In the golden age of massively multiplayer online games like Overwatch and Destiny, why are some players choosing to go it alone? Is it a radical act of self-care, anti-social tendencies, an effect of online harassment, or something else? Take a break from Gaming Broad(cast)'s regularly scheduled programming and tune in to this special LIVE recording of a Gaming Broad(cast) moderated panel, "Reclaiming Basements in a Multiplayer Era: Why We Game Alone". Join Andrea Ayres (Lemonsucker Games) and Ian Danskin (Innuendo Studios), as well as the main broad herself, JD Mallindine, at PAX South 2018 to explore the social and psychological reasons players are reclaiming their alone time. Don't forget to check out #ReclaimTheBasement on Twitter to see what the community had to say about gaming alone! 

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Research...
Playing alone v playing with others: Differences in player experiences and indicators of wellbeing (Vella, et. al 2015)
At Least Nine Ways to Play: Gamer Mentalities (Kallio, et. al 2011)
Online-only friends, real-life friends or strangers? Differential associations with passion and social capital in video game play (Perry, et. al 2018)
Social Context of Video Game Play (Vella, et. al 2016) 
Teenage Girls Are Playing Video Games. You Just Might Not Hear Them from Kotaku (Suellentrop, 2015)
Teens, Technology and Friendship by the Pew Research Center (Lenhart, et. al 2015)
The Emergence of Solitude as a Constructive Domain of Solitude in Early Adolescence (Larson, 1997)
The "social" facilitation of eating without the presence of others: Self-reflection on eating makes food taste better and people eat more (Nakata, et. al 2017)
When Novels Were Bad For You in Smithsonian Magazine (North, 2014)
Public Displays of Play: Studying Online Games in Physical Settings (Taylor, et. a. 2014)
Children of the 80s, Never Fear Video Games Did Not Ruin Your Life from Smithsonian Magazine (Newman, 2017)
The Fierce Triumph of Loneliness from Catapult (Fitzgerald, 2016)
How to be Alone by Sara Maitland