Sometimes when people talk about video games, they do so with concern about a medium that can be isolating. The team behind “La Console qui Console,” however, is trying to show that games can also bring people together. “We want to be a gathering for geeks,” said coordinator Hubert Pelletier, explaining that the event, now in its seventh year, came out of the Cegep de Sherbrooke’s Social Work program where founders Ian Denault, Maxime Duranleau and Patrick Lafontaine were inspired to give a social framework to the world of gaming. “They wanted to do something that would help socialize people who are in the habit of playing at home, alone.” Putting the gathering in the same theme as the growing trend of “e-sports” programs at local schools, Pelletier said that one of the goals of La Console qui Console is to get people to “play better” in the sense of being more conscious and connected to others in their gaming habits. “That’s the strength of our event; people come together and see there are other people like them,” the coordinator said. “That brings a kind of wellbeing and a feeling that you are not alone.” The event is also a fundraiser that, over the course of its existence, has donated $35,000 to Leucan, The Canadian Cancer Society, and the Centre d’hebergement alternatif de Sherbrooke (CHAS), a local resource for people with mental health challenges in need of support transitioning from childhood to independent adulthood. See full story in the Monday, Nov. 18 edition of The Record.
