I love playing video games with a big group of friends. Logging on, getting into a party chat, and diving into our favorite fantasy RPG or sci-fi shooter. After hours of dungeon crawling, of conquering hour-long bosses, we claim our loot and XP. Unfortunately, that is the only experience we will share. We will then go our separate ways to appraise our spoils and upgrade our respective characters. Don’t get me wrong, this is all a jovial experience, but why is it that the extent of our interactions are only in-game? Why does the cooperative element in video games feel so formulaic and shallow? Continue reading