Play actual games with other people

I'm a fiend for resolutions. In the same way that my dog ​​can't resist food on the table, I can't resist the urge to make a bunch of ambitious goals for the coming year. As a kid, getting a bunch of Christmas presents was the most exciting part of the holiday season. But as an adult… Well, those are still the gifts. But the opportunity the new year brings to envision how life might change over the next 12 months is the next best gift I could ever ask for.

And so, every year, I decide how many games I want to hit in the coming months.

My goal this year was 60 and I'm currently at 41. The PC Game Pass “Take a game break” tab, which recommends games you can finish in less than five hours, will be doing some heavy lifting this month.

How to finish the unfinishable

Multiplayer games are on that list if I hit a certain number of hours. Originally the time to beat was 50 hours, but I lowered it to 30, because that's how much time I spent with XDefiant before it was clear that all its players had jumped to Black Ops 6. I wasn't just going to play 20 more hours against bots. I added such a rule as an incentive for multiplayer games because in the early years I participated in this gamer ritual, deciding to end games steered me away from games that were by definition unfinished.

But even with that goal in place, I've exclusively played multiplayer games that I could play alone. No co-op games like Content Warning or Black Ops Zombies mode, and no squad-based shooters like Apex Legends, Overwatch 2 or Valorant. I put 30 hours into XDefiant, but did it all solo.

XDefiant closure

This has always been my hang out with modern gaming. I enjoy playing games with other people, but I've never had a regular gaming group. As a child, this is what sleepovers were for. On the GameCube, my friends and I spent endless hours playing multiplayer games like Super Smash Bros. Melee, Kirby Air Ride, Sonic Riders, Mario Kart: Double Dash and Worms 3D. In college I didn't play a ton, but would jump in for some Melee or Pokemon Stadium if people on my floor had a match going on. After school I moved in with friends from high school and we played Smash Bros once again, also passing the controller around during Until Dawn.

These were all personal experiences, which is still my preferred form of multiplayer gaming. The most I've enjoyed playing Fortnite was getting together with friends in the same room, on PS4, Switch and a laptop.

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As a game critic, I've obviously had to get involved with online multiplayer – especially when I was a freelancer and took a project that a website would throw my way. I reviewed Risk of Rain 2 with a friend from college and had a great time catching up with him. We got into Left 4 Dead after that, and enjoyed it a lot. But he lives in Thailand and after a while the time difference of 13 hours became unbearable.

Change my gaming habits in the new year

So as I look ahead to 2025, I finally want to change this. My goal is to make playing with friends part of my weekly gaming diet.

The timing of this change is excellent. Baldur's Gate 3 adds crossplay will change the game; I know many who play the game, but not all on the same platform. My wife will be able to play on PS5, I'll be on my laptop and our friends can play from whatever version they have. It's a game I love and playing with other people is a great excuse to spend the time on another playthrough.

I also want to use gaming as a way to stay in touch with my high school and college friends. I try to text my friends once a week, but generally guys don't like talking on the phone. If I'm actually going to know what's going on in their lives, multiplayer games are the best way forward. So I also decide that in 2025 I will say yes to whatever game any of my friends want to play.

I have a pathological aversion to being on the mic with strangers, but in 2025 I commit to at least being on the mic, regularly, with friends. And if some of that gaming can happen in person like in the old days, even better.

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