December 26, 2014: Gaming At The Holidays

I love the holidays. I love going home and seeing my family and spending time with them. I love getting a chance to hang out with old friends I don't get to see very often. It's one of my favorite times of year, and one reason for that is the activity that we all use as a way to be close to each other: gaming.

For as long as I can remember, my family has played boardgames around the holidays. Whether we're playing Trivial Pursuit, Apples to Apples, or Dixit, enjoying these games together is one of the ways in which we bond as a family.

Same thing with my friends back home. This year I'm getting together with some friends and we're going to play games such as Mice and Mystics, Forbidden Island, and probably the copy of Munchkin Panic I'm bringing back home to show off to everyone. We game, we socialize, we joke, we engage with each other, and we have a good time.

See, gaming is always something I've enjoyed doing, and I think a large component of that is the interaction with people I enjoy interacting with, the bonding experience of engaging in a shared activity and in a shared imaginative space. It brings me closer to the people I care about.

And that's what gaming is, at its best: a way for us to become closer to each other. That's why it's important that the hobby be welcoming and that it not exclude anyone who wants to enjoy it. Without other people, gaming doesn't really work.

-- Brian Engard