Explore the Archives
A Journal of the Plague Year Arizona Collection Australia Boston Bronx Community College New York Brooklyn College New York Canada Las Americas Lockdown Staten Island New Orleans Oral Histories Philippines Sacramento Community Based Organizations Southwest Stories Teaching the Pandemic The City College of New York

Collected Item: “Escape from Reality”

Give your story a title.

Escape from Reality

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

Photograph of Videogame, Valorant

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

The item I chose that best illustrates the past six months in quarantine is a screenshot of my favorite videogame, Valorant. Although I could have chosen any other videogame, I decided to choose Valorant because it is the main game that has brought a lot of happiness to my friends and I when we play it everyday during this quarantine. During this unprecedented time because we must stay safe by isolating ourselves from each other, many people have been experiencing loneliness because they have not had an actual, social interaction in such a long time. Fortunately, through Valorant, I never felt any negative emotions because this game has always allowed my friends and I to play together and build a stronger relationship whenever we were done with our school work. The reason why Valorant connects to the pandemic is because it has been a great way for my friends and I to take a step back and escape from reality. Valorant best represents my current experience as a junior in highschool during a period of unrest in this country because as a junior with many AP classes, high school can feel really stressful and tiring at many times, however I have learned that it is important to focus on my mental health at all times. Thus, playing Valorant with my friends has really helped us relax and forget about all the problems in the world for a brief period of time. Furthermore, I see that a lot of students in highschool complain how this pandemic has stolen a lot of our time that could have been spent making memories, however, I have taken a different approach to this because I found that playing video games such as Valorant is the best way to make memories with friends and it has helped me realize that despite the hardships we face during this pandemic, my friends and I will always have each other’s backs.

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

APUSH, Garden Grove High School

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Riot Games

Give this story a date.

2021-01-21
Click here to view the corresponding item.