Commenter Alexdmk recently discovered how much fun you can phave playing online multiplayer games when you're so soused you don't give a flying fig about your score. It's time for Drink Up on Kotaku!
There is something undoubtedly beautiful about mixing liquor with gaming.
As an admitted lover of intoxication and avid gamer, the combination seemed like an obvious mix. Somehow the two hadn't often come together. Sure, I had jumped online for a quick match of something mindless after a night of partying had ended too soon, yet never had I dedicated an entire night to two of my ultimate pastimes. It seemed anti-social. Taboo. As if spending a night exclusively drinking and gaming would spoil my already floundering denial of being an alcoholic. In short, it felt wrong.
However, after a long day's work of particularly torturous physical labor, a co-worker mentioned he planned on picking up a few bottles of wine and indulging in a night of drunken online Call of Duty. It seemed strange at first. I asked him, "Doesn't it feel a little weird to you? You know, to be drinking alone?" He chuckled to himself arrogantly, "There's more people on the internet than in any bar. Besides, I usually play with people I know in real life who are doing the exact same thing. We get the mics going. Shoot shit. Shoot the shit. It's a blast." It seemed like a window of opportunity. If I felt too awful about the ol' controller in one hand, beer in the other thing, I could always claim I was tricked into believing it as socially acceptable. We exchanged gamer tags. He purchased his wine. I picked up a 12 pack.
And so the games began.
By the time I had jumped on that night, my co-worker's Xbox party of three already seemed half in the bag. I plugged in my mic, loaded up Call of Duty, and opened up a cold one. After an hour in, I was having a blast. Sure, I was dying more than often, and yeah, there were countless embarrassing gunfights I definitely should have won. The beauty of it was I didn't care about my performance. As a hardcore gamer, this development was staggering. No time before in my Call of Duty career had I been able to sit back and enjoy such avoidable deaths. That night I had been free, truly free, to a gaming experience that gaming sometimes should be - casual. We laughed heartily at our own stupidity. We vigorously cheered our victories. Our conversations ranged from CoD tactics to those ridiculous topics best fleshed out with some liquor. I felt a pure fun I had forgotten amongst my concerns for high kill/death ratios and winning at whatever costs. It was completely and utterly relaxing.
Since my exploration into drunken CoD, I've had many run-ins with combining two of my favorite hobbies. Each time feels as great as the last and I always feel a sense of relaxation unattainable from either activities by themselves. My recommendation? All of you legal drinkers out there, grab your console of choice, grab some friends, grab a mic, and, most importantly, grab your favorite alcoholic beverage. It's an experience you're bound to enjoy.
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