How To Get Your Girl Into Gaming: Advice from a Gamer Wife

mrs. shipwreck

mrs. shipwreck

CAGiversary!
How To Get Your Girl Into Gaming​


Advice from Mrs. Shipwreck, a gamer wife​



Most girls who grew up with My Little Pony, Rainbow Brite, Care Bears, and Barbie have a very limited gaming past. I started gaming on the Nintendo Entertainment System. I don’t remember why my sister and I were so enthralled with getting a NES, but we knew everyone else wanted one, so we thought we should have one too. We played Super Mario Brothers. We played Super Mario Brothers 2. We played Super Mario Brothers 3. We played Mario Is Missing, which was boring…very boring. It wasn’t until we bought the Zelda guide that we realized where we could find the red lantern and then Zelda became fun too, which brings me to my first point.

Tip #1: Limit the frustration! Games are not fun if we can’t control them. Nor are they fun if we get stuck in the same place and keep dying. If your chosen female gaming partner isn’t really into gaming to begin with, she’s definitely not going to be dedicated enough to die repeatedly without making progress. This illustrates the reason why I never play games that involve flying airplanes. If you hand a woman a controller early in her gaming career, don’t expect her to master the whole “up is down” and “down is up” thing. Gaming should be fun, so explain the controls/rules/concept prior to hitting “Start” or she’ll be dead before she even knew what hit her. If she’s playing a single-player game that seems to be getting frustrating, buy the guide (or visit GameFAQs). It’ll save you BOTH a lot of frustration.

Tip #2: Try games that might seem more “girly” in nature, but don’t assume that’s all we will like. Sure, I love the cuteness of Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, and Super Princess Peach, but I also enjoy the headshots of Goldeneye, GRAW, and Metal Gear Solid. I have even outlived my husband on occasion. While I may not be the most accurate shot, I can still have fun poppin’ caps.

Tip #3: The couple that plays together, stays together. To have a shot at getting your girl into gaming, she has to somewhat like you. If she likes you, she probably likes spending time with you. Find games you can play together in cooperative mode. A few good choices are Baldur’s Gate, Champions of Norath, Kameo, X-Men Legends, and Lego Star Wars. The bonus with these games is that you can select characters that are designed to each of your strengths. I am not an accurate marksman, so I tend to gravitate to the wizard/sorceress/mage type characters. I can still kill just as many enemies as Mr. Shipwreck and I tend to die less than if I were an elf-ish character. Help your woman choose the character that is best for her.

With some one-player games, you can have fun taking turns by passing the controller back and forth. This worked well with Paper Mario, Kingdom Hearts, Sphinx (a very underrated game), Futurama, and Psychonauts (why did no one buy this game?). The Mario Party games are fun, but a warning… you must be very comfortable in your new relationship as co-gamers before playing against each other. Many a Mario Party has ended with me being relatively angry with Mr. Shipwreck. Users beware.

Tip #4: Find a genre she likes and stick with it. Some games are appealing because they are nostalgic (Mario, Zelda, Tetris, PaperBoy). There are a million different puzzle games that we’ve played (Devil Dice, Bust-A-Move, Pokemon Puzzle Challenge). I play Zoo Tycoon and Harvest Moon because I like creating my own gameplay elements. If you get confident enough, bring your significant other to a video game store and figure out what interests her. If the game turns out to be crap (as so many of them do), don’t be afraid to turn it off before frustration ensues (see Tip #1).

The most important thing to remember to be successful at getting your girl into gaming is that it’s your job to make gaming fun for her. Girl gamers are increasingly common and while we don’t have games that directly appeal to our gender like Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball (with new multi-breast physics), we still have our niche in the market. Mr. Shipwreck bought me a teal DS because it matched my Kate Spade handbag.

Of course not all women are the same, so don’t assume that we’ll all like the same games. However, here are my top choices for games to get you started:

Games I Enjoyed Playing Alone:
  • Animal Crossing
  • Harvest Moon (coincidently, some of the games in this series I hated, others I loved: Musical Melodies, Back to Nature = good, A Wonderful Life = bad)
  • Kaya: The Dark Lineage
  • New Super Mario Brothers
  • Any non 3-D Zelda game
  • Broken Sword Shadow of the Templars & Smoking Mirror
  • Adventures of Lolo
  • Legend of Mana (this game would have gone over better if I had the guide – buy the guides!)
  • Zoo Tycoon – the PC Version
  • The Nancy Drew Series – these would also fall under the category of “games I’m most likely not to admit playing”
Games I Enjoyed Playing with Mr. Shipwreck:
  • Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance 1&2
  • Champions of Norrath & Champions Return to Arms
  • GRAW
  • Goldeneye & 007: Agent Under Fire
  • Lego Star Wars
  • Star Wars Battlefront 1&2
  • Halo 2
  • Devil Dice
  • Mario Party (either I get mad because I lose or because I think he’s letting me win on purpose)
  • Kameo
Single-Player Games We Took Turns Playing:
  • Psychonauts
  • Futurama
  • Metal Gear Solid
  • Jak and Daxter
  • Sphinx
  • Paper Mario & Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
  • Kingdom Hearts
  • Katamari Damacy
  • Medievil
  • Hot Shots Golf (Yes, it has multi-player, but we had more fun taking turns.)
 
Very good advice mrs. shipwreck. One game I would recommend to everyone is the Super Monkey Ball games. They are available on every system and it is fun for everyone. It has very easy controls and many different modes of play. Plus it has the cute factor going for it.
 
