All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort for God has given us.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NLT
Roughly a year ago I began asking myself the following question, "What does ministry look like with video gaming?" Let me share with you what happened that lead me to ask this question. In September of 2019 I purchased my first ever PC as all I have ever owned up to this point were laptops. With owning this PC came the opportunity to do online gaming with people from around the world. With my interest in naval warfare, I began playing a naval warfare game online. Online gaming at that point and still is new to me as previously I have always played with a group of friends in the same room on a Xbox or Wii, not with strangers around the world.
Most of my life up until the end of last year I viewed video gaming as a way to take a mental break from a busy life, express my creativity in building things and changing landscapes or with a group of college friends enjoying gaming and pizza together. One night while playing I thought, “With everything I do, I am glad I have this time to myself” and then as if on cue I felt God speak to me through His Holy Spirit and ask, “Why can’t I be a part of this time?” I sat there puzzled for a moment and thought “God and video games? What does that look like?” This eventually lead me to begin asking myself, “What does ministry look like with video gaming?”
I began to voice this out loud in sharing it with others the past few months and also on my Facebook page. Particularly during the world wide pandemic with COVID-19 the number of people playing games online has dramatically increased and when I say dramatically, I mean dramatically.
Generally, sales of video games have increased as a result of stay-at-home and lockdown orders from the pandemic, as people turn to video games as a pastime. The National Purchase Diary (NPD) Group reported that video game sales in North America in March 2020 were up 34% from those in March 2019, video game hardware up by 63% - which includes more than twice the number of units of the Nintendo Switch console. Net spending across the first quarter of 2020 in the United States reached US $10.9 billion, up 9% in 2020 compared to 2019 according to NPD. Such an increase at this point, near the planned end of the eighth generation of video game consoles, is unusual and attributed to actions of the pandemic. By July 2020, NPD Group that total sales of video game hardware and software within the United States in the first six months of 2020 reached US $6.6 billion, the highest since 2010.
Because much of the world's population is quarantined due to the pandemic, video game playing and other Internet use has grown greatly. Steam, the main digital storefront for personal computer video games saw over 23 million concurrent players during March 2020, surpassing all previous records[178] while the streaming service, Twitch saw over three billion hours of content watched over the first quarter of 2020, a 20% increase from the previous year's.[179] Microsoft reported a substantial increase in users of its Xbox Game Pass service in the months of March and April 2020 bringing it to over 10 million subscribers.[180] GeForce Now (a cloud gaming service) capacity was temporarily exhausted in Europe before additional server capacity was added.
With the need to stay inside one's home to avoid infection, many gamers flocked to online games as a substitute for social interactions they would otherwise miss. Animal Crossing: New Horizons saw particular and explosive popularity, with people around the world turning to the game's recreation of ordinary daily life activities, and social networking features, as a substitute for the normalcy disrupted by the pandemic.
There are many reasons as to why people enjoy playing video games and one of the most common core themes and phrases I have heard particularly is that video gaming is an “escape from reality.” To which again the Holy Spirit posed this question to me…
“Who says they can’t meet Jesus in their escape from reality?” - Holy Spirit
There have been multiple times I will end up talking to young men 15 - 25 struggling with life while gaming. I even game with 30 to 60+ year olds. As they get to know me they open up more and more of their life. They share about the fatherless homes they are are growing up in, how they wished to join the military but got rejected, how their families guilt trip them into doing things, the health of a family member on the verge of death, the little seven year old girl in a teachers class that comes to school without a lunch starving, thoughts of suicide, and the present biggest topic of them all being Covid-19. Then of course we could throw in the American election in on this too, but most do not want to talk about the election or the pandemic because their sick of it. Granted I don't always know the full story of their lives, but I know I can expose them to the genuine love of Jesus that is to embody every believer.
Then slowly I began to realize it is God creating these encounters and conversations I have with these young, middle aged and older men. That I can be a source of encouragement to them because despite everything negative going on in life, they know they can have a positive experience when they get online with me when we team up and game together. At least that is my hope. That I can simply listen to them as they get these pains and struggles off their heart and make their burden less.
That whether they know it or not, I lift them up in prayer and ask God, “How do you want me to respond? How can I encourage this man or woman?”
I know it is easy for some to criticize video gaming and how it affects both young and older people. But we have to ask the question of why do people spend so much time playing video games online? Is it an escape to a virtual world to get away from what is happening in reality? Is it a place where their creativity and imagination goes further and grows? Is it a place to let out their frustrations? Is it a place where they can join up with their buddies who live hours or even countries away who otherwise can't get together?
