I don't think the argument applies nearly as strongly to happy hour. if you don't like drinking, you can still enjoy some food and talk to your coworkers. I understand it's not very fun to be sober around a bunch of drunk people, but they really shouldn't be having more than a drink or two at a company event in the first place. I guess it's especially tough on recovering alcoholics, but no more than the entire outside world.

Depending on the game and setup, you can probably talk to your coworkers during the game without actually playing. This should be taken into account in selection of game and setup.

I was thinking about it in a remote context. personally I find sitting in discord but not playing the game is a lot more boring than being at a bar and not drinking.

at an irl event with games, it's not weird at all to socialize without playing.

We host lan games after hours and welcome spectators, they can watch and communicate with the dead or just hang out on slack.

We also do Netflix night, where we all watch a movie at the same time on fridays around 330 and talk about it in slack

Without a doubt, you are correct that alcohol is not universal either. I have never had the "luxury?" of working for a company where sponsored happy-hour was a thing.

Exactly! It should be optional, like most social activities in any company. It's there for the people that want to show up