{"id":185,"date":"2021-12-21T04:57:31","date_gmt":"2021-12-21T04:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/?p=185"},"modified":"2021-12-21T04:57:33","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T04:57:33","slug":"video-games-and-making-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"Video Games and Making Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Unlike popular opinion that video games aren\u2019t social, Video games are actually social places that help people to connect! To well-meaning parents, video games often look like a waste of time. To a casual onlooker &#8211; Although the players are physically isolated, they\u2019re spending time with friends in the same way that people do when they talk to one another on the phone. A recent study shows that 77% of boys play online video games with friends at least once a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Contrary to parents\u2019 fears, the vast majority of the messages people send while playing this game are used to interact with others in a positive way. For young people, it can be exasperating to hear their parents encourage them to talk more, whereas, they actually already are. Although the method of communication is different (i.e., communicated in-game rather than through phone, or in-person), the messages sent and connections built are the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many youngsters visit each other&#8217;s homes to play video games. This serves the same purpose as playing a board game together did for their parents. Shared experiences like these are so good at helping people connect that some therapists even use tabletop games as group therapy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Playing Video Games is socially safe<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is also proof that suggests video games are a safe place to experiment with social exchanges for vulnerable people. These include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>People with social anxiety<\/li><li>People who are shy<\/li><li>People with insecurities (when it comes to relationships)<\/li><li>People with autism spectrum disorders<\/li><li>People with depressive symptoms<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Video games and other online spaces are \u201csafe\u201d for these individuals because they allow people to connect at their own pace, with no obligation to respond immediately and without requiring them to physically be present. Research shows that folks who meet while playing online video games end up spending time with those people. This is cause for celebration for parents of young people who are otherwise socially isolated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In conclusion &#8211; playing online games potentially brings strangers together &#8211; and in a positive way too. Go ahead now, and find a gaming buddy on thisTangle.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Register today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unlike popular opinion that video games aren\u2019t social, Video games are actually social places that help people to connect! To well-meaning parents, video games often look like a waste of time. To a casual onlooker &#8211; Although the players are physically isolated, they\u2019re spending time with friends in the same way that people do when..<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-default read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/\">Read more <span class=\"fa fa-angle-right\"><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[50,9,51,47,49,46,11,48],"class_list":["post-185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-welcome","tag-gamers","tag-meet-people-online","tag-online-friends","tag-online-games","tag-online-gaming","tag-relationships","tag-social-media","tag-video-games"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Video Games and Making Friends | thisTangle<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Playing online games brings strangers together - and in a positive way too. Go ahead now, and find a gaming buddy on thisTangle.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Video Games and Making Friends | thisTangle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Playing online games brings strangers together - and in a positive way too. Go ahead now, and find a gaming buddy on thisTangle.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ThisTangle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-21T04:57:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-21T04:57:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/woman-gaming-1024x645-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"645\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"ThisTangle\",\"description\":\"ThisTangle blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/woman-gaming-1024x645-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/woman-gaming-1024x645-1.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":645,\"caption\":\"Online Video Games\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/\",\"name\":\"Video Games and Making Friends | thisTangle\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-21T04:57:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-21T04:57:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1253802d4fedf35124d6ea1f3a3d3c75\"},\"description\":\"Playing online games brings strangers together - and in a positive way too. Go ahead now, and find a gaming buddy on thisTangle.com\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Video Games and Making Friends\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1253802d4fedf35124d6ea1f3a3d3c75\",\"name\":\"Editor\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/author\/blogsecure\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Video Games and Making Friends | thisTangle","description":"Playing online games brings strangers together - and in a positive way too. Go ahead now, and find a gaming buddy on thisTangle.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Video Games and Making Friends | thisTangle","og_description":"Playing online games brings strangers together - and in a positive way too. Go ahead now, and find a gaming buddy on thisTangle.com","og_url":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/","og_site_name":"ThisTangle","article_published_time":"2021-12-21T04:57:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-12-21T04:57:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":645,"url":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/woman-gaming-1024x645-1.jpg","path":"\/home\/myurjaco\/thistangle.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/woman-gaming-1024x645-1.jpg","size":"full","id":186,"alt":"Online Video Games","pixels":660480,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Editor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/","name":"ThisTangle","description":"ThisTangle blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/woman-gaming-1024x645-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/woman-gaming-1024x645-1.jpg","width":1024,"height":645,"caption":"Online Video Games"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/","name":"Video Games and Making Friends | thisTangle","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2021-12-21T04:57:31+00:00","dateModified":"2021-12-21T04:57:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1253802d4fedf35124d6ea1f3a3d3c75"},"description":"Playing online games brings strangers together - and in a positive way too. Go ahead now, and find a gaming buddy on thisTangle.com","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/video-games-and-making-friends\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Video Games and Making Friends"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1253802d4fedf35124d6ea1f3a3d3c75","name":"Editor","url":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/author\/blogsecure\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":187,"href":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions\/187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thistangle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}