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Comment by devchix | Hacker News Reader

I'm not a gamer, but I want to play something to maintain connection with family and distant friends. What should I play? I was once given a copy of Civilization and after playing it for a day, decided it was too much work and I already lose to many things IRL no need to add the Assyrians to my vanquishers as well. I also played Zelda, by "play" I meant wander around the landscape looking for goodies and trying to chat up the game hint characters, and not really interested in solving the game.

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You should definitely ask the family and distant friends you're trying to maintain connection with what they're playing. Right after telling them you're interested in gaming to keep in touch.

They might invite you to some gaming session on the spot, or some time later, which is huge for maintaining connection.

Even if they don't, the weak-ish bond of having a common interest is stronger if you're interested in the same specific game, than if you're just interested in gaming in general.

I would consider myself a "gamer", and play a lot of the big name, high budget titles, but the game I'm most looking forward to is the new "Clubhouse Games" for Switch that's due out on June 5. It sounds like that would be perfect for what you're looking for. It's 51 classic board/card games with many that can be played multiplayer, either couch co-op or online.

Now you could say, "there are already other versions of these sorts of games out there". True, but this brings them all under one roof, so to speak. One consistent interface through which you can play Connect 4 or Yahtzee or or whatever you choose. It's also developed by Nintendo, so there's going to be a certain level of polish you don't usually find in some random indie developer's release. I think it's going to be a killer title, especially if lockdowns continue to drag on. My only question is why they didn't try to accelerate the release date on it to catch more people stuck at home (though maybe it was considered and they had a good reason not to).

https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/clubhouse-games-51-wor...

Animal Crossing might be up your alley, there's no real goals in the game, you can decorate your house and island, garden, befriend fellow villagers, craft new furniture, catch fish and bugs, and change your clothes and that's basically the entire gameplay. You can visit islands of your family and friends to swap items, shop in each other's stores, and share special events/visitors that happen in one person's island in the game. The friends and family part is interesting because each island will have different fruit and flowers available. It's literally the only game I've ever played multiplayer.

Can you visit same console friends/family islands or does this have to be online?

We play party games with my nieces and their family. We use the jackbox games screen shared over zoom.

You actually use your phone as an input controller into the game server (Quiplash and drawful they like). Check the setting for "child friendly". Its ends up being pretty fun. (We've been playing a couple hours the last 4 weeks)

A brief description of the game here: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/04/the-games-getting-us-...

Definitely Animal Crossing. It’s a pure sandbox and particularly popular with people who are not interested in competition or overcoming game challenges, but rather in wandering around in a soothing environment, having some space for creativity (expressing themselves) and “meeting” their friends online in a relaxing environment. While they could have added more to multiplayer, existing elements like sending gifts to your friends or evening walks through the in-game museum together are actually working quite well.

You could give the new Animal Crossing a go. It's a super relaxed game with no real "goal" and it let's you interact with friends in-game.

I did check it out, no lie, I find the art work not very engaging, bordering on creepy. For context I liked all the Mario/Wario/Peach/Yoshi etc incarnations and found them to be really cute.

You could try Tabletop Simulator, there are tons of games, and many free thanks to mods.

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