Two weeks ago one of the young guys I game with who lives on the east coast in the U.S. who is still in high school messaged me on his birthday the following, “What would you do if I killed myself?” That was quite the message to wake up to and then taking the time to respond to him, pray for him, and pray and hope that he didn’t act on this that night. I am happy to share that he is still alive and later that day we talked online for awhile as I listened to him in understanding what is happening in his life bringing these dark thoughts to him. Then from that, encouraging him and building trust in our relationship that he can come to me if he needs anything and to also know that I am praying for him.
I have multiple other stories I could share as well, but I think this gets my point across of the current and overwhelming need that people have around the world who are desperate in life right now online gaming. This isn’t something new that just started in 2020, but has been prevalent for the past several decades. However, specifically this year 2020 is one that is causing many to escape from reality by online gaming. It is also troubling to think of how many are isolated and depressed during these times, especially for young people as there have been growing concerns in relation to Covid-19 with lock down regarding suicide among young people particularly.
In an article published by the British Medical Journal on November 12th they had this to say…
Widely reported studies modelling the effect of the covid-19 pandemic on suicide rates predicted increases ranging from 1% to 145%,6 largely reflecting variation in underlying assumptions. Particular emphasis has been given to the effect of the pandemic on children and young people. Numerous surveys have highlighted that their mental health has been disproportionately affected, relative to older adults,37 and some suggest an increase in suicidal thoughts and self-harm.8
Supposition, however, is no replacement for evidence. Timely data on rates of suicide are vital, and for some months we have been tracking and reviewing relevant studies for a living systematic review.6 The first version in June found no robust epidemiological studies with suicide as an outcome, but several studies reporting suicide trends have emerged more recently. Overall, the literature on the effect of covid-19 on suicide should be interpreted with caution. Most of the available publications are preprints, letters (neither is peer reviewed),91011 or commentaries using news reports of deaths by suicide as the data source.12
Also an article published by The Washington Post yesterday on November 29th written by Simon Denyer and Akiko Kashiwagi shared…
Suicide rates among young women have increased notably in Japan and South Korea, raising possible links to the prolonged coronavirus pandemic as it amplifies stress levels, worsens economic woes and aggravates feelings of loneliness and isolation.
No comprehensive global studies are yet available on whether the pandemic has caused higher suicide numbers or how it may have affected different age groups and genders.
But Japan and South Korea are among the few countries to issue current data on suicides, with most nations taking a year or two to issue their numbers. Experts worry that the emerging trends in the two countries could be an early warning for the rest of the world as the pandemic and lockdowns take a toll on mental health.
As the British Medical Journal article later shared was, “One guiding principle, however, is that suicide is preventable, and action should be taken now to protect people’s mental health. We must remain vigilant and responsive, sharing evidence early and internationally (such as in the International Covid-19 Suicide Prevention Research Collaboration) in these evolving uncertain times.” While I did not entirely intend to divert to the topic of suicide, it is a reality that is affecting many people around the world presently and with online gaming it is one of the places these types of conversations can occur between players such as myself and the young man I shared about before it ever does with family members of these online players.
For myself I am continuing to ask the question of “What does ministry look like with video gaming?” and seek God in asking, “What can I do to help?“ So far I have found the answer to be simply building personal relationships with those I meet online, which may seem like an anticlimactic answer, but it is one that is true. I have talked with one other online gamer who lives here in Norway and is a great friend as we have recently begun a conversation on this topic. For us we plan to start an online Discord server which is “an American VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocal), instant messaging and digital distribution platform designed for creating communities. Users communicate with voice calls, video calls, text messaging, media and files in private chats or as part of communities called ‘servers.’”
The goal for this online Ministry Discord server is that it is a place where Christian gamers can share prayer request of other gamers they know going through difficult times, a structured/organized support network and also a place where we can invite and bring gamers into this Discord server who need a safe space where we can encourage them through words of affirmation, praying for them, sharing Christ’s love with them, and God’s Word with them. Also each Christian Admin or Moderator in this Discord server would be required to go through a free online suicide prevention course as well as some other basic conversations in establishing the purpose of this Discord server of what it is and is not.
Granted this is just a blue print and framework we have discussed thus far as I will be creating this server soon. As we move forward with this Discord server we will learn and make adjustments along the way of how to best serve one another, but also how to lovingly reach out to those in Christ love who are hurting, alone, and hopeless in sharing the healing, fellowship, and hope we find in Jesus Christ.
Best Regards,
Derrick Shipley