Several months ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) categorized excessive gaming as a disorder. But amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, WHO has asked people to rather indulge themselves in gaming to spend time and stay at home, instead of going outside.
As reported by USA Today, game makers like Activision-Blizzard have started a movement with #PlayApartTogether to play games while sincerely following social distancing. The hashtag, #PlayApartTogether, clearly indicates towards playing games together while staying apart physically.
Bobby Kotick, Activision Blizzard CEO, stated that it was never so complicated to make people stay connected with each other. He also said that games can serve as the best available medium to let people connect in an interactive way. He concluded his statement by saying that Activision is proud to be a part of such an initiative.
This step by WHO and game makers will help more people stay at home and follow the lockdown rules imposed in their respective countries. Until a proper vaccine is created, only social distancing can stop the pandemic. So we need various ways to keep ourselves confined to our houses and gaming can be a pretty engaging one.
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Around 18 video game companies have joined the initiative with the World Health Organization (WHO). These companies include Dirtybit, Pocket Gems, Activision Blizzard, Big Fish Games, Kabam, Amazon Appstore, Riot Games, Jam City, Maysalward, SciPlay, Playtika, Zynga, YouTube Gaming, Twitch, Wooga, Unity, Glu Mobile, and Snap Games.
WHO Ambassador for global strategies Ray Chambers said that the world is in a very dangerous situation due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Even though we never expected WHO to ever recommend gaming, Chambers did say that WHO supports the #PlayApartTogether to make people follow social distancing and stay connected to each other. He concluded his statement by saying that the initiative will help in following the imposed lockdown and save millions from getting exposed to the virus.
