Girls and Gaming

edited September 2008 in Games
I ran across an article on how to get your girlfriend into gaming. The suggestions are:

1. Don't be a jerk. Let her know she is more important than the game, otherwise she'll make the game her enemy.
2. Find a game she'll like (Rock Band?), not Halo.
3. Invite her to watch you game, but make her feel important. "Honey, can you watch out for snipers for me?"

Take a read of the article. Opinions?
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Comments

  • edited September 2008
    I think it was way easier to get into gaming as a kid. My first boyfriend was my neighbor a few houses down the street, and we were great friends before goin out. I've always figured he was the guy who got me really into gaming... before knowing him I owned maybe 3 games per system I had, and they were all either Disney stuff or Banjo Kazooie. When he heard I had an N64 we started hanging out a lot, and he basically just worked me up a system of games- Jet Force Gemini, Conker's Bad Fur Day (at age 11, best age to play that game), and then to me watching him play Halo and Devil May Cry and Resident Evil and Legacy of Kain. Whenever I played Halo I got dizzy (similar to the descriptions given in the article), but since I was over at his house allll the time, I watched him and his brother play through all of the games he had and learned most (if not all) of the storylines to them. Oh, and we also both really liked Zelda. Zelda is a GREAT game to get girls into, in my opinion. It's not that hard, the stories are nice and simple and yet still completely interesting, and there's a nice mix between puzzle solving, exploring, and battle. No strategy, just punch and run.
    My current boyfriend has gotten me more into role playing games (Dungeons and Dragons), but we'll still play wayy too much Super Smash Brothers Melee or Brawl and sometimes play Mario Kart Double Dash. Lol, put the setting on easy and then have her just throw stuff at other racers-- thats a good girlfriend job. He's also getting me into Bioshock and Portal, buuuut I don't think I'd recommend that for a first game to play, hahaha.
    Another good girlfriend game- The Sims. But that can get addicting, and may never actually get her into playing any other games. *shrug* I love it though. That and Animal Crossing :D
  • edited September 2008
    Woo! I played Conker's Bad Fur Day at the age of 11 too :D

    If you really want to get a girl into gaming, buy rez on the PS2 with the trance vibrator.

    She'll love it.
  • edited September 2008
    Night Lord wrote: »
    If you really want to get a girl into gaming, buy rez on the PS2 with the trance vibrator.

    haha nice. but besides that rez was amazing, i still play it on my PS even though i have the xbox version
  • edited September 2008
    ...Right. I'm going to stay away from Bruce's comment. I've seen that article. I don't have a girlfriend. I'm not a girl. I haven't played rez and I don't plan to. I don't really have anything to say about it.

    It runs similar with the other article, but girls and gaming are a frequent topic. All I can say is that I've noted that a lot of girls "who play games" tend to gravitate largely to Final Fantasy games (later ones starting with VII), Zelda (again, not so much the early NES games), and maybe WoW. WoW is probably a matter of playing because their boyfriend plays and then they get hooked.

    There are statistics that suggest more girls are playing games these days, but they often tend to lump a bunch of middle aged women playing peggle and bejeweled into the mix. I'm not sure how honest statistics like that are.
  • edited September 2008
    ... a rez trance vibrator eh?

    I've also played Rez before, but just the demo on my friend's 360. It's sooo cool. I likes teh music.
  • edited September 2008
    I saw a girl on the subway playing a DS, but I couldn't tell what game it was.

    My mom likes to play Animal Crossing and the old NES Mario games.
  • edited September 2008
    I remember I tried to get my sister to play OOT once, and she didn't understand how to use an analogue stick. She couldn't use smooth movements in it. She'd go forward, centre it then move it right, so link would just stop and start all the time.

    She loved the multiplayer mini games in Pokémon Stadium though (I always won).

    Speaking of which, did anyone else think the lickitung mini game where he eats sushi was hilarious?
  • edited September 2008
    Good advice, but I think that that article will work about 5% of the time. Megan doesn't like playing video games, partially because she has difficulty orienting herself in a 3D space and partially because she doesn't like to control the action.

    Deep down, though, I really think the problem is that she didn't get into video games when her brain was soft. I think there's skills you have to pick up in early childhood that make gaming easy. I can pick up a controller and the buttons don't seem like buttons anymore. They're just like muscles... you obviously move your finger slightly down and to the right from default position and press slightly to jump. It just makes sense. But Megan hasn't grown up doing that, so it still feels like pressing a button to make something happen... an extra layer of cognition that slows things down.

    And of course, people can get into video games later in life, but they have to want it... and as she has to work, she often feels like reading or watching movies in her free time instead of struggling with video games.
  • edited September 2008
    Maybe you have to start her off on Super Mario Bros.? These controllers with more than two buttons are pretty awful for a first timer.

    I've never really had anything higher than a Sega. If it's 3D action, I get frustrated and confused, losing interest. If there's a story, I tend to skip over the titles, not caring. I'd rather get story out of a book.

    Games I like: Warcraft III, Mortal Kombat (and similar 2D ripoffs), Sims 2 (seriously addictive), Super Mario Bros (1+3), Ecco the Dolphin, and Guitar Hero/Rock band at brother's house. And Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle, I actually beat it :D

    And Andrew, you sound like Ryan. Except less of a jerk.
  • edited September 2008
    No, these are words basically from her mouth. She doesn't like the control that video games give you... there's too much room for failure. She'd rather just consume entertainment than have an active part in it.

