Gaming has always crossed the line between a social activity and an isolated affair. In the early console days, many of the big titles had split-screen elements and friends playing in the same room. Now big releases are often open world single player adventures or online multiplayer games where friends and strangers have to connect over the internet to form a perfect team.
This has led to the formation of online gaming communities. These communities can be functional and focused on strategy, or they can be casual and fun. Finding them can be half the battle. This article starts you off with the reasons why you should check it out and a few suggestions.
As mentioned, when treated in such a way, gaming can be an isolating experience. It’s fun to get lost in an alternate reality for hours on your own, but it can be more fun and beneficial to share the experience with others.
Gaming conferences like E3 are a great experience despite reports that Sony, Nintendo, and Xbox are skipping them this year, but for most gamers, the online atmosphere is where they’ll find their community.
Often, gaming forums and communities have a purpose, whether that’s to discuss poker strategy, plan a virtual battlefield advance, or facilitate a private match. In addition to entertaining yourself and meeting like-minded people, you can also improve your gameplay.
For multiplayer team games, joining online gaming communities can be the difference between running around with no direction and having a cohesive team.
Communities for individual games
The first place to start when looking for online gaming communities is to delve into the forums and chat rooms surrounding your favorite title.
If you’re a big fan of Elder Scrolls, check out Elder Scrolls Online, a very active forum with discussions about fighting, crafting, and lore. If you play Dark Souls often, join the Discord channel or post your chat on the Steam forum.
There are plenty of opportunities for community building for online poker players. Sponsored streamers like Team Pro member Spraggy regularly stream to an audience of thousands on Twitch, with viewers using Discord to chat and discuss hands.
You can also build your own home poker community using popular platforms such as PokerStars. Their Home Game feature allows players to create their own club with up to 501 members and join up to 10 clubs to play private games with friends.
Find people to play with
Of course, you can jump into a lobby for just about any popular online game and play with randomers. But finding your crew online makes for more team cohesion and therefore more fun when it comes to strategy games like Overwatch and Battlefield.
There are many places to find teammates online. You could start at Gamerpals on Reddit. It’s just a forum of people looking for others to play with. Of course, you have to navigate the usual trough of information to get what you want.
If you want a more refined version, check out the GameTree app. You tell the app your interests, the games you play, and a few other details, and it matches you with similar players. With skill level and class badges, you can use it to build your dream team.
For those who are (much) more serious about gaming, you can join a competitive gaming and eSports clan. Lookingforclan.com is a site that fulfills this function, matching players with clans as esteemed as Agent Gaming and Team Bionic.
Come on Discord
Discord is currently the go-to gaming chat platform. It’s free to join and you can find servers for just about any game.
Once you’ve joined the server you’re looking for, you’ll see a list of channels and members to interact with. You can join up to 100 servers and receive notifications for whatever you want.
Discord works well with streaming platforms like Twitch, allowing viewers to interact with each other and the host. Discord can also be used to talk to teammates in games using the Team Speak sub-app, which is perfect for titles that don’t have an in-game chat feature.
With these methods combined, you can always find someone to play with and talk about strategy.