The smell of pine needles and over-baked cookies usually signals a time for togetherness, but for many of us, the holiday season also brings a specific kind of digital tension. You know the feeling. You’re halfway through a high-stakes match with your regular squad—people you’ve talked to every night for three years—and your aunt starts shouting that dinner is on the table. It’s a collision of worlds. Whether multiplayer gaming actually kills the holiday spirit is a complicated question to unpack. Some might say yes, arguing that staring at a monitor while your family sits ten feet away is the height of rudeness. But the reality is rarely that black and white.
For many gamers, online friends are just as “real” as the cousins you see once a year. These are the people who’ve had your back during stressful work weeks or helped you grind through a difficult level. Abandoning them during the holidays feels like a betrayal of its own. Yet, there’s no denying the sting of looking around a living room and seeing everyone buried in their own screens instead of talking to each other.
The Pull of the Digital Hearth
We have to admit that developers don’t make it easy for us to step away. The “Winter Event” is a staple of modern gaming. There are limited-time skins to unlock, double XP weekends that happen to land exactly on Christmas Eve, and seasonal maps covered in digital snow. It creates a “fear of missing out” that can feel more urgent than a conversation about the weather with your uncle.
I’ve been there. I’ve sat at a dinner table mentally calculating how many matches I needed to play to finish a battle pass before the deadline. This creates a nagging sense of guilt. You’re physically present, but your mind is miles away in a lobby. When you’re in that headspace, you aren’t really experiencing the holidays; you’re just enduring them until you can get back to your PC or console.
Is it possible that we’ve traded genuine connection for a dopamine hit? Maybe. But for some, the holiday spirit is actually found online. If you have a fractured relationship with your family, or if you’re spending the season alone, those multiplayer lobbies become a vital lifeline. In those cases, gaming doesn’t kill the spirit—it saves it.
Finding a Middle Ground
It shouldn’t have to be an “all or nothing” situation. The trick, I think, is intentionality. We often fall into the trap of mindless scrolling or playing just because it’s a habit. If you’re going to play, why not make it part of the celebration?
- Try a “party game” night where you hook the console up to the main TV and get the non-gamers involved.
- Set specific “off” times where the headset stays on the hook and the phone stays in the drawer.
- Talk to your online friends beforehand. Let them know you’ll be MIA for a few days. They’ll understand; they’re likely dealing with the same family pressure.
Family resentment usually stems from the feeling of being ignored rather than the act of gaming itself. If you’ve spent the afternoon helping with the cooking or playing board games, nobody is going to mind if you disappear for an hour at night to raid with your friends. It’s all about the balance.
The Value of Being Present
At the end of the day, the servers will still be there on January 2nd. Most seasonal rewards eventually resurface in personalized shops or legacy collections. Your family, however, won’t always be around. It sounds like a cliché, I know, but clichés usually exist for a reason.
There is a specific kind of quiet that happens on Christmas afternoon that you can’t find in a headset. It’s the sound of crackling logs, bad jokes, and the shared exhaustion of a day well spent. If we’re too busy chasing a leaderboard rank, we miss those small, human moments that actually define the season.
Maybe the “holiday spirit” isn’t about where you are, but how much of yourself you’re willing to give to the people around you. Whether those people are sitting on the couch next to you or talking to you through a Discord server, they deserve your full attention—just maybe not at the exact same time.
What do you think? Have you ever felt the “gamer guilt” during a family gathering, or do you think the holidays are the perfect time to catch up on your backlog? We’d love to hear how you balance your digital life with your physical one. Leave a comment below and let us know your strategies for surviving the season. Also, don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more gaming insights and community discussions!
The holidays are the perfect time to stop scrolling and start playing. Whether you’re tackling a 100-hour RPG or clearing out those indie gems, we’ve got the ultimate strategy to help you reclaim your library without it feeling like a chore.
And don’t forget to check the 2026’s must-play games that need to be on your wish list.
Sources:
- www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/video-game-health/202112/how-gaming-can-help-you-through-the-holidays
- www.wired.com/story/how-to-play-video-games-with-your-family/
- www.theguardian.com/games/2020/dec/23/can-video-games-help-with-loneliness-at-christmas
If you are a games’ lover and have writing skills, you can share your articles with us and we will publish them in our blog https://vgamerz.com