Because of COVID-19, everyone is stuck at home.
Nearly a year after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic, several countries are still on lockdown and most borders are still closed. Work remains remote for most employees. Businesses are still struggling as they follow health protocols designed to curb the spread of the virus.
As a result, internet use has never been higher. The public now depends on the internet for entertainment, for work, for school, to connect with family and friends, etc.
How the Pandemic is Changing Internet Use
Online shopping has also become the new normal as people continue to the social distance to protect themselves and their loved ones from being ill. Hong Kongers, last year, embraced online shopping en masse. Consumers turned to e-commerce to purchase an important household item that was out-of-stock from physical retailers. As wandering inside a mall became a rather risky activity, they started browsing digital storefronts for products to buy.
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The pandemic has also forced businesses to shut down their brick-and-mortar stores and move their services on the web.
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Many are now fighting for the consumers’ attention in the already competitive world of e-commerce. SEO services allow businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to compete with major international brands. The use of social media to market merchandise is also now more important than ever.
The same is happening worldwide. The rate at which people shop online has significantly gone up during the pandemic. The use of video chatting apps such as Zoom, Google Duo, and Houseparty has also started rising in the past several months as people seek ways to speak with loved ones or work colleagues.
However, one of the biggest winners during the pandemic is the video game industry.
Video Games: for Children and Adults
You might remember the frenzy around Nintendo’s “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” in March 2020, right around the time when SARS-CoV-2 started spreading rapidly around the world. By that time, many countries imposed lockdowns to curtail the impact of the pandemic.
“Animal Crossing: New Horizon” was a huge hit. As people were asked to stay indoors, they live vicariously through their characters. In the game, they flew off to islands where they develop their own quiet towns with anthropomorphic villagers.
The video game was not only popular among children. Adults were playing, too. According to reports, video game sales saw a year-per-year increase of 37% in the United States. In Japan, sales of mobile games on iPhones experienced a growth of 44% in July. Meanwhile, by June, 41% of people who identified themselves as gamers were playing more video games because of the pandemic.
Nintendo, which released “Animal Crossing: New Horizon” reported $1.4 billion in profits during the second half of 2020. That is five times the profits they made from the same time in 2019.
Video Games is the New Sports
As major league events started to be canceled, people turned their attention toward video games. According to SimilarWeb, internet traffic for sporting websites such as ESPN saw a dramatic drop last year. On the other hand, the traffic for video game sites shot up exponentially as 3d artists create such types of game character designs along with appealing video game icons that attract game players to play video games with full of interest. That is why, Twitch, a streaming platform for gamers, saw its traffic rise by 20% in the past year.
Video Games: the Antidote to Loneliness
Playing video games has always been seen in a negative light. Parents blame it for the children’s bad grades or lack of exercise. While too much of anything is dangerous, there are benefits to playing video games, especially during a pandemic.
Aside from entertainment, video games are providing children a way to interact with their friends and other kids in a socially distant way. When playing with a team or as a duo, they often have to communicate. Many online video games have a feature where the players can chat with one another for encouragement and to devise a plan of attack.
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If not, they call each other via a smartphone to discuss the game.
Through video games, they see their friends moving through their avatars. The effect is similar, or sometimes superior, to talking via a video call because they are interacting with their friends albeit digitally.
There are games that are played in isolation, but they still provide entertainment now that kids especially are not permitted to go outdoors.
The pandemic has been a cause of endless stress and dreads among adults and children alike. While some turn to the internet for a bit of reprieve from the humdrum of life in lockdown, others play video games as a way to be engaged and to interact with other people.
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