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How Do Games Integrate Christmas?

Eri Kong

Whether you’re gift-giving on Christmas and Hanukkah, playing pranks on April Fools, or dressing up for Halloween, holidays have always been a time for people to celebrate with one another and create lasting memories. Video games have become one form of celebrating these holidays with friends. After all, games already provide a virtual world for people to come together and have fun. In fact, popular games like Animal Crossing and Fortnite also host holiday-themed events for players to enjoy. But what do those events look like, and do they honor the holidays they’re portraying? Let’s look at how some games tailor their worlds to engage players in the spirit of the season. We will be delving specifically into how Christmas is used and celebrated in games, especially since, as Mariah Carey puts it…



Let’s start with the classic Wizard101, an online RPG in which players learn and use magic to save their universe! Throughout December, the game hosts the Yuletide Festival, where players can exchange currency for special Christmas items. From holiday-themed pets to festive furniture and clothes, players can redeem these items from Felix Navidad, a jolly NPC who returns every year for Christmas! KingsIsle, the company behind Wizard101, also launched the same event with a sister game, Pirate101. In this game, players become pirates setting sail to find treasure in the same fictional universe as Wizard101. Both games also have Yuletide in July, a Christmas event during the summer. This allows players to enjoy the Christmas festivities early so they can get all those festive goodies months before Christmas! These events are fun and jolly, spreading Christmas joy prior to and during the Christmas season. The addition of Felix Navidad is a very nice touch too, from the name pun to the Santa costume. Overall, if you’re looking for some magical Christmas fun, or maybe you want to get in on some festive booty/treasure, I highly recommend checking out Wizard101 and Pirate101. They’re fun games to play aside from the Christmas events too!


Here's the legend Felix Navidad
Here's the legend Felix Navidad

I’d also like to take a brief moment to shout out Animal Crossing: New Horizons for their Christmas event. Not only do you get ornaments by shaking trees, but you can also use those ornaments to craft festive furniture and gift-wrapping paper! The game also brings back an NPC who has been in the game since the start of the Animal Crossing series, a reindeer named Jingle! He will first ask you to craft wrapping paper for him. Once you get that done, he will ask you to go around town to cosplay as Santa and hand out presents to each of your villagers. It’s a very wholesome event that not only rewards you with festive furniture recipes but also with sweet interactions with your villagers! You can even get a framed photo of Jingle by crafting the Toy Day Stockings and hanging them up in your home. When you interact with the stockings on December 25th (note: you should hang them up before the 25th, not on the day of, just to be safe), you will find his photo in there! Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a really chill game, so if you’re looking to play a cozy, heartwarming game for the holidays, you should definitely give this one a shot!


Let’s end this off with Fortnite’s Winterfest! Winterfest is a yearly event Fortnite hosts in celebration of the holidays and the winter season. Fortnite amped the winter festivities with lots of gifts (like an advent calendar), each from a different NPC from the game. You can get a variety of gifts, such as back blings, emotes, and even a new skin gifted! One of the skins you can get is actually Snoop Dogg! Oh, I forgot to mention, they added Snoop Dogg and Mariah Carey into Fortnite (albeit as skins, but nevertheless this has shocked me more than the news about Hatsune Miku and Skibidi Toilet coming to Fortnite)! While many players anticipated the release of this event, this year’s Winterfest met some with disappointment. Leakers on Twitter mentioned that Fortnite would add ice skating into the game, yet the way the game implemented it was disappointing. Instead of being ice skates players can don in battle, they seem to just be wearable ice blocks. Despite the disappointment, though, it seems that many people are enjoying the event and duking it out on the battlefield in Christmas spirit (in good ol’ Fortnite fashion!). 


Though these games are just a small sample of those with Christmas events and items, I think they’re brilliant examples of how to celebrate this holiday season and give the celebration its own unique flair. Wizard101 and Pirate101 integrate Christmas into their universe and provide some sweet rewards for participating in the festivities. Animal Crossing: New Horizons rewards its players for spreading the holiday cheer to their beloved villagers. Fortnite gives its battlefield a wintry theme with festive skins and weapons for players to collect and get as gifts. However you celebrate the holidays, you’re sure to find games to celebrate them in, as well as friends and family to bring into these virtual festivities with you. Happy holidays!





References:


“It’s Time For Yuletide!” 12 Days of the Spiral | Wizard101 Free Online Game, www.wizard101.com/free-game/spiralholiday-2024. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024. 


“Yuletide in July!” Yuletide in July 2024 | Pirate101 Free Online Game, www.pirate101.com/free_game/yuletide-in-july24. Accessed 5 Dec. 2024. 


“Toy Day Christmas Eve Event Guide: What To Do, Gift Exchange, Rewards.” Animal Crossing World, 29 Nov. 2023, animalcrossingworld.com/guides/new-horizons/toy-day-christmas-eve-event-guide-what-to-do-gift-exchange-rewards/


Pryor, Matthew “MJP” Pryor. “Fortnite Winterfest 2024 Countdown: Here’s When It Might Start.” Esports.Gg, 10 Dec. 2024, esports.gg/news/fortnite/fortnite-winterfest-2024-countdown-heres-when-it-might-start/


Wilkins, Matthew. “Fortnite Chapter 6 Season 1 (V33.10 Update) Early Patch Notes: Ballistic 5v5 First-Person Shooter, Ranked Og Mode, and WinterFest 2024.” Sportskeeda, 9 Dec. 2024,



Kain, Erik. “Here’s the Exact Time ‘fortnite’ Winterfest 2024 Starts and What to Expect.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 20 Dec. 2024,


Kain, Erik. “‘Fortnite’ Winterfest 2024 Presents Guide: Here’s Which Gifts Contain Each Free Reward.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 21 Dec. 2024, www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2024/12/21/fortnite-winterfest-presents-guide-heres-which-gifts-contain-each-free-reward/.





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