Getting Your Partner Interested in Gaming

[KymTheSpud]

My girlfriend is now hooked on gaming, when we got together she had a wii and we'd play mario kart. I picked up a wii u and we continued our mario karting.

But that was just the beginning, i had diablo3 on ps4 and figured it was simple enough to learn...within a a few hours she was totally hooked.

She's now finished witcher3 ( and all dlc ) and we've recently finished divinty original sin ( we've just started divinty 2 )...i have skyrim ready as a xmas gift so we will see how that goes.

I think the main thing about getting them into gaming is finding one game they enjoy and then building on that base. My girlfiend has already said she doesn't like shooters so i keep showing her rpgs and that's definitely her preferred genre.

 

[xxracerxx]

My wife is such a wonderful person sometimes, she allowed me to try and explain the Metal Gear Solid storyline to her on multiple occasions.

 

[FlaygletheBagel]

My wife (when she and I were dating) would try out some of the games I was playing. She had never been really into games, but she got really good at Smash and Mario Kart on Wii U since those were the games I had people over to play pretty frequently, and we liked playing them together.

But Tearaway Unfolded was the first game she REALLY got into. Then Animal Crossing New Leaf once she had beaten that. Then she started on M&L Bowser's Inside Story and made it to the final boss, but put it down since she got frustrated with that last part.

Fast forward to today, and she played Breath of the Wild start to finish, and is hooked on Stardew Valley right now. It takes some time for her to find a game she gets hooked on, but once she does, she's all in! Super happy to have a wife who was willing to get into games with me.

 

[Fgc_brotege]

I've been with my girlfriend for a year and despite her saying she is okay with games I've given up trying to talk about or play games with her because I know she wont ever care like I do. She's supportive enough with me going to fighting game locals/majors so I'll take that and be happy

 

[Cranston]

Don't bother with your wife or husband.

Instead, have kids and then destroy them at Mario Kart 8. I feel like, in many ways, I am reintroducing some of the basic tenets of the Spartans into my household.

 

[Skip2baloo]

My wife isn't a gamer but she loves to play Rayman Legends, Towerfall, Mario Kart and Diablo 3 on consoles. If you like to bring your partner into gaming, try it with games that are simple to control (just one analog stick).

 

[Maturin]

Don't bother with your wife or husband.

Instead, have kids and then destroy them at Mario Kart 8. I feel like, in many ways, I am reintroducing some of the basic tenets of the Spartans into my household.

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My 8yo can beat me at FIFA now. I act upset at being defeated. But I'm absolutely thrilled, especially as it makes him so happy.

All three of my kids love games - Minecraft especially. But racing games are very popular too.

 

[weekev]

My wife and I got together after a particularly intense Mario Party session. She was up visiting my flatmate, we stayed up super late getting drunk whilst playing Mario Party, (it was either 6 or 7) and next time she came to the flat she was visiting me. The rest is history, we are now couch cooping Mario Odyssey which is actually a great couch coop game.

 

[Dance Inferno]

I've tried a few times to get my gf into games, and she's a trooper and will give it a shot, but it never sticks. I've just come to the conclusion that it's not something she's ever really going to be into and that's OK.

I did just get a Switch though and am purchasing Snipperclips to play with her, as she seemed interested in that type of game. If she enjoys it then I may try to pick up some more co-op puzzle games like Death Squared or Overcooked.

 

[BrunOz]

my ex gf could play Tekken for hours with me or coop games like towerfall.

my actual gf could barely control crash bandicoot trough a straight corridor, I gave up showing her videogames at that point. A few months later she asked me to bring my Wii U to her house, now she loves mario kart and smash bros lol

 

[Astorgh]

Gf occasionally wants to play Mario Kart or Smash. She used to be more into gaming in high school, but she ended up selling all the games she owned.
She now likes WoW because her roommate got her into MOBAs. She tried to get me into them, but they're not my type of games.

 

[Chopchop]

I met my wife through games, but IMO having a similar degree of skill/ambition is very important in choosing which games to play together. That avoids many of the issues where one or the other becomes frustrated because of the difference in skill. Don't play something where one player is obviously looking for something from the game that the other player can't provide.

Differences in taste matter too. If your SO doesn't like a certain genre, don't force the issue.

For those who haven't played games before, it's very important to be aware of a lot of unintuitive systems in games that gamers take for granted because they learned these things over years. Things as simple as the normal way to hold a controller, or knowing basic quest structure with NPCs are things that could be hard to understand for people who have never played games before.

