Gift Tips

It’s that time of year where a bunch of people go out and buy each other gifts to celebrate a gigantic mishmash of religious traditions all rolled up into one and loosely related to the birth of some kid 2000 years ago. Of course, as people get older and technology gets better, the circle of people we end up getting gifts for has gotten larger and larger. Looking at you, all you online friends! So, here’s a bunch of ideas to make people happy.

Why am I doing this early? Well, you’re going to want to get this stuff ready to give and/or trade, before the trade restrictions get you.

The gift of personalization

The best gift is always that one thing that person wants. But since we’re not mind readers, capable of instantly knowing what others want, especially online, you need to do some research first. Or you can ask them in a non-suspicious way what their favourite class/hero/gun is and work from there. Most people’s backpacks are open for everyone to see, so you can also glance in there and make sure they don’t have whatever it is you’re about to buy them.

For most, a specialized or professional kill streak kit for their favourite weapon is an excellent gift, but the more insane might want to look into collector’s items.

The gift of art

Making a gift for someone might seem lame and childish to some, but whoever thinks that is a soulless bastard. You’d actually be genuinely surprised how much effort goes into making an adorable picture in SFM or GMod, or arranging all your friends to sing a song. Of course, the more effort that goes into it, the better. Perhaps you could draw them in their favourite loadout, beating the shit out of their least favourite class. Or write them a story doing the same thing.

The gift of games

The great thing about buying games for others on Steam is that it’s really simple, and there’s always special offers. People’s wishlists are often overflowing with games they want but haven’t gotten around to buying, even if their library is also flooded with unplayed games. Four-packs are also a great way of getting a bunch of people to play together. There’s not just Steam though. Humble Bundles make great gifts and always include some nice, new stuff that the receiver might not normally play.

The gift of randomness

Why pick a gift for someone when you can let Lady Luck, Karma and the Fates choose a gift for your friend? If they and you are lucky, they could get an unusual for Christmas! Or maybe a nice rare weapon skin! Or a banana hat! Or… I dunno. Hopefully luck will be on both your sides when they finally use their random gift item.

Secret Saxtons are also pretty cute gifts, but only if you’re giving them out at an event or something.

The gift of shinies

Sometimes, you just don’t know what to get someone, so get them to buy their own gift using money you’ve given them! You currently can’t gift Steam Wallet funds to people, but you can give people items that they can then trade for other stuff, like keys, earbuds, keys, keys and keys. If they’re playing a game with an internal currency, you can get them some of that too, I’m sure a LoL-playing buddy would love some extra Riot Points. That way, they’ll be able to buy exactly what they want.

The gift of the Pickelhaube

Or you can do the insane thing and just give everyone a Prussian Pickelhaube for Christmas. That’s what I’ve done.