Gaming with The Boys

Gunshots echoed in the distance hid behind the walls of a thin shed. Not too far off, Prius was crouching in the edge of a shabby alleyway, peeking around his corner. Both of us were watching the same tunnel in silent anticipation.

“Rotate already! We’re having trouble here,” Coco’s voice crackled through the radio.

“Are you sure it’s not a decoy?” I asked. “They might show up on our site.”

“I don’t know! Just come heal me- aurgh!”

“Prius, stay here. I’m rotating.”

“Roger.”

My rifle dangled against my side as I made my way towards where Coco was. A premonition of imminent disaster lingered in the back of my mind—in these types of situations, my sixth sense was rarely wrong. Nevertheless, I continued running to the other site.

“…”

There’s no one here.

I peered around a corner of boxes to see two lifeless bodies just outside an arch in the distance. One of them was Coco’s. The person who took down this side could have hung around… although it seemed suspicious that the explosive hasn’t been planted yet, despite our site being cleared.

My premonition was proved right as I heard Prius swear over the radio.

“I got flanked!”

“That’s why I was covering you…” I sighed.

Why did this always happen? Is it because I’m the medic?

Not even halfway back, I heard a quickly accelerating beeping noise. It grew louder as I came closer.

“Hey Via, watch out. I saw someone there earli-”

Too late. I didn’t even have my gun out.

A small orb of light floated around the corner, before it exploded into a blinding white flare. By the time my vision would have cleared, my body already hit the floor.

“…”

“DEFEAT,” declared the announcer, as dark red words flashed across the screen.

“You should’ve taken cover while you ran!” Coco shouted. Her voice strained my ear—I don’t think she’s ever invested in a proper microphone.

“There wasn’t any time,” I complained. “The crystal was about to go off. Prius didn’t even tell me they planted it.”

“Sorry, I muted my mic when I was raging,” Prius said calmly.

“Aww man. I was top-fragging too!” Coco complained.

“Corolla! Quiet down!” her mom yelled in the background.

“Sorry!”

The rest of us snickered.

“...Shut up.”

Now who were these gamers, sitting indoors on a Saturday evening, mercilessly teasing each other over this tactical shooter? And how did they get here?

Well, it was me and the boys—and here’s what happened earlier today.

o

After the whole ordeal with Prius’s breakup, Coco went home early. The rest of us hung out at the MgRonald’s until late in the morning. I heard Ravi’s parents were understanding when they heard about the situation—needless to say, we didn’t tell anyone about the road race.

Were road races normal among people my age? The other three acted like it was...

I was alone with my thoughts, as Ravi sat silently in the seat next to mine. Lately, it seems that I’ve talked with him so much, that silence has become comfortable. After all, we’ve said almost everything there is to say.

The four of us have been using the group chat much more frequently now. We called every once in a while, and even started hanging out during the weekdays. My biggest highlight of the week was shooting some hoops with the boys at the nearby basketball court. It reminded me of our childhood.

As we pulled up next to Prius’s house, we noticed that there were multiple cars in the driveway.

“Ravi, call Prius. Ask him where we should park.”

“Okay. I’ll put him on speaker.”

Riing.

“Hey Ravi. Is Via there too?”

“Yes, we’re both here,” I responded.

“Ahh, sorry guys. My parents didn’t tell me about this, but some guests came over. It’s my... Dad’s boss’s family? Anyways, we won’t be able to use the basement tonight.”

“Aw man. Is there anything else we can do?”

“Hmmm. You guys play HoH?”

I perked up. Ravi shook his head.

“Yeah!” I said excitedly. “Do you play too? Let’s play some games tonight.”

“Sounds good. That way Coco can play too, since she wasn’t able to come.”

“Alright, we’ll go back home now. Bye.”

“See ya.”

Click.

“Well there goes our movie night,” Ravi sighed.

“That’s fine. HoH is a really fun game, I’m pretty hyped that we get to play together. We’ll teach you.”

“You sure? Isn’t it a team game? I might hold you guys back.”

“Don’t worry about it! It’s just a game.”

o

And that’s the reason why Coco, Prius and I were flaming each other online.

“Hey guys, I’m done the tutorial,” Ravi said. “I think I get the basics.”

“Alright,” I said. “Let’s seriously evaluate our last game and adjust accordingly. Our biggest problem is that both of you guys play the same role...”

“I got more kills than Prius, so he should switch characters,” Coco said.

“But Duelist is fun!” Prius complained. “We’d actually do so much worse if I played someone else. And there’s nothing wrong with having two Duelists.”

“There’s four roles and four players on each team,” I argued. “The game is designed for us to play different characters!”

“Well, let’s calm down,” Ravi said. “I can fill in one of our missing roles. What’s left?”

“Umm, there’s Recon and there’s Smoker. Since these two idiots like to run in and die anyways, I think the Smoker’s more important. You just use your smoke ability to cover us as we run in.”

