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There’s a whole community out there, waiting to play
Brandon had no idea how easy he had it in high school.
He’s 30 now. He can’t believe “the good old days” were just 15 years ago.
He used to play Call of Duty — the original — with a handful of other kids. They all found each other in the seventh grade, on the first day of middle school.
Even in a sea of school uniforms, the gamers stood out, but at least now they stood out as a group.
Brandon was shy. They were all “shy,” but not around each other. He started to think that the problem wasn’t him — he’d just been around the wrong people for too long.
Perfect fit
The group spent countless hours in each other’s living rooms and basements, gaming and playing D&D. A few of them got really into the new Grand Theft Auto, but they were all obsessed with CoD, which was pretty obvious to their parents when their trigger button jammed for the fifteenth time and they had to buy a new controller.
Brandon grew up on those worn-in couches and on the two-mile walks to his buddy’s house before anyone could drive. He even met his first girlfriend, Jade, when she switched to their high school in Grade 10. Their lockers were beside each other, and after one look at the posters inside, they realized they had a lot in common, and she joined the group a few weeks later.
It felt like a lifetime ago. Fast forward a decade or so and most of the guys were married. They gamed together, but they didn’t have as much time to talk or engage the way they used to. Jade was long gone. They broke up halfway through college. She started travelling and no one really talked to her anymore.
Brandon got to a point where Facebook and Reddit just weren’t giving him what he needed. He’d made a few connections playing the games he fell in love with in high school, but it wasn’t the same. He felt like the best days had already passed.
Human Fall Flat
Find your niche
Fortunately, Brandon had a distraction from his loneliness: Human Fall Flat. It isn’t as big as some of the games he grew up playing, but it was fun and entertaining. He especially loved its wonky mechanics and how they could all sabotage each other.
He kept unlocking levels but wanted to get better.
Brandon started searching for other people to game and talk with. He started on Reddit, but soon found a corner of the Internet he’d never visited. Somehow, he’d navigated to a social platform called E-Pal for gamers.
He smirked when he saw the homepage that read: “Make friends with gamers. Never battle alone,” but it piqued his interest. Maybe he could make some friends on this site.
There were a few popular games listed, like Fortnite and CoD. He clicked on one of them, revealing dozens of faces and avatars of people who were also interested in that particular game.
His screen lit up with female players. He swiped through the pictures — right to connect, left to ignore.
Brandon added CoD as one of his favorite games and started communicating with a few people, eventually playing with them. Most of the people he met were down-to-earth. He even made connections with other Human Fall Flat fans.
He especially enjoyed the opportunity to learn from veteran players, who taught him how to perform neat tricks in this games.
Gaming, anime and connection
There was another perk to the site that Brandon hadn’t expected. He was finally able to explore his love of anime, too with other fans. He met Hazel, another anime lover — and gamer — from Iceland. They played a bit and became friends. Despite the time difference, their friendship turned into a deep connection.
Brandon said goodbye to Hazel one night a few months after they first started talking. He flopped back onto his couch, happy. He felt positive about the friendship and they had plans to meet somewhere in Europe in the next year — when the pandemic is over .
He had been steadily making friends on the social platform. Even if his romantic relationship were to end, he finally felt like he had people to lean on.
It occurred to him: What if the good old days hadn’t even happened yet?
He owed this feeling of satisfaction to E-Pal, a worldwide social platform that is allowing people like Brandon to play, chat, and form meaningful connections.
Brandon is hopeful, maybe one day, when the pandemic is over, he will have the chance of meeting the friends he made on E-Pal in real life.
