izigame.me

For some, this is just a co-op game—but for others, it could mean more. Playing co-op/multiplayer games led me to meet extraordinary online gamers turned real-life buddies. But I never imagined having more profound levels of involvement and care while playing games.

I’ve met a fantastic gamer on this platform and played several co-op games with him (HELLDIVERS 2, Deep Space 3, Terraria, Diablo III, Grim Dawn, to name a few). We might be miles and timezones apart, but co-op games give us this space to be together. Those interactions led to something more, which brought us days filled with love and nights full of joy.

But sometimes, too much of a good thing could be harmful. We have had our fair share of moments when we are tugging amid giving time to each other and giving ample time to ourselves. I guess we got into the loop of giving too much of our own to each other—we forgot that we still have to give something on our own.

“Baby, you cannot give something that you don't have anymore,” I typed those words I’ve been wanting to tell. Apparently, you can still f*ck up continuously—turning a sweet day into a sour one. On my POV, I was trying too hard to be everything. That’s when I just had to stop bickering, scroll our previous happy memories and interactions—and realign what co-op games (and our bond truly means).

Love requires a lot of work. As soon as I saw those words pop on the screen as the two of us were playing It Takes Two together, it struck something in my heart and mind. Hey, this is what the two of us had been doing: our own interpretation and attempt to communicate to each other to incessantly solidify our growing relationship. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just have to be true.

To be honest, I didn’t had that much time to play games. I was working too much to catch up on the long-lost (not so forgotten) years of unadulterated joy. Video games had been my own solace, this is where I found my piece in this world—and I am glad to build those memories together with the guy that I’ve played It Takes Two with.

With this game, I can just let my guard down and allow myself to understand that there’s someone out there who wants the best of everything for me. In the world this game created, we might be these small wood and clay puppets, but we are way more than this representation. That even I flop on doing the necessary jumps, dashes, and sprints on dodging the course—there is another person beside me, who will tell me that “I trust that you could do it, I love you.”

Realizations like these could not be valued at any lump sum I could acquire. Truly, it does takes two: two completely different people on a similar yearning to be better for each other.