There's No Age Nor Time Limit On The Playground
As some who read my Now page might've noticed, I'm currently playing through Metal Gear Solid 2 (after playing the first one) with a dear friend. We're both doing our own thing, and this one is a game we've played before many years back (she remembers a lot more about it than I do though), but we try to keep our progress more or less the same: each time I get a bit more further I slow down my pace, and she does the same. This way, we can share our thoughts as we go, even if we're not playing at the same exact time.
Today, I woke up and tried a boss she still had to see. Had a go at it a couple of times, got frustrated, thought "She's going to handle this and I'm going to ask her what her strategy was!". As she woke up, we talked about it and she gave me the single tip I needed to get past the hurdle. Some hours later she was having a bit of trouble as well, and as I shared my strategy (for a good part based on her advice) she thanked me and beat the boss. We could've both looked for a guide or a gameplay, but sharing tips with a friend is something special that reminds me of being a kid on the playground.
I've had the same experience the times I played Etrian Odyssey with friends, each adventuring the strata at their own pace with their personal party, sharing tips as we went through it. I'm especially fond of games like these, because they're the sort that spawns the most "Hey, did you try this?" or "Did you see that?!". It's a shared sense of wonder that makes me very happy every time.
Right now, I'm also playing day by day Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 while another friend, who played it previously, plays Shin chan: Me and the Professor on Summer Vacation, who I played some years ago, the same way. Same kind of game, very different experience, but somehow sharing our thoughts and discoveries each day feels like we're talking and connecting through parallel universes. It's a beautiful thing.
It's true that everything is different now in the age of unlimited fast communication, but we can still cherish these little things and carve the experience we want to have. I want to live my hobbies the way that's more fun for me, even when they seem childish or old-fashioned from the outside!