“Gotcha.”

“I’m surprised that Coco plays so offensively anyways,” Prius said. “She’s like a berserker. All the girls I’ve played with before always picked Healer.”

“I main Healer so at the very least I can heal myself,” I said. “Whenever someone else plays Healer, they’re absolutely useless and no one gets and heals.”

“That’s the gamer spirit.”

“I joined the lobby,” Ravi said. “Now what do I do?”

“Prius is the party leader, so he’ll start the queue.”

o

We spawned into the world, this time on the attacking team. This was arguable one of the hardest maps to play on, which made me worry for Ravi. It was called “Winter” covered with snow, ice, and piles of boxes to hide behind.

Our squad consisted of the four of us. There was no need to utilize any form of in-game communication since we were all in a voice call already.

“So Ravi, you understand how the game works?”

“We need to plant this crystal on the site and let it blow up, right? When we win matches, we get more money to buy better guns. First to twelve matches wins.”

“Exactly. Also, planting the crystal is only one way to win a match. The other way is to kill everyone on the enemy team.”

“Gotcha.”

“Always aim for the head. It’s a one-shot kill with any rifle, and a two-shot with pistols. If you aim for the body it’s a lot harder.”

“Yeah, they taught all that in the tutorial. What I’m not too familiar with is this Smoker character, though. How do I play him?”

“Oh, just press C and them place your smokes.... in these places.”

I marked the spots on our shared mini-map.

“It’s a little confusing to control, but I believe in you.”

“You guys ready?” Prius asked. “We’re rushing B.”

“Yup.”

“Yeaah.”

And so, the match started.

The four of us ran across the map in an orderly fashion. Prius and Coco took the front as Duelists, while Ravi and I watched our flank.

“Ravi, put down the smokes!” Coco called.

“Gotcha.”

“Push in fast!”

“Nice smokes Ravi! You have a knack for this.”

B site consisted of one huge yellow shipment crate on the attacker side, a couple of boxes piled up in the middle, and small metal wall near the defender side. There were three openings in total: the attacker entrance, the defender entrance, and a hallway to the middle of the map.

Our group jumped out from behind the shipment crate and cleared the site within seconds—we peeked around corners, ran from cover to cover, and kept an eye out for enemies. I heard bullets firing from the other side of the site.

“I got two of them!” Coco announced. “Wait, I’m dead. There’s a third one somewhere at the back!”

“Via, plant the crystal!”

“I’m on it.”

I held down my left-click button, waiting for what felt like an eternity before the crystal took root. If it was physically possible to hold that button any faster, I would love to know how.

“Planted!”

“He’s here!” Prius shouted.

An enemy soldier peeked around a pile of boxes, taking aim at us. Prius and I both shot at him. This was known as “setting up a crossfire”: two players watch the same angle, which forces the enemy to fight multiple people at once. This creates a significant advantage, where in the best case scenario, the enemy panics and dies without killing any of us.

Unfortunately, Prius was shot down, and I secured the kill.

“Alright, it’s two vers-” I cut off as my character was shot in the back.

Ravi was somehow wandering around the middle of the map, while I got flanked by the enemy.

“Flank! Flank!”

“Where’s that?”
“Where we came from! Go back!”

I took a deep breath. Okay, it’s a one versus one now. Since the enemy shot me when I wasn’t looking, I couldn’t be sure of their skill. For all we know, it could’ve been a new player like Ravi... at least, that’s what I hoped.

What was the reality, you might ask?

Please watch the scene unfold in slow motion.

From Ravi’s point of view, our entire team spectates him. He approaches the middle of B site, with his vision covering the crystal. From behind one of the boxes, the enemy walked out in plain sight. Backwards. They came out backwards, facing the EXACT OPPOSITE DIRECTION.

We screamed at Ravi to shoot him.

“Get him!” “He’s right there!” “SHOOOOOT!!”

“...”

His crosshairs flicked wildly across the scene, completely glazing over the enemy. Mind you, in this game the enemies are outline red.

RED.

“Where is he?” Ravi asked.

THE AUDACITY.

As the enemy slowly turned towards Ravi, he finally noticed—but by the time his crosshairs laid on our opponent, it was too late. We lost the match.

“...”

“...Sorry.”

“Ravi?”

“Yes?”

“I take back what I said earlier about aiming for the head. You can aim for the body.”

“...Okay.”

“And also, you can stick to watching the flank. I’ll cover the middle.”

“Okay.”

Coco and Prius were roaring with laughter as I tried to maintain my composure.

“Man, I haven’t heard you this pissed in a while,” Prius chuckled.

“I’m actually not even mad. That was so bad that it was impressive,” I replied.

“You know Ravi?” Coco snickered. “You’re such a smart guy, but it looked like your brain lagged so hard just now.”

“It’s my first time playing, okay?” Ravi complained. “I’ll do better, I promise.

