For the last few weeks gamers have lived in fear, the fear of getting our power cut due to load shedding.
Many of you might wonder what this dreaded “load shedding” is, and for those of you who are fortunate enough to not know its horrors our government describes it as a “last resort to prevent the collapse of the power system country-wide”. Great fun for everyone, right?
Imagine sitting in front of your PC, Xbox, PlayStation or Switch and all of the sudden as you are fighting the Skeleton Horde from Dark Souls 3 or taking down a massive Rathalos with your team from Monster Hunter suddenly the room fills with darkness. While it might take you a few seconds to try and recall what happened as you sit there completely stunned, thinking you’ve either gone blind or have entered a new dimension, you hear a familiar voice shouting in a distant room “LOAD SHEDDING!!”.
(This could have been me and my friends right now but whatever…)
Sitting alone in the dark trying to remain calm, as your hand moves across the floor looking for your phone in order to provide some sort of light. You can’t help but think of all the trouble you just went through, how you will have to restart it all again once the power returns… still looking for your phone you begin to slip deeper into a whirlpool of dark emotions. Is there even any point in retrying? You’re probably never going to be able to display such good dodging skills, outsmart your enemy or speedrun past those mobs like you did before!!
Don’t worry, like a hero of some faraway realm (that I should be saving right now but I can’t) I’m here to bring hope to you! So, here’s what you’ll need in order to survive the horror of load shedding as a gamer.
1. Remain calm, the power will hopefully return within a few hours.
2. Find some candles if you forgot to charge your phone (like me).
3. Have left over food to ensure your own HP bar is full for the next battle to come!
4. Find your family’s entire candy stash and eat it.
5. Treat every handheld console like Emerald Ore from Minecraft. The charge won’t last forever but it will save you from a horrible death by boredom!!
6. Find a deck of cards and challenge a family member to retro card games.
7. Read a book, or in the worst case scenario do the homework you “forgot” to do.
8. Look at your console with longing and regret as you try to remember the good old days when the power was on.
After waiting for what feels like a lifetime you hear the familiar sound of the fridge switching back on, lights flicker back into life, excitement rushes through you. Is this it? Has the nightmare ended? You can literally feel yourself respawn, adrenaline rushes through your veins as you suddenly understand what the Dragonborn feels like downing a stack of 70 strength potions. Quickly you start up your console and begin to rush your way back to where you left off!
(How it feels coming through the other side of load shedding)
Unfortunately though, like a really bad horror story that never seems to really go away you come to terms with the fact that tomorrow is another day and you will have to face the unpredictable “last minute” load shedding changes all over again in the days and weeks to come. Let’s hope that you’ll be better prepared for the next round!
What are your tactics to prepare for load shedding and power outages? Are you lucky enough to have never experienced any? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear your strategies!
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