What’s Cookin’?: Breath of the Wild Let Us Be Apart Together

During my first week of working from home, I started feeling a bit lonely. I normally see my local friends about once a month anyway, but now with everything changing, it looked like we wouldn’t be seeing each other for a while. Two or three days in, I decided I wanted some company, so I asked my friend Emily if she wanted to hang on a video call while we worked. 

For most of the day, we did just that. But eventually, she had some major IT issues and decided it was time to take a Breath of the Wild break. Because we were on a video call, I ended up only being able to see her as she played. She fought monsters, bought clothes, and eventually went on a two-hour cooking spree where she made enough Sneaky Fried Greens to feed a small army. And while I couldn’t see what was happening on-screen, just getting to watch her face light up every now and then, and working to the cooking game music was just what I needed. 

I’ve never understood the draw of big, crowded streams because they lack intimacy and a chance to interact. But I’ve also never really understood things like ASMR because they feel too intimate with a total stranger. With this, though, I think I finally understand. This was the ease of having something on in the background that you don’t really need to pay attention to, mixed with the comfort of just spending time with a friend. It didn’t matter that we weren’t playing anything together, or even that I couldn’t see the screen. I got to enjoy listening to my friend having fun with a game she ended up taking a much bigger interest in than I had, and that was enough. 

I know that games won’t save us. And this isn’t meant to be some preachy post about their ability to bring us together. But there is something to be said for being able to sit quietly, and just enjoy someone else’s presence as they do something they enjoy independently from you. And at this point, that’s the co-op experience I’m starting to crave.