And so he did—but not in terms of gunplay. His accuracy remained as hopeless as ever.

o

“VICTORY!” the HoH announcer declared.

We had just won Ravi his first game—albeit barely. Coco top fragged again, while Ravi – as expected – only had a handful of kills.

“Man, that was a tough game,” Ravi said. “Sorry I held you guys back.”

“No, it’s okay,” I said. “Your smokes were actually incredible; they were always at the right place at the right time.”

“Your gunplay could use some work though,” Prius commented.

“Not that you’re one to talk. You got less kills than me, and I was Healer.”

“Hey.”

“Ahh how cute. Arguing over your measly little kills,” Coco teased. “You two should be practicing too, if you want to catch up to me.”

“Hey! I only have less kills because I’m Healer.”

“Then let’s have a shooting match in real life,” Prius challenged. “I have my license, and I bet I’m the best shooter here.”

“Deal.” “I’m down.”

Ravi’s booming laughter interrupted the two.

“...What’s so funny?”

“It’s just... ha... I haven’t seen you guys bicker like this in such a long time,” he laughed. “I used to think you guys were so mature now, being all independent and going on road trips without any parents around. But playing this game together really brings out the worse in everyone, huh?”

“...I guess I can’t help it.” “Yup.” “You got a point.”

For the rest of us, tonight was just the same as any other gaming day. Maybe our tolerance for toxicity was just higher, being accustomed gamers. It was pretty standard for the gaming community to roast each other for every small mistake—all in good fun.

“Well, that’s enough of that,” Ravi said. “How’re you so good at the game, Coco? Got any tips?”

“Mmm...” Coco started. She seemed reluctant to answer.

Deep down, I already knew the answer.

“It’s because... I didn’t hang out with friends very much in high school. There was a lot of bullying that happened after the end of tenth grad, and for the next two years, all I really did was play games and run.” Her volume was considerably quieter compared to before. I got the impression that she was ashamed about sharing this with the guys.

“It was the same for me,” I said. “I was almost a complete recluse after second year.”

“...”

After a few seconds of vulnerability, Ravi commented through the silence.

“It’s kind of ironic,” he chuckled. “That our biggest leaders ended up as introverts. It’s like the roles were switched.”

“Really?” I asked. “Prius seems like he hasn’t changed at all.”

“Yeah, he’s still as childish as ever,” Coco quipped.

“Shut up. At least I grew taller.”

“You know what...”

As they argued, I brought the topic back to our earlier discussion.

“You know... based on Coco’s situation and mine, it doesn’t seem like gaming is what made us unpopular.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” I continued. “Coco already told me about what happened during our camping trip. My high school experience was somewhat similar too.”

“I remember you talking about that,” Prius said. “It was when we first hung out, right? By the lake?”

“Yeah. Well in our cases, it wasn’t that we were shunned for having certain interests. We had friends first, and for one reason or another, decided to turn to fiction. I think that’s what games are really for. They don’t make you unpopular, it’s just that people with less friends might be more inclined to turn to something like videogames.”

“I can see that,” Prius agreed. “I often play games with my guys on the team, and we don’t really fit the gamer stereotypes at all. If I didn’t have a friend group who enjoys hanging outside and doing other things, then I can see how I’d play a lot more.”

“I guess that’s what games are really for,” Coco said. “We just want to escape from real life sometimes.”

“Yeah...” “Yeah.” “Mmhm...”

The digital clock in the corner of my screen read 1:07AM. A feverish feeling was settling in despite me being perfectly healthy. It was the warmth in my head that I’d often get from staying up late, making me run my mouth more and become more open with my feelings.

“Late night calls with the guys hits different,” Ravi commented.

“Yeah...” “Yeah...” “Mmm...”

Our quartet sat in a comfortable stillness, miles away from each other, connected by the invisible electromagnetic waves of our group call. Technology sure was amazing. Even though we each browsed the internet in our own rooms, we were able to feel each other’s presence.

“Do you guys remember when we played Attack Families?” Coco asked.

“Oh yeah!” Prius piped up. “The really popular Japanese fighting game right? We spent the entire summer grinding that game before high school started.”

“We started playing that because of the kickboxing lessons we took,” I laughed. “And then we ended up more interested in the game than the actual sport, even though it was nothing like real kickboxing.”

“That what got me so obsessed with gaming,” Coco said. “It’s the only competition where I never lost against Prius. The satisfaction of beating him a thousand times got me hooked.”

“I always got the bad controller,” Prius complained.

“Bro code,” Ravi said. “Via owned the console so he got the good controller. You never wanted Coco’s pink controller, and I always arrived earlier for first dibs.”

“Still...”

“Hey...” I started. The nostalgia that we unearthed made me want to relive those moments with my friends. How would it feel to play the same things together again? How would we act differently now that we’re older? I was curious.

“We should play that again sometime.”