Stuff to keep us occupied during Social Distancing -Free stuff/services, practicing mindfulness, etc
Blind Sniper
Moderator
In this thread, we can discuss things that can keep us all sane during Social Distancing. We can share free stuff, promotions, services, etc that people are giving out to keep us occupied during social distancing. Additionally, you can also share stuff to promote mental health and well-being.
Entertainment
Free Entertainment
- CNET: Free entertainment to help you survive coronavirus social distancing - HBO, Marvel comics, Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition and lots more, including movies, books, guitar lessons and exercise classes.
- NPR: Getting Bored? Here's A List Of Free Things That Weren't Free Before Coronavirus
- HBO to offer 500 hours of free programming, including full seasons of VEEP, Silicon Valley, and much more
Free Mobile Apps & Games
Several app developers are offering their paid apps/games as time-limited free downloads. Below, I'll link some websites that are compiling lists of these games that people can keep up with.
- These apps and services are responding to coronavirus pandemic with free information
- GameSpot: Free Games to claim - This article seems to automatically update every day (or few days) to contain a handy list of free game downloads across PC/Mac, Consoles, Mobile, and various services like Twitch.
Free Games (and a paid Humble Bundle)
Outside of the mobile realm, developers are also releasing games as free downloads (or bundles of discounted games).
- Humble Conquer COVID-19 Bundle - This special one-week bundle features $1,071 worth of games and ebooks for just $30. 100% of the proceeds from your bundle purchase go to support organizations responding to COVID-19. For example, delivering protective gear to safeguard healthcare workers and providing medical care to infected patients.
- GameSpot: Free Games to claim - This article seems to automatically update every day (or few days) to contain a handy list of free game downloads across PC/Mac, Consoles, Mobile, and various services like Twitch.
- GOG.com: Stay at home and play some games - GOG.com is offering a free selection of games during social distancing to keep everyone indoors.
- We're giving away Drawful 2 for free for the next three weeks. - Beginning today, March 20th, Drawful 2 is available in the Steam store (Windows/Mac/Linux), for Xbox One, and for Apple TV. We were also able to make Drawful 2 99% off in the Nintendo eShop for Switch in the United States.
- (Exclusive deal on Steam) Pinball FX3 Care Package - Play pinball, stay safe! - To help keep those spirits high, we’ve teamed with our friends at Disney to offer hours of free Pinball FX3 content inspired by the iconic creations of Lucasfilm Ltd., Marvel and Fox. This package is absolutely free until April 9, and all nine tables from these DLC three-packs are yours to keep forever: Star Wars™ Pinball, Marvel Pinball: Heavy Hitters, Aliens vs. Pinball
- ResetEra: PSA Thread of "Add this game to your account now and keep it forever" - This thread on ResetEra keeps track of limited time free game promotions. The link takes you to the page of the thread that is most up to date as of the time of this thread's creation.
Free Education and Online Courses
- 100 online courses from Coursera are $0 now through May 31 — here's a list of all the classes open for free enrollment
- Free Ivy League Online Courses - Currently, all eight Ivy Leagues—Brown, Harvard, Cornell, Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania—are offering 450 active, free courses across a range of topics digitally. All you have to do is visit Class Central, find the area of study you’re most interested in, and sign up through that university’s website.
- Pluralsight is offering free tech skill classes throughout April - Build in-demand tech skills without leaving your house. Get free access to 7,000+ expert-led video courses and more all month long. (Thanks to WarpSpeed for sharing!)
- Nikon is offering free online photography classes for all of April - Now through April 30th, all 10 classes available at the Nikon School can be streamed for free. The classes are normally priced anywhere between $15 to $50 each.
Mindfulness and Mental Health
Coronavirus: Stressed, depressed, and feeling bad? You're not alone. Where to get free help online - This USA Today article has a good compilation of temporarily free mental health services.
'Think about the best-case scenario': how to manage coronavirus anxiety - The Guardian
Psychology experts share their tips for safeguarding your mental health during quarantine - CNBC News
What individuals can do
However, as more and more people face the prospects of several weeks of quarantine or social distancing, individuals will also have to establish their own ways of preserving their mental health at home.CNBC Make It compiled the advice of psychology experts, as well as several health bodies, to find out their top tips:
- Create a routine — Change out of your pajamas, shower and make a to-do of all the things you want to achieve each day to create a sense of normality and productivity.
- Break up your day — Find tasks to break up your day and, where possible, change your environment for different activities.
- Take care of your body — Eat healthily, get plenty of sleep and exercise daily. That could include conducting indoor workout classes, stretching and practicing meditation.
- Help others — If you’re not under strict isolation rules yourself, and you’re in a position to do so, find ways to support those in need by offering to run errands and collect supplies for them.
- Stay connected — Make the most of technology and stay in touch with colleagues, friends and family via phone calls, texts, social media and video conferencing.
- Limit media intake — Stay informed about the situation via reliable sources, but limit your news and social media intake to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
- Prepare medical supplies — The National Alliance on Mental Illness advises, where necessary, asking your doctor for extended prescription supplies to tide you over for quarantine periods.
- Fight boredom — Make the most of catching up TV series, reading and exploring projects you have been putting off to beat boredom and stay mentally active.
- Avoid burnout — Set strict limits to your work to avoid becoming overwhelmed and make time to unwind.
