Online Games to Play With your Friends and Family

While it's nice to meet new people on the internet, you can also use it to strengthen the bonds you have with the people you already know, like your friends or family. Chatting and sharing videos are widely known ways to communicate with others, but playing games is a great way too. You can choose to play with or against each other and develop a whole new kind of relationship. Here are some of the best multiplayer games!

Overwatch

If you're into first-person shooter games, then this is the game for you! Together with a team, you either have to defeat the opposing team or defend an objective. You can choose from a plethora of characters. Each has different characteristics, talents, and so-called 'skins' (a specific look for this character). Every team needs a tank, someone that's strong and hard to move, a healer, someone that can help players in need, an offense; players that attack, and lastly, a defense; players that protect other players.

You can decide to play in the same team as your friends, or in two different groups. The latter is a great way to see who's better at the game.

Civilization V of VI

This game involves strategy and planning. It can be compared to the Settlers of Catan game. You are the leader of a country, and you have to help your nation grow and succeed. To do so, you can make alliances with other countries, or go to war with them. Just like with Overwatch, there are multiple leaders to choose from. Each leader has its own pros and cons, which you have to keep in mind while playing the game.

When you play this game with friends or family, you can choose to play together as multiple countries, or each one of you plays for themselves. This can lead to fun situations as long as you’re not too competitive.

Civilization V or VI takes quite a long time to play, so it’s especially fun to play during a sleepover or rainy afternoon with nothing else to do for a few hours.

Minecraft

Especially younger kids will enjoy playing this with their friends or with their older siblings. Minecraft is a construction game with an underlying theme of adventure and exploration. Together with other players, you can construct the most beautiful buildings, find the Netherworld and defeat zombies in the process.

Even though there is a small combat element in which you have to defeat zombies and/or other monsters, the game is entirely peaceful, allowing everyone to enjoy it at their own pace. The game mode can even be switched to "peaceful," eliminating the chances of running into a monster.

Fortnite

Of course, we can’t forget about Fortnite. This mega online multiplayer game is partly a third-person shooter game, but also a building game. Using strategy and upgrades, you can master the art of unconventional buildings to show your capabilities and talents.

This game consists of two modes: the ‘Battle Royale’ in which you compete against hundreds of other players to win, and the ‘Save the World’ mode in which you compete against hordes of evil monsters to save yourself.

Depending on the mode you choose to play this game in, you can work together with your friends or try to defeat them and see who lasts the longest.

Call of Duty

This game takes place in a war-ridden country in which you have to defend your country from the enemy. The land this takes place varies per game. This is quite a "dark" game but can be a fun game for teenagers and adolescents to play with their friends. You can choose which side you want to fight on and if you wish to fight with or against your friends.

Age of Empires

This one is an old classic. Age of Empires is a simple game that revolves around strategy. It takes place during any modern period like the stone-age, the roman empire, or the middle ages. You can choose to play a random map in which you want a civilization, which then takes place on a randomly generated map. You can also opt for a campaign in which you follow an actual storyline. This campaign takes longer than a randomly generated map to play, but they follow some important historical events as well, which can be quite enjoyable.

In this game, you can host lobbies in which friends can join you to join your game or campaign, allowing you to play together and follow the storyline.

League of Legends

You may have heard of this game before. League of Legends is a bit similar to Overwatch except that you play in third-person with a bird’s eye view of the map. This game can only be played online and either with and against computer bots or with and against your friends, making it a very accessible game. Depending on the map you choose to play on, you can play with five players, three players, or five players with a randomly generated character for every one of them.

During the game, each player earns gold. This gold can be used in the game to buy upgrades, special attacks, and to make your character stronger. Every player receives a base amount of one gold per second, but you can earn extra by killing so-called "minions" (tiny warriors from the opposing group) or heroes of the other team.

Just like Overwatch, each team consists of an offense, defense, tank, and healer. If you play together, make agreements on which one of you plays what to prevent a team consisting of only one group. This game can be played by both younger and older members in your family or friend group.

As you can see, there are many games to be played online. And while the games mentioned above are the more popular games, they are certainly not the only one. Find a game that suits you and your friends or family and enjoy a lovely afternoon (or even a full day) of happy gaming! If you are feeling especially daring, you can also host a LAN-party with your friends in which you game for two or more consecutive days. Have fun and go for it!