“Do you wanna have some fun? And never, ever see anyone?”
What does fun look like in 2021 and beyond? Where might hedonism be headed out of lockdown?
From digi-drugs to Neurodungeons, amid the chaos and claustrophobia of Covid, people found groundbreaking ways to party, raise hell and find themselves online
Pixellated youths bobbing around fantasy spaces. A goth kid hovering mid-air on a gigantic dragon. A stage that is quite literally made of rainbows. This is what you saw when you entered nu:cenosis festival, a 15-hour digital rave set within an online ‘metaverse’. Described by one awestruck reveller as the “best non-club club experience ever”, the event took place in April of last year, across five stages that resembled floating islands on 00s-era Super Smash Bros. Once inside, partygoers could hop between stages via a rainbow vortex, the gamified experience serving as a virtual escape from reality.
The effects of the pandemic on our digital lives came slowly, then all at once. The digital became a source of joy - for many, their only source of joy. Removed from real-world limitations of race, sexuality, age, wealth and location, people could explore themselves and their identities without having to worry about how it might come across in their real lives - because, frankly, there wasn’t a ‘real life’ to be had. First it was the early days of Zoom quizzes and FaceTime. Lost friendships were rekindled through group chats as people struggled to make sense of the disruption caused to their daily routines. But as our default modes of being began to shift away from the real world and towards our computer screens, a more organic way of interacting online began to emerge. TikTok, already a huge part of youth culture before the pandemic, took on new significance, with thousands flocking to its feeds in search of new forms of connection. Internet subcultures boomed and found new homes on sites such as Discord and Clubhouse. Teens made music
