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Getting Your Partner Interested in Gaming

Sir Guts

Sir Guts

Use of alt account
Member
Oct 26, 2017
10,480
Posted on behalf of Scaught

Everybody should have a player 2, and who better than your significant other (or others, should you be so inclined). I honestly believe video games can appeal to anybody, but there's a certain stigma for new players going in. This post is for anybody with a story to share on how they introduced gaming to their S/O, or anybody looking for tips to bridge that gap.
 
Servbot24

Servbot24

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
43,065
Tbh I find the idea of forcing video games on your SO or children to be very weird. Just let them do what they want.

If for whatever reason you absolutely insist on doing it, maybe try Wii Sports, that got my parents into it for a couple weekends.
 

Deleted member 4518

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,278
I've tried previously to get my girlfriend into playing games. I gave her one of my 3DS' and bought her Mario Kart 7 and New Super Mario Bros. 2. She plays those here and there but she's not an avid player like I am. Plus, she used to play games before she met me as well on and off, she had a PS2 and a Wii.

She loves the Switch though, in particular Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Snipperclips and The Jackbox Party Pack 3 when we play with a bunch of people.
 
GreatBritton

GreatBritton

Member
Oct 29, 2017
165
The only game my wife will play with me is Mario kart as well. But she enjoys watching me play some games, like resident evil for example. I let my kids play along too with an unplugged controller. Speaking of Mario kart, with the new assists they can actually play with me and not get frustrated.
 
Lys Skygge

Lys Skygge

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,745
Arizona
My fiancé loves to play Driveclub and GTA with me. We also play a lot of the indie PS+ games that are released.

I do wish I could get her more interested though. But right now most games intimidate her because they "seem to complicated"
 
Scaught

Scaught

Member
Oct 30, 2017
90
The Frozen North
Honestly the first game I had her try was Style Savvy after catching her playing one of those flash paper doll games. What really got her into it was Pokemon Blue because she always wanted to play it as a kid and never had a Game Boy. Organize an at-home date night if your partner doesn't feel like going out and play something fun and easy. The new Mario Kart has assisted steering which really makes it fun for novice players
 
TheSteelCondor

TheSteelCondor

Member
Oct 27, 2017
132
My wife doesn't like playing many games, but she does enjoy Puyo Puyo and Mario Kart. She likes watching me play through some games though, she absolutely loved watching me play Dishonored 2. Kingdom Hearts is another that she likes to watch since she loves Disney.
 
Maturin

Maturin

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,101
Europe
I'm happy my wife isn't into gaming. Gives me time to play while she's watching reality TV. I'm not a social gamer, it's something I like to do alone.

I tend to play games like Elite Dangerous and Forza 7 - games I can play while listening to podcasts and audiobooks.


My first wife was a gamer. I could never get onto my PC of an evening because she was playing The Sims on it. :)
 
dreamcast

dreamcast

Member
Oct 27, 2017
520
I've been married for nearly twenty years, and many attempts later my wife's still only interested in playing Solitaire on her phone. So I had kids, and they all like playing games. So I guess I succeeded indirectly. lol
 
EXPBonus

EXPBonus

Member
Oct 30, 2017
179
I actually met my partner through twitch! I was streaming and she came in to my The Last of Us multiplayer game with me. She ended up destroying everyone.
Then I found her streaming one day (neither of us were big channels) then we started chatting and playing together and hitting up each others streams and boom! Three years later we're living together!
Thanks videogames!
 
JosephMichael

JosephMichael

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
212
I think the biggest thing is to start them with something that will give them a sense of accomplishment (i.e. don't start with a souls game)

Something that isn't so punishing, something with a nice aesthetic.

Beyond that, just put the controller in their hands and be encouraging.. I think the biggest mental roadblock for people is that they don't think they're "good" at videogames.
 
Camwi

Camwi

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,375
Minecraft, baby. There's not a lot of games that I can get my wife into, but she fucking loved playing Minecraft multiplayer with me.
 
