How to Stay Social with Social Distancing
By: Sophia Pei ‘22
The new guidelines ramping up nationwide have shut down restaurants, public spaces, and gatherings of any kind. Just because you need to keep 6 ft of physical space between you and the person next to you, doesn’t mean you need to grow apart from your friends. Keep reading for some fun ways to still “hang out” with your pals!
Have Watch Parties
While you may not be able to sleepover at your best friend’s or have a horror night and cuddle with your SO, you can still watch movies and shows with your friends remotely!
Try the Netflix Party extension!
This lets you stream Netflix shows with your friends. To use, simply go to Netflix. Once you’ve clicked on the movie or show, the extension will become red and you can “start party” and send out the link!
This is a great way to sync of video/audio without the hassle of perfect timing and other inconveniences. The chat box is conveniently located to the right of the screen so you can message your friends about the show to share your reactions. One of the downfalls is that you can’t fullscreen the show.
Want to watch something not on Netflix? USC’s got your back with your Zoom subscription!
The sharescreen feature of Zoom also shares your computer’s audio so this is a great way to talk in real time and watch things with your friends as well as get to see each other’s live video reactions. Who said Zoom just had to be for lecture?
Play Games
From Skribblio to Riders of Icarus there’s a wide range of quality games to adventure with your friends or find a new online community!
A great online version of mafia/werewolf whatever you/your friend group calls it but a witch/Salem version. On top of the traditional roles of witches (who the village tries to hang), doctor, and sheriff there are 45 other roles ranging from escort to necromancer! It’s a fun game to play with friends or strangers.
Want to draw but left all your art supplies at school? This online rendition of Pictionary is a great way to express your creativity with friends. The program lets you choose a word from a few randomly generated options to draw that your friends have to guess. Don’t try to cheat the system with a drawing tablet or stylus – it doesn’t work. I tried. But hey, mouse or keypad gives your drawing extra character.
Looking for something less PG?
This is the online version of Cards Against Humanity with some extra bonuses, including the blank cards which give you the ability to write in your own responses! Grab your friends and host a server!
Since college I’ve steadily transitioned away from MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Play Game) but it’s a great way to bond. The following are a few of my favorites:
This is a game created by the Korean company, Nexon (most famous for their game Maplestory). This was honestly my *favorite* game throughout all of high school. There’s lovely graphics, phenomenal music, and a vaguely interesting albeit very disjointed storyline. What I loved most about this game was that you weren’t confined to your starting class. Unlike many other RPGs where after character selection you are “stuck” in the class you pick (eg. if you chose mage, you can’t use warrior attacks) Mabinogi gives you the chance to “rebirth” and changes classes anytime. You retain all the skills and can advance any of them at any time, you simply get extra experience boosts for leveling skills that are the same as your current class. There’s also a great community surrounding this game. I’ve met some of my closest online friends through the guilds and other networking platforms of this game.
Another game from Nexon (looks like I have a favorite). This game has simply *stunning* graphics. What makes this different from traditional RPGs is that you can tame and keep (and mount?) most of the creatures you encounter, hence the name *Riders* of Icarus.
A classic. Throw back to middle school but still a solid way to play. Some updates: there’s bunnies?! Scary eyeball sea monster things?! And a whole lot of new block types. Sure people may have joked about hosting a Minecraft commencement or even an organic chemistry server but now this may be the only viable way for you to explore the great outdoors.
Minecraft (somewhat) recently added a new feature called Realms so you don’t have to deal with the whole hassle of creating a server for you and your friends. Every player gets a 30 day free trial so if you and your friends want to alternate who hosts the realm and not invest in gaming then there you go.
Some fun, unconventional multiplayer servers check out:
Wynncraft
IP: play.wynncraft.com
Think MMORPG but Minecraft! I was so addicted to this in middle school…
Mineplex
IP: us.mineplex.com
Fun minigames servers!
For anyone who’s a Disney fan or played this as a child, you’ll be surprised to know that even though Disney officially shut down Toontown, fans have created a faithful completely FREE version. Basically the premise is you are a cute colorful animal that battles against the drab world of adult corporations and capitalism (huh. Wonder why Disney took it down?)
Regardless of your political/economic stance, this game is great for anyone who enjoys puns or just wants to have a silly time with some friends for nostalgias sake.
Great Messaging Apps
Yeah you probably have messenger, your default texting app, and maybe even GroupMe, but try a few of these for some more engaged conversations!
If you’re not new to gaming, this won’t come as a surprise. Despite it’s rather chaotic functions, this is a great way to connect with friends. It has all the typical features of direct messaging, calls, and video calls but you can also join a “voice channel” in any server/group chat you’re in as well as see what games your friends are playing.
All my friends use this Japanese messaging app. It’s super cute and has a bunch of cute stickers. Even though I hate texting with the default phone emojis, I admit to overusing the stickers! This app has some of the best features for group chats, including photo albums (whose photos won’t take up memory on your phone, unless you choose to save them, and don’t autodelete), polls, and more!
The most important takeaway is no matter how you occupy your time, be sure that though you are practicing safe social distancing, you aren’t isolating yourself. Call you friends. Spend time with family. Share music, take personality inventories, be creative with how you spend your time together! In chaotic times like these focus on the things and people that matter most.
Stay healthy and Fight on!
Want more from Trojans 360?
Visit Trojans 360 on Facebook & Twitter to stay up to date with more student content! You can also Ask A Trojan an anonymous question, and we’ll try to answer it in a future post. And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram!
Trojans 360 is USC’s official student-run blog. Content created by students, for students.
