Do any of you still hang out and socialize through gaming at each other's homes?

[Halo Infinity]

As the 2010s come to a close and the 2020s are about to begin, I have definitely changed my mind a bit about this very topic. I also learned that this is also called couch co-op. I'll be repeating some points I've made before in this thread and The Friendship Thread, but with a different perspective in mind when compared to say, 3 to 5+ years ago.

Being in my 30s now, even if I had all the time and money in the world to do so, I wouldn't do this a few times every month of even every couple of months or simply anywhere near the frequency I used to engross myself with this very hobby. I finally stopped being into it as much as I used to. I'll admit that it took me longer than most people to lose interest in doing this, especially when it came to sleepovers. I think the last sleepover I had ever was when I turned 21, and finally stopped losing interest in sleepovers when I was 25. I mentioned sleepovers, because sometimes couch co-op is ideal for sleepovers on weekends and vacations.

Anyway, when I was a child, teenager and in most of my 20s, especially under 25, I used to do couch co-op almost every single weekend and vacation as I had friends my age and even a couple of years younger than me. At the vest least, I would do couch co-op a few times every month or every couple of months. By the time most of them finished high school, they moved on to traveling and actual parties. It turns out I was able to continue doing this until I was at least 25 because I had some friends and acquaintances that were a good 5 to 6 years younger than me, but once they graduated from high school or at least turned around 20 to 21 at the latest, they just lost interest in couch co-op entirely and also chose to spend their weekends and vacations partying and traveling. Looking back at this now, I can see what doing this even for just a few times every couple of months in one year can be too much. I also further realized that I prefer to have my bedroom all to myself now, and would rather only have couch co-op in the living room or foyer even if I was a somebody else's houses.

These were just the other realizations I wanted to point out aside from people simply changing interests and growing out of it.

Anyway, to answer my own question as I see it right now, as yet another decade is about begin, yes I would do this, but only on certain occasions where time allows it even if I wasn't very busy, and assuming that I even find people that would absolutely interested, which is already impossible most of the time as if not a matter of people being busy, it's just that they outgrew it. And as an adult, I'm realizing more and more that it's definitely too easy to see far too much of each other, even with close friends that you're absolutely cool with. I wouldn't even want to do it even just a few times in a span of a couple of months either, and would rather just have couch co-op in my living room. Privacy and reasons regarding personal space aside, I realized it actually gets kind of claustrophobic to have 3 other people in just one bedroom with me, even if were are playing Nintendo games that we all share the same love and enjoyment over, even if it was bedroom at another person's home. And looking back at it, the living room is always so much better and most likely always has the better of even the best TV in the house.

All of this also finally helped me realize why most people even as young as 18-21 would rather travel and party, or just do multi-player on the Internet, should they still continue to be into gaming with other people they know, even in real life. Online multi-player has been taking over ever with couch co-op being actually phased out in some ways, and even South Park actually referenced the living room/couch co-op no longer being a thing and dying on the episode #HappyHolograms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HappyHolograms

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2cgvr7

This always also hit home to me because I was always big on Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros., F-Zero and Star Fox. Mario Party can be so-so or just go either way for me sometimes though, and it's also a reminder why Nintendo was often considered and deemed to be one of the ultimate party systems. And well, Nintendo was always my thing to start with.

But yes, should I do this, I'd be up for it on occasions like birthday parties or just any weekend or vacation that gave enough time and chances for it to happen, but would no longer want to do couch co-op in the bedroom, just the living room, and definitely never a couple of times per month or couple of months in a year. I could even see why even a small amount such as 5 times in 1 year would be too much as an adult. (Which also including the seeing too much of each other thing, as I'm getting to like my own time/space when it comes to home more and more.)

At the same time however, it's still one of my favorite ways to pass the time when I'm not alone and I just love seeing and hearing the reactions of friends playing side by side in the same actual room on the same TV, which is definitely still not the same as doing it on the Internet even with video chat or mere audio.

These were some of the things that occurred to me beyond the usual/typical reasons of being an adult regarding college/studying, work/jobs/careers, marriage and child-rearing, which were always a given and just common sense, but I liked that I was finally able to discover and consider other different angles/positions to this very topic.