Paquete_PT

Paquete_PT

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
5,317
Games like Until Dawn and Heavy Rain are the best to initiate someone on gaming, in my experience. They're fun, engaging and not a big departure from movies and tv shows, less demanding to someone who's not used to control a 3d character.
Towerfall is amazing as a couch co-op experience and we managed to beat it.
Now she's really into Fortnite Battle Royale. It's accessible and keeps her on her toes. She loves the tension. It's the first time where she actually asks me if we could play.
 
Starlatine

Starlatine

533.489 paid youtubers cant be wrong
Member
Oct 28, 2017
30,374
Co-op gaming, mostly. Instead of each one doing their own things alone, we sat down and said "hey we're a couple why don't we do things together" and that was it. Of course, when you try to bring someone else to your hobby, you should let them have a bigger importance while picking what to play or not, don't try to force your own preferences over someone who might not be full on board with it yet.
 
Ube

Ube

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
192
there are two outcomes:

she will complain if she loses "you're too good!" or she will complain if she wins "you're letting me win!"

we rarely play videogames (or any other kind of game) now
 
Aigato

Aigato

Member
Oct 30, 2017
426
Manchester, UK
My fiance was obsessed with Mario Party 9 when pregnant with our eldest. Nowadays it's just been the odd race on Mario Kart and she started on Crash Bandicoot for a while. Did spot her giving Odyssey the eye the other night so I'll see if she fancies trying that out.
 
OP
OP
Sir Guts

Sir Guts

Use of alt account
Member
Oct 26, 2017
10,480
The only story I have: My lady is the female version of me. She games and she loves anime/manga :D
 
Finale Fireworker

Finale Fireworker

Love each other or die trying.
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,710
United States
My fiancée and I play horror and adventure games together. We like games with little-to-no combat so the only inputs are puzzle solving, path finding, and environmental interaction. This was kickstarted when PT first came out, which was the first game we played, and we've been playing games in the same vein ever since. We played Until Dawn, we played Amnesia, we played Resident Evil 7, we played Grim Fangando, we played Firewatch... and they've all been great. We both love it, look forward to it, and are always looking for a new game to play the same way.

But she doesn't really like to play video games. She played about 2/3rds of Tomb Raider 2013 before stopping. She played a little bit of Undertale and stopped at the first real fight. She doesn't enjoy the challenge of a video game and she doesn't feel any satisfaction in mechanical execution. She would never play a kart racer, for example, because the "fun factor" isn't there. She only likes seeing the sights, seeing the story, and solving the puzzles. Gaming holds no other appeal to her. There've been a few games I tried to get her to play and a few things she's even asked to try, but she puts them down as easily as she picks them up. She likes to watch me play instead.

Some people just don't like video games. My fiancée is one of them.
 

Deleted member 11934

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,045
My girlfriend kicks my ass at fighting games... And now she's becoming a threat at Mario Kart. But she was into PlayStation (RE, MGS, SH, and horrors in general) and now a very much PC Master Girl, though she got addicted to Animal Crossing for a bit and skinned her 2DS with The Witcher.
 
MeBecomingI

MeBecomingI

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,037
We've played WoW together, but that's about it. She gets severe motion sickness so even in WoW she keeps the camera movement to a minimum. A lot of the games I want to play with her would make her sick.

Bummer.
 
Wolfgav

Wolfgav

Member
Oct 27, 2017
472
Glass City.
Love the fact my wife is into gaming but we mainly play on the weekend. We are currently playing through Ghost Recon Wildlands with Destiny 2 next on the list. Keep the multiplayer games coming!
 
StarPhlox

StarPhlox

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,373
Wisconsin
Be careful what you wish for. My partner is taking the Switch with her to Canada this weekend to finish BOTW while I just want to keep enjoying Super Mario Odyssey.
 
SigEpTendo

SigEpTendo

Member
Oct 27, 2017
376
The Shadows
My wife loves co-op platformers. We played (and cursed) the heck out of Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze. Until Dawn is another we played together. Loves horror.

If you are trying to get your partner into games, as others have said, co-op is the way to go. Especially accessible ones. Board games are another great way to bridge the gap too into the digital realm.
 
CaptNink

CaptNink

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,118
B.C, Canada
I bought my wife a copy of "The Sims" back in 2001 (or whenever it was popular; can't remember) for her birthday. When she unwrapped it, she thought I was screwing with her and that I hid some jewelry in the box.

