How did your hobbies change during the pandemic?

Outside of playing video games, my main hobbies would be board gaming, cross stitching, and reading. 

You would think that needlecraft and reading would have been ideal stay-at-home hobbies — and superficially they are — except that I almost entirely lost the ability to focus for the length of time required to enjoy either. I have only recently picked up both of them again after a sabbatical of several years, and it’s still fits and starts. Being able to hang out with my guild mates online kept me sane during the months and months we weren’t allowed out of our homes.

Our long term D&D game moved online, and after lockdown lifted the decision was made to keep using the virtual table because it was easier for some people to attend that way — especially the parents with small children. But it didn’t entirely solve the scheduling problem as many of us found ourselves being asked to work longer hours or on call. 

Board gaming is what started me thinking about this. I’m writing this taking a short break in the middle of the first serious board gaming event I’ve been at (as a player) since 2019. When we first went into lockdown there was an attempt to try an do virtual gaming — but a lot of the tools were either not especially user friendly, expensive to access per user, or had extremely limited games libraries available. Trying to get an assortment of friends who weren’t necessarily as digitally savvy connected to voice communications and create accounts to the same service and troubleshoot technology issues remotely was an exercise in frustration. There was an attempt but it largely fizzled out after a few months. 

In talking to people whose entire personality revolved around board games pre-pandemic, there were a lot who said they hadn’t played anything new in years and barely played anything much at all on a regular basis anymore. One person who used to travel overseas multiple times per year for events has turned their games room into a sewing room. My other half went from board gaming several times per week to running a sudoku-solving channel on YouTube. 

Australia was in lockdown, both domestically and internationally for a really long time — we had citizens who couldn’t return home for nearly two years after the start of the pandemic. Many of us have almost forgotten how to do social gaming. 

Did the pandemic change how you engaged with your favorite hobbies? Did it change which hobbies you participated in entirely? Did you find something new to spend your time and money on? Did it inspire your to create a bucket list of things to try and have you started on them?