They also educators. They are also creators. They come from every spectrum and I value their voices and smiles as we get to take in games and life together. 

This is the power of gaming in terms of bringing people together. This year, the President of Gen Con David Hoppe referred to it, and talked about the power we have together through games. He said the world needs more Gen Con’s. If it’s about the friendships we’ve made at the table or on a headset then I think we can use more than that.