That was my first and last time I tried to get her into gaming.
 
nossato

nossato

Member
Oct 29, 2017
29
All I had to do to introduce my husband to gaming was play Borderlands 2 with him. He has been hooked ever since. We now have two Xbox consoles and we are gifting each other Switches for Christmas.
 
Coi

Coi

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,808
My girlfriend its in the middle of casual and hardcore gamer lol. We play a lot together so I can recommend you to play story driven games like Walking Dead, Until Dawn or games like The Last of Us. These are highly enjoyable games to play, laugh and share with another person, and since they are not hard you can share the controller and talk a lot.
Then if your partner looks for more you can recommend more games and consoles. Enjoy!
 
chrono321

chrono321

Member
Oct 28, 2017
117
Germany
I made several attempts to get my wife into gaming - futile!
She gets frustrated really fast and I don't know how to slow this process down. Sometimes she watches me playing and pretends to be interested... I don't know, maybe I should get used to it.
We have a 4 months old son - hope at the horizon...
 
Russ

Russ

Member
Oct 28, 2017
10
Mine only enjoys playing the old N64 games, she thinks all the new games are "whack".
 
Elshoelace

Elshoelace

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,372
My wife doesn't really play games except for co-op new mario bros and Mario 3d world which is always a blast and strangley enough the Dragon Age series. She did see me playing Odyssey and thought it looked fun and started playing it on her own and loves it. Odyssey is her first 3d Mario, its fun watchin her adapt to a right analog stick. Just don't force it, if you think it might be up their alley give it a shot, but if they don't wanna play games then oh well.
 
Se_7_eN

Se_7_eN

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,721
My fiance enjoys the SNES and side scrollers, especially Mario.... We are going to be getting a Switch soon (After she heard about the Nintendo Classics) so I will definitely have her try Odyssey... However, I don't expect her to get into it. The 3D (Open world) aspect is really tough for her to control.

Its weird, ALL OF US are so used to playing games that we can pick up a controller and play with ease.... But when you give an older teen / young adult a video game that has never played one, they really struggle, get upset, and don't want to actually take the time to learn the controls. The biggest struggle seems to come from the hand, eye, brain, coordination. Controlling the movement, camera, and abilities all at the same time.
 
Enterprise1701

Enterprise1701

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,659
Hull, England
My partner plays Minecraft/Lego/The Sims, she does not play anything else though she really enjoys watching me play games, she loved watching me play the last of us on PS4.
 
StraySheep

StraySheep

Member
Oct 26, 2017
8,276
The winners so far have been Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, Mario Odyssey, and Little Big Planet. She also liked to watch me play The Last Guardian.

I wish I had tips, but the only thing I can think of is don't be afraid to use assists or any other way to take a lot of the challenge out in the early days. I think you want it to be as purely positive of a experience as possible.
 
Minako

Minako

Member
Oct 25, 2017
477
My s/o already was playing games before I met them. Unfortunately we don't get to play together very much though. We both like single player games and haven't really found something to play together.
 

Deleted member 8593

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
27,176
Both my girlfriend and I came up in rather modest households. I eventually saved up money to buy my first PC when I was 9 and bought my first console with the Wii in 2006. Before that my exposure to videogames came mostly from friends and relatives. My "first" videogame was the original SMB on an Eastern European bootleg NES. My girlfriend, however, did not grow up with games.

I was playing something on the PS4 and she eventually asked me if I had any games she could play, something easy. I picked Journey for her and she was hooked. The 3D camera was a bit of a struggle for her but she managed and finished the game. After that she moved to ABZU and enjoyed that as well. Then she tried Child of Light, her first RPG, and she beat it. In the beginning I helped her with the 2P support function but she managed by herself pretty quickly. RIME she finished by herself (although I had to be there for one passage because it was too scary). I downloaded Tearaway for her and she hated it so I knew she had good taste. I think her favourite game is Overcooked because it's cooperative (so we can play it together) and you don't have to kill anything.

Generally she seems to be drawn to games with nice art styles and simple mechanics. I'm tempted to introduce her to Ace Attorney but we haven't gotten around to it yet.
 
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