There are other co-op games that might be good with an SO, though. For example, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes might be good, or it might destroy your relationship.

 

[dtcm83]

Trick for me was finding the types of games I knew she'd like (story games like Life is Strange, life-sim games like The Sims 4, many WRPGs on easy mode, etc.), and not just assume she'd like a game that I or the media was gushing about. Everyone has different tastes, and for as amazing a game as I think Bloodborne and Wipeout Omega Collection are she has ZERO interest in them. So, first tip: Know your partner. Know what kind of things they take enjoyment in and generally how quick they are to get frustrated. For my wife, she likes lighthearted games where the skill barrier to entry is low, which is why I think she plays a lot of those cutesy mobile games. Second tip: Provide recommendations to your partner on games they might like based on what you know of your partner. Key is what they might like, not what you like. Third tip: Don't get discouraged if they just aren't into it and don't force it. I think video games are basically modern pinnacle of entertainment, but not everyone else does. You just have to be ok with that and let it go.

 

[Einbroch]

My wife is such a wonderful person sometimes, she allowed me to try and explain the Metal Gear Solid storyline to her on multiple occasions.

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Your poor wife.

 

[BasilZero]

Played super Mario 3D world with my wife , she loved it lol

Gotta try out Mario kart with her

 

[Bakercat]

It's hard for my fiancé because she thinks there are too many buttons on today's controllers and she says the controllers are too big and her fingers hurt easily. She loves fighting games and puzzle games, but like I said she doesn't like how controllers feel and how it hurts her fingers. She also doesn't care for mario kart or smash which makes me sad. Oh well, hoping we have children in the future and they at least will want to play with me. lol

 

[laoni]

I actually met my partner through gaming! I'm probably more hardcore than him, but my tastes are narrower than his. We recommend games to one another, and play co-op regularly, but, we also give each other the time and space to play the games that we like but the other does not

 

[xxracerxx]

Your poor wife.

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To her credit, she follows along pretty well.

 

[Krugybb]

My lady is the type that thinks if she's not good at it right away she'll never be good and it just slows me down and bums me out so I avoid that. Occasionally we'll play through something like Her Story, Until Dawn, or Life is Strange together though. Nothing that requires any sort of execution to pull off. Although one of my favorite memories is playing Pokemon XY together, we beat it in a weekend each on our own versions. Never left the bed or got out of pajamas. (And it gives me an excuse to buy both for my shelf!)

 

[John Rabbit]

As someone who introduced his wife (then girlfriend) to games about a decade ago:

Find a way to introduce them to a game that aligns with their current interests.

For my wife it was Bioshock. She took dance classes extensively as a child and loves swing, jazz, big band, etc music. She also has an affinity for the visual aesthetic of the 40s and 50s. Bioshock delivered that in a way she had never seen before, and by extension she became invested in the story and the Disneyland (another thing she loves) style theatrics of the game. I played and she watched. Horror games were a similar story.

Eventually I suggested we try playing some games together and purposely focused on games that had 3 things going it:

1. A low barrier to entry with respect to the controls. I avoided games that relied heavily on pressing multiple buttons at once, complex inputs, or mechanics that required precise or very specific timing.
2. Simple, clear cut objectives or contexts.
3. Games that were low in difficulty and/or had very mild punishments for failure. This is probably the biggest one.

Obviously she had to be attracted to the game on a basic level (looks cool, sounds cool, has an interesting premise, etc) but for the most part she was interested to play anything that fit the above criteria.

Do not force your partner to spend any additional amount of time playing a game they're not enjoying. If they're not feeling it, you're not feeling it. Find something else to play or find a new way to play the same game that helps them improve or increase their enjoyment. For instance my wife and I love playing Tetris battle games together (Battle Gaiden, Puyo Puyo, etc). However I am demonstrably far better at them; so I handicap myself. I don't use fast drops. I don't exceed 4 line clears, etc. If the game has a handicap setting we tilt it in her favor, etc.

I ended up finding out my wife was very good at solving puzzles, especially visual puzzles. She did the heavy-lifting for about half of our playthough on The Witness. She is often the one to solve riddles or logic problems in horror games. If you discover this about your partner, you can start including them on other games that require their strength. I found a few extra Moons in Mario Odyssey just the other night because she was watching me play and I was trying to talk out where to find them.

Focus on what they want to do and see and achieve. Let them decide where to go, what to say, etc. Remember the goal here is to spend quality, enjoyable time with your partner.

