throwaway30306

I've done this with League of Legends. I find that it corresponds very closely with times in my life when I am depressed[1] about some other aspect of my life. When I feel out of control, and the game provides a stable environment with known rules, where I have a great deal of agency to impact the outcome. It's a trap, if course; in real life, ignoring problems is (usually) not a good strategy for resolving them.

On the flip side, though, when I'm not playing as part of one of these sessions, I like my relationship with the game. Especially, it's a great way of keeping in touch with a friend long-distance, which is normally something I struggle with[2].

[1]: In the colloquial, not medical, use of the word.

[2]: Somewhat, I also put less effort into long- distance friendships by choice; putting in lots of effort to keep in contact with someone who I wouldn't otherwise interact with becomes a chore and I don't get as much out of it. Since I would still be gaming otherwise, this doesn't become a chore, and regularly using voice chat makes it even better, compared to a game like scrabble where it's just text. (This part not being unique to League, of course; any other real time team game would do the same).