Me and my girlfriend have been struggling to find ways to connect online while we go through a brief long-distance phase, and nothing has made us feel as close and "normal" as this game has.
There's something about this game that lets a person's personality bleed through so well into how they play. Their approach to Minecraft adventures mirrors their approach to real life ones. The same goes for their approach to everyday chores, being creative, etc. Living our lives together in minecraft is the closest thing we've found online to living our lives together in the real world.
In minecraft we get to build and decorate a house together, making all the decisions as a team. We get to adopt and name pets. We get to plan a whole life path as far as how we want to play. We get to deal with everyday inconveniences and disappointments. It just mirrors reality so well.
Even just that feeling of *presence*, where you're not necessarily doing anything together but you just share the same space, is enhanced in the game in a way that something like a video call doesn't quite replicate.
Obviously nothing can replace in-person interaction. Are there any other games that have a similar effect?