 

[Xypher]

My fiancee is Japanese and at one point we had to relocate to the US for her job. One summer she got super homesick so I gave her my vita with Persona 4. She fell in love with the game, it's characters and the story. That was kind of her gateway into gaming. She then discovered Pokemon for herself and fully completed the national dex in omega ruby. Since then she has been playing mostly RPGs as well as all kinds of Nintendo games after never really having played games before.

 

[hypostatic]

My wife is a huge fan of 80s Nintendo games (especially Bubble Bobble), so having the NES Classic at home has been great for her. She's not too crazy about mature-looking games but will watch me play modern Nintendo games and often wants to have a try at it.

 

[SledGod]

My wife is such a wonderful person sometimes, she allowed me to try and explain the Metal Gear Solid storyline to her on multiple occasions.

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My girlfriend isn't really into video games, but she lets me do stuff like this sometimes, which makes me happy.

I might be able to get her into an easy platformer or something, but we already enjoy other hobbies together, so I haven't really tried.

 

[Virdix]

My wife and I had always talked about trying to get her into games but she was always put off because she assumed she would be bad at them.

She is a huge reader and writer so my solution was Until Dawn. I asked her if she wanted to play it thus October based on the premise that it was like a horror movie and based on choices. She was hesitant the first night and the next night she was bugging me right after dinner to play. We finished the game in 3 nights of casual play.

Next on our list is Life is Strange and then maybe Oxenfree. I think the key is to get an understanding of what your SO might like and give that a shot.

I'm on lunch and kind of rushed this but first post on ERA. :)

 

[HyGogg]

My girlfriend has the interest in games, but not really the skills. She can button mash through some games, but for the most part action games are not going to fly. Story-based adventure games and RPGs have been fun, though. Maybe we can work up to RPGs with light action elements.

 

[John Rabbit]

My wife is such a wonderful person sometimes, she allowed me to try and explain the Metal Gear Solid storyline to her on multiple occasions.

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I basically cajoled my wife into watching an entire play-through of MGS4 after dragging her through the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database to recap the entire story.

The ending made her cry.

 

[DarkOmnios]

My girlfriend is kind into videogames, (although she told me later on in the relationship that she never thought i was so nerd about games and movies ahahah)

She likes to play games like God of war III and Injustice.
She also owns all Batman Arkham games from the ps3 and ps4.


And also i give her as present the Deadpool game (she's crazy about Deadpool)
We both have a Ps4 each.

 

[Mihos]

My wife would rather watch me. I am not overly interested in her garden either, outside of helping with heavy stuff. Secret of our marriage... separate bank accounts and separate hobbies.

 

[grmlin]

She plays match 3 games on her phone

Sometimes


I think I failed lol. Well, I never really tried

 

[darscot]

I'm in the I don't try to get my wife to partake in my interests camp. Sure I offer but I don't make any effort to convince her, she has her likes and I have mine. Neither of us understands people that have to do things with their partner. If we both enjoy something we do it together if we don't we don't.

 

[SomaXD]

I didn't get my wife into gaming, i dated chicks who like the same shit as me, and married the raddest one... Lol.
not sure why anyone whos into gaming, would date someone with no interest in it, that seems weird to me.

I met my wife on Final Fantasy XI in 2003.

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Lol, i dated my wife during ffxi when it first came out on ps2... Got married in game, then in rl, even had a friend from our linkshell come out to our actual wedding XD

 

[N.47H.4N]

When I met my girlfriend she was a casual player (mostly mobile and of course GTA series LOL), after introducing to her The Last of Us she fell in love and became a big fan, now she is as excited as I am for the sequel,after she finished the last of us for the first time she said that she thought games were about scoring and completing a level, she never imagined that she would find a game in which she felt so immersive as to feel empathy for a character who felt real , since then she has played more and more different games like Uncharted ,Until Dawn,Drive Club and Portal , games she's never met before.

 

[Deleted member 18347]

My wife is such a wonderful person sometimes, she allowed me to try and explain the Metal Gear Solid storyline to her on multiple occasions.

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I hope you censored some of the shit that went down in MGS4.

Edit: Well my gf is not into gaming at all, but she likes to watch me play sometimes, mostly survival horror. She really liked SH2's story and was disappointed when P.T. was cancelled.

Usually when we try competitive or coop games she doesn't last long because she rarely played games growing up and so finds it annoying to try and adapt.

And that's the extent of it.