    Mario would actually be really bad for her, because it's ridiculously easy to fail in that game. She did get about halfway through Kingdom Hearts, but got frustrated on Oogie Boogie and gave up. She does like Rock Band/Guitar Hero/DDR, but that's because the number of choices you can make is minimal.

    And like I said, I don't think girls can't play video games, I just think that a lot of girls weren't raised on it, and thus fewer girls play. And also, as that article states, there's a stigma attached to video games, and it's a pretty strong one. It's comparable to the stigma surrounding graphic novels, but not as strong.
  • edited September 2008
    I think I'm SORT-OF into gaming. The games I love to play are portal, TF2, and sometimes Sims 2. I tried learning how to play Prince of Persia with the backwards compatibility on my PS3, but the controls are so (for lack of a way to describe it) slippery, I can hardly get past the first part. That’s probably due to a lack of skill, but...
    I can see where Megan is coming from. I myself don’t get the hang of a game until I’ve put a lot of time into playing it. What I absolutely LOVE though, is to watch my brother play games. Half-Life 2 is a good example, because I love the storyline, but lack the skill to play it. So I annoy my brother to play just so I can find out what happens.
  • edited September 2008
    In china I saw a hot Chinese chick playing a DS.

    Asia just wins.

    To get my girlfriend into gaming, I'll have to get a girl to want to be my girlfriend first.
  • edited September 2008
    Shit I haven't even seen that yet in China. I've seen plenty of girls playing on PSPs though.
  • edited September 2008
    Asia just wins? Come on, you never even gave America a chance! I know a few girls who game; tonight I met 2 more girls to add to the list, and was introduced to Castle Crashers and then watched over a game of CoD4.

    You just haven't met any girl gamers yet.

    And really, are they that much cooler than any other girl? If the only thing you'd want to do is play video games, you're not being a good boyfriend at all. There is more to life than playing video games!
  • edited September 2008
    I don't think it's all that important. It's just like finding a girl that likes movies or the same tv shows that you do. Except that here, a girl that likes games is hardly the norm, so the few that do are treasured.

    I think the key to introducing a girl to games is co-op.
  • edited September 2008
    I got my girlfriend into Pokemon. That's about it. Usually, we play games together, but I'm not trying to get her into gaming at all. She doesn't mind playing, because we could use something to do with our time together.
  • godgod
    edited September 2008
    Mish42 wrote: »
    And really, are they that much cooler than any other girl? If the only thing you'd want to do is play video games, you're not being a good boyfriend at all. There is more to life than playing video games!
    I don't know about Agentcel, but I know that I would rather go out with an average looking girl who shares some of my interests, like gaming, anime, or other geeky things, that some amazingly hot girl who I have little in common with. But maybe my priorities are kind of backwards, since I've never had a girlfriend.
  • edited September 2008
    I would say your priorities are spot-on, god.
  • edited September 2008
    I also agree, god. Having things in common is very important. Otherwise, you will have a really hot chick and you will just be bored together, or argue all the time...most likely. Besides usually average looking people become beautiful if you like them enough anyway.

    And I like the article posted. I just think, as Andrew kinda said, that if a chick is not interested in gaming, don't try too hard to the point that it gets annoying. It's cool to try though.
  • edited September 2008
    god wrote: »
    I don't know about Agentcel, but I know that I would rather go out with an average looking girl who shares some of my interests, like gaming, anime, or other geeky things, that some amazingly hot girl who I have little in common with. But maybe my priorities are kind of backwards, since I've never had a girlfriend.

    Very much ditto, intelligence is a much bigger draw for me than simply looks.
  • edited September 2008
    Because I'm obviously looking for some shallow girl who I can't remember her name...
  • edited September 2008
    Shallow girls put out more!
  • edited September 2008
    Damn straight.
  • edited September 2008
    If I waited to find a girl who had some interests in common with me I'd be waiting forever.

    If a girl can't look at a motherboard and know what most of the components on it are, and what they do, then it's not worth my time.

    But man, if I did find a girl who could hold a discussion of comparison between ich10r and sb750 I don't think I would ever let her go.
  • edited September 2008
    Fuck, I settle for women who know the damn alphabet. The only standards I hold are physical. If I didn't I'd never have anyone at all.
  • edited September 2008
    Behemoth, high five!
  • edited September 2008
    I tend to end up dating whoever wants me. Which can sometimes end up with a fugly girlfriend. Sometimes if I'm really unlucky I end up with a stupid fugly girlfriend. Life's great, eh?
  • edited September 2008
    Every girl I've been out with have all been hot artists (except the one who was a feminist... she was still hot tho)

    Suck it bitches.

    (Not really, I haven't been on a date in months)
  • edited September 2008
    I like non-American girls. I like girls who were born and raised in a different culture from me. If they speak English as a second language, that's awesome. If they don't speak English at all, it's even better. As a result I've dated in three languages now, which is one of my proudest accomplishments.

    As for gamer girls, it's really nice if they are, but I don't really find it a prerequisite. It's important to have lots of interests and hobbies in common, not just one.
  • edited September 2008
    I'm pretty sure I don't have a taste in girls. My girlfriend came and found me; things have been great so far so I don't see a reason to look for anyone else.