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Home-grown family LAN party: Game night in 2021
Thanks to developments in technology, family game night may look a little different now than it did 10 or 20 years ago, but these events are still important for family relationship building and spending time together. Family game night helps build vocabulary, teaches children how to have good sportsmanship, and brings you closer as a family unit. Even when you’re super busy and strapped for time, you can still schedule a productive, fun game night that scratches that itch for everyone! Let’s take a look at some things to consider when scheduling family game night:
Choose the best device for your play style
Do you love competition? Do you hate racing games? Would you prefer to play on your iPhone? These are all important questions when deciding which consoles or devices to dedicate time to during family game night. Of course, this decision can come down to what you already own. For instance, if you have enough PCs or Switches to go around, you can play Among Us, a fun, Mafia-style game where one family member is secretly trying to sabotage the rest of the family’s mission. Or, if you have a PS4, you can all gather around the TV in the living room and play a game like Rocket League (think football… but with race cars). Whatever device or console you choose, make sure everyone has the potential to have fun.
What game are you playing?
The answer to this question depends on your play style, as well! Fun, friendly competition games like Mario Party and Mario Kart offer a different vibe than, say, Fortnite, Minecraft, or Among Us. If you’re interested in a collaborative, side-scrolling challenge for the PS4, you can play Spelunky, a platformer that has players work together to defeat randomly generated levels. Whatever game you choose, pick one that has everyone’s attention — or at least, rotate favorite games so that everyone has a chance to play their choice.
So you chose a PC game. Now what?
Let’s say you are going to play Fortnite on PC. There are some things you should keep in mind when everyone in the household is using the internet connection to play games.
Pay attention to how much bandwidth you need, based on how many people in your home are playing. If only one person is playing, depending on your internet subscription, you probably won’t have to worry. But you want to make sure your home-grown family LAN party isn’t bogged down by lag — you need to make sure you have an internet connection that can handle the workload. One good way to do that is to see if 5G is available in your area, which comes with minimal lag and buffering, making online games faster to download and smoother to play.
Stay safe out there!
One more thing you should be aware of when planning your family game night: safety settings on your child’s devices. If you’re using a gaming console like the PS4 or Switch, there are safety nets available to help your child stay secure while playing. For instance, on the Switch, you can set controls for how long you want your child to be playing per day, select which games are “allowed,” and limit how much social interaction your child has during online play. These settings are all changeable at any time.
Remember: Have fun!
The biggest thing to keep in mind about family game night is that this is supposed to be a bonding activity for you all. Make sure your internet connection can handle the workload, keep everyone’s preferences in mind when choosing a game, and, above all: Have fun!
For more inspiring, helpful, and informative tips and tricks for the busiest mums, visit the Help for Busy Mums blog site!
