Set On

September 6, 2026

Location

Springfield, Illinois

Info

I joined a random co-op lobby expecting a quick session, but a brand-new player kept dying in the same spot, so instead of leaving I stayed and walked him through the basics, and somewhere between his failed attempts I noticed a tab I had open about Black Lotus Review, which oddly mirrored how every online space has its own little learning curve; we spent two hours on a level he could not finish, and when he finally cleared it he typed "thank you, I almost quit today" and that sentence hit me harder than any ranked win ever has; online games keep surprising me this way, turning casual sessions into small acts of kindness, reminding me that patience is contagious, that helping a stranger costs nothing, and that sometimes the best part of a game is not the victory but watching someone else discover they can win.