In this nonconfirmatory qualitative study, we pursued a range of hypothesis regarding how gaming operates in the lives and wellbeing of those who actively play videogames during a crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Informed by an explorative survey (N=793), a gaming-based interview frame for interpretive phenomenological analysis on Chinese (n=10) and Finnish (n=10) interviews was developed and applied. The unearthed experiences were synthesized into an experiential typology consisting of eight macro types, with a testable psychological hypothesis drawn from each. As an exploratory side product, we found a spectrum of social experience related to videogame play, which we present as a 27-component taxonomy of social gaming. The study encourages policies that promote socially supportive gaming during pandemic-like situations to consider including personally meaningful solitary gaming in their recommendations and highlighting context-specific application over generalization.