 

[fourfourfun]

My love was already into some games. Very invested in Oblivion, Fallout 3 and under no circumstances New Vegas, and Resident Evil 4. She hasn't played for years now but we had a small renaissance playing split screen Resi games.

 

[xxracerxx]

I didn't get my wife into gaming, i dated chicks who like the same shit as me, and married the raddest one... Lol.
not sure why anyone whos into gaming, would date someone with no interest in it, that seems weird to me.

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Eh, finding a partner that doesn't share all your interests helps you discover new interests.

 

[Deleted member 26535]

I bought Overcooked because everyone suggested this game. Then my fiancé did not like the game. She said that was boring and confusing and too hectic for her.

Then she asked for other games and got hooked with Tetris in Puyo Puyo Tetris.

So I think that Tetris is the best game overall for someone that is not interested in games.

 

[Kriegshand]

My life partner did not play video games aside from some browser games like mahjong. This changed completely after i introduced her to Double Dash. Since this event she is receptive to split-screen games. It was a blast to play Super Mario 3D World and Pikmin 3 with her together.

 

[Scaught]

Eh, finding a partner that doesn't share all your interests helps you discover new interests.

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Like taxidermy! and mushroom foraging!

 

[Graciaus]

Only game we play together is Mario Kart...her choice.

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This for me as well and only the SNES version. I've tried other games and nothing works.

 

[Mido]

I have been really trying with Mario Kart. Maybe Odyssey would be better? She had a hard time with the drift mechanic in MK.

 

[twisteh]

Going to echo a lot of replies, my girlfriend also only plays Mario Kart. What is it with this damn game that is so approachable even for non gamers who don't even play literally any other games at all?!

 

[SomaXD]

Eh, finding a partner that doesn't share all your interests helps you discover new interests.

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Oh for sure, im just saying if gaming is a huge part of your life, its weird to me that you would get with someone who didnt care for that part of your life.

 

[komodothefist]

I've gravitated towards people with the same hobbies in the past, and one thing I noticed is that they were both reluctant to leave the bubble of games that they like in order to try something new. I suppose they already knew what they wanted and what they were in the mood to play at the moment.

My current SO doesn't have any gaming base, so it's awesome to show him the classics and watch him go through them the first time. You can watch someone go through Ocarina of Time or Shadow of the Colossus as if they just came out. And he's very opened minded about trying new stuff because he doesn't know what he likes. It's a blast.

On the other hand, I have noticed him struggling with game logic I take for granted. If a background thing is moving, he might not realize it can be interacted with, or if something isn't explicitly explained, he won't try experimenting with the controls to figure it out. It makes me wonder what things are obvious to other people that I end up missing.

 

[noggenFogged]

I am slightly confused, are you both participating in a stream or are you just watching streams together?

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We are both watching it, while I play a game (sometimes the same game, sometimes something different). It ends up being something where we can both enjoy the gaming experience without too much investment.

 

[Alexhex]

Yeah, I wouldn't say it's necessary if they don't show interest, but depending on what kind of experience they like, cetain games are so trancendant you can probably show them things on a game by game basis.

That being said though, for me it's really great to have a parner who games, because it's my favorite hobby and artform of choice. Having someone to play Pokémon Sun/Moon with was amazing. We each got Switches and Zelda so playing it at the same time each night and talking about weird stuff that happened was one of my favorite gaming experiences. And havnig someone who's always around for stuff like Diablo and Splatoon is just plain convenient haha. Reading some of these responses is funny cause she's the one who got me in Mario Kart haha.

Again though, it's not like you NEED to be with someone who games if it's your favorite passtime, it's not like it helped our souls become truly entwined. But it is pragmatic to spent time together and game at the same time, I know some have difficulties finding the time for both and it's one more thing to talk about.

 

[ColonelForbin]

Been married 15 years and we have always found games to play together. You have to genuinely talk to her about her gaming tastes. What does she like and dislike. Don't just get a game because you might like it. You really need to focus on her. Find the gateway drug. Diablo 3 helped a lot because it is so accessible and the controls are easy.

 

[ilumen]

We play things like Heavy Rain and Her Story. Games where I do the mechanical inputs, and he makes the decisions.

 

[BringBackSonics]

She games more than me. Lol

 

[Ge0force]

I gave up a long time ago to get my wife into gaming. But my 5yo daughter is always very curious when I'm gaming, so there's hope for her ;)

 

[Joeyro]

Sadly my girlfriend is not interested in gaming at all, but we played Until Dawn and Life is strange together and it was a great experience, she really liked it!
would gladly take more recommendations for games like that.