- Focus on the positives — Amplify good news stories and honor caregivers working tirelessly to resolve the situation.
- Take one day at a time — Try not to project too far into the future. Remember that these are temporary measures and you are not alone.
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Comments
thank you Blind!
I’d also suggest all of you to stay active! Start with push ups and running outside! (Just keep 6 feet!)
More Free Games
(Soon to be out of date, but sharing for short-term reference)
This GameSpot article has a list of free games that is up to date as of this weekend, but I'm not putting it in the OP as it may be out of date in a few days or so.
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/free-games-to-claim-this-weekend-gone-home-drawful/1100-6474874/
Also, forum member AChicken is offering a "2020 Sucks" free game raffle that you can find here on the forums! Check it out if you haven't! (It ends in a few hours, so I'm sticking it here instead.)
Wow, thanks for looking out for (what remains of) the Community, Blind!
Pluralsight is also giving free access to their entire course catalog for the month of April. I have no experience with any of their courses, so cannot vouch for them, but I thought I'd mention it if anyone wants to check it out. They have mostly technology topics.
https://www.pluralsight.com/offer/2020/free-april-month
Good find! I’ll add this to the OP later; thanks for sharing!
Updated the OP with a few more links!
From April 15 to May 5, Sony is letting people worldwide download the Uncharted Remastered Collection and Journey for free to keep forever.
https://blog.us.playstation.com/2020/04/14/announcing-the-play-at-home-initiative/
(Germany and China get Knack 2 instead of Uncharted)
Lionsgate to Live-Stream 'John Wick,' 'Dirty Dancing' and Other Classic Pics for Free
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/lionsgate-livestream-john-wick-dirty-dancing-classic-pics-free-1290063
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Pac Man Championship Edition 2 is free for several days on Steam, Xbox One, and PS4
https://store.steampowered.com/app/441380/PACMAN_CHAMPIONSHIP_EDITION_2/
PSA: there's about a week left to grab Journey and Uncharted Collection on PS4. (ends May 5)
Thanks for reminding me. Just played through Journey again. It still hit me with the feels the same as the first time I played it on the ps3. That's really good for a less than 2 hour game. I highly recommend it for anyone even remotely interested in this game.
For the next 24 hours, Alien: Isolation is on sale on Steam for 2$ USD
The mobile FNAF-inspired Alien: Blackout is free to download for the next 8 hours, on your respective app stores.
(These deals started yesterday, because yesterday was Alien Day! -- in honor of LV-426)
Is Isolation worth a buy? I want a game to play after finishing BL3.
For 2$? Hell yes.
Not sure how powerful a computer you might need, as I've only played it on console, but the environments are really pretty, nailing the look of the original films.
It's fun, if a bit heart-attack inducing. Pretty long game, though that's up to you whether it's just right or too much.
Humble Bundle just announced a bundle for the entire Walking Dead comics collection, all for $18 USD.
Great if anyone is missing some volumes or has yet to read the whole series! (like me)
It's available for the next 20 days, so there's plenty of time to think or save up for it.
Sleepy Dogs Definitive Edition
GoG is having a massive sale on all games related to zombies and vampires and other demonically crazy shit!
https://www.gog.com/promo/zombie_gogalypse
It's also got Telltale's The Walking Dead, so there's that... BUY IT TO SUPPORT NEW TTG, PLZ!
i am not one of those pesky bots i swear dont ban me papa blind.
GTAV makes its free debut on the Epic Games Store for the next 7 days.
10th Anniversary of Alan Wake was yesterday. To celebrate, the Base game and Digital Collector's edition (+soundtrack, bonus pdf book, mini-comics) is on sale for 90% off until May 18th on Steam, GOG and Epic Games Store.
It's a fun if slightly flawed action-adventure game. Got thriller and horror themes, presented in an episodic format.
Um... The Lego Ninjago Movie Video Game is listed as free across Playstation, Xbox and Steam storefronts.
It could be a bug, but... I know this game did not sell very well (though I didn't think it would have sold this badly to give it away for free).
oh wait this is real, TT Games are giving it away until May 21
Buying it would be supporting Skybound, they fully control the Series as of October 2018, so anything earned in sales will comfortably land into their pockets.
But... The Epic Games Store is having a sale of its own, where both The Wolf Among Us and The Telltale Batman Shadows Edition is available at discounted prices. I'll include the links below:
The Telltale Batman Shadows Edition: https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/the-telltale-batman/home
The Wolf Among Us: https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/product/the-wolf-among-us/home
Hey, guys!
There is a bundle on Itch.Io with over 1000+ games. And, get this...
It only costs a minimum of 5 bucks!
Well, Deku. Why did you say Minimum. You may ask.
You see, this bundle is dedicated to racial justice and equality. So, you can donate money, and all proceeds will go to racial justice and equality.
Here's the link if anyone would like to donate to a good cause. (https://itch.io/b/520/bundle-for-racial-justice-and-equality)
Most of it is obscure and small titles, but there's some big indie names in there, some great gems that are worth way more than 5$. Great deal for a great cause here.
Cool titles such as
Personally, I already own most of the big titles already, but there's so many interesting titles here from unknown people so this is a great bundle.
Free exercise game made by Nintendo for the Switch.
Jump Rope Challenge
But... You can always just jump on the spot if you want some exercise. It's always free, and you don't need a Switch for that!