Mario Kart Double Dash is one Mrs. Cheapy wanted me to add.
She really liked riding on the back of the cart and throwing shells.
 
I'm not entirely convinced that someone can be made into a gamer. Unless they have a potential gamer hidden away and they've never had the proper exposure, you cant turn lead into gold.
 
[quote name='CheapyD']Mario Kart Double Dash is one Mrs. Cheapy wanted me to add.
She really liked riding on the back of the cart and throwing shells.[/quote]
MK:DD is by far the #1 family game in my house. My son and I drive against each other while the girls throw the shells,etc.
Even teams = Good times.
 
[quote name='CheapyD']Mario Kart Double Dash is one Mrs. Cheapy wanted me to add.
She really liked riding on the back of the cart and throwing shells.[/QUOTE]

At you or with you?

Mrs. Shipwreck. have you played any of the live arcade games? Pretty good.
 
[quote name='sying']At you or with you?

Mrs. Shipwreck. have you played any of the live arcade games? Pretty good.[/QUOTE]

I'll make a few comments, (since mrs. shipwreck is currently at school and won't be able to reply until this afternoon) but I'll let her go into more detail if she wants then.

She's played and likes some of the Live Arcade puzzle games, but usually under my GamerTag so I can leach the achievement points off her. :) I'm not sure if she's played any of the non-puzzle games on Live Arcade.

As far as Mario Kart Double Dash, that game is on my list of 150 games I haven't played, and she hasn't played it either. We'll have to give that one a shot I guess.
 
This is a very well written and informative article that I will pass on to Mrs. Number83. But at this point in our six year marriage, I can't help but wonder if it's too late. I tried getting her to play Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution, you know something more than button mashing, but all I got is a 'meh'!
 
[quote name='Dr Mario Kart']I'm not entirely convinced that someone can be made into a gamer. Unless they have a potential gamer hidden away and they've never had the proper exposure, you cant turn lead into gold.[/QUOTE]
Agreed.

My wife is a gamer, but she was one before I met her, so I don't know about getting someone turned into one. I don't see how you could though if the desire wasn't there. I know, for example, I'm not going to magically like sports because someone keeps making me watch them.
 
[quote name='willardhaven']Some of those tips made it seem like girls were "special" people.[/quote]

but girls are special people because of the... you know... boobs.
 
well, women are known to be "gamingly" challenged.

During puberty, crucial nutrients are stripped away from the brain and redirected to the boobies. Look it up.

Also, women hate fun.
 
My girlfriend likes LEGO Star Wars and X-Men Legends a lot. She likes Burnout 3 too, but not the racing modes, more crash oriented stuff. She also likes Fable/Jade Empire type single player RPGs.

Anyways, one other tip is not to get fustrated when they can't make all the fancy jumping maneuvers and such in games. I've got reemed out before because of that...
 
Tip #4 is key. Find a genre she likes.

My girlfriend cozies up to puzzle games so quickly. Girls also seem to really like Zelda games, too, for some reason.
 
[quote name='CheapyD']Mario Kart Double Dash is one Mrs. Cheapy wanted me to add.
She really liked riding on the back of the cart and throwing shells.[/quote]

My wife and I played the hell out of that game together. We actually played 2 player vs. mode for all of the grand prix races, but we concentrated on keeping the competition off each other's asses so one of us would win.

She wasn't real big on just riding on the back of the cart.
 
[quote name='Dr Mario Kart']I'm not entirely convinced that someone can be made into a gamer. Unless they have a potential gamer hidden away and they've never had the proper exposure, you cant turn lead into gold.[/QUOTE]

Exactly.

I always see these threads about guys wanting to "convert" girls into gamers, like there is some magic switch to flip that will suddenly make them crave Valkyrie Profile 2 or want to play through Half Life 2. I know the OP is a female but now we'll see posts like "Oh, I've got to try these tricks on my gf, maybe it will work on her!"

It's a very rare case if it happens, and yea, it does happen, but most guys can expect their significant others to get into The Sims and Animal Crossing and nothing more. Maybe some puzzle games, too.

My gf mostly plays old school stuff... Mario, Sonic, Ghosts and Goblins, but nothing Playstation on up unless it's the DS (2d games again, like Princess Peach) or The Sims.
 
Being female and having played games for 21 of my 24 years I just dont get the "need" for all these girl gamer tips and articles. Chicks usually like the same games everyone else does, because they are good. The only genres I wont touch are first person shooters and games that attempt to recreate real life wars (like Call of Duty, A Bridge Too Far, etc). Almost everything else is fair game. The article reminds me of me trying to get my mom to play games...she likes them but only certain ones that are "pretty" and "fun". So maybe that would help...

My mom likes colorful platformers that are not too difficult.
Spyro the Dragon series (yes even the current gen ones)
Pac Man World 2
The Adventures of Cookies and Cream
Crash Bandicoot games

She also likes puzzle and word games
Scrabble, Bejeweled, Alchemy, Tetris

Games that require a little thinking but not too many reflexes
Zelda: Ocarina of Time, well any Zelda really...
Legend of Mana (PSX)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Classics
Solomon's Key, Alicia Dragoon, Rygar, Wizards and Warriors, Sonic the Hedgehog 1-3, Secret of Mana, various Castlevanias, Bubble Bobble, Kiwi Kraze, the Zeldas

I have also had friends that were into ONLY music/gimmick games. Guitar Hero, DDR, Taiko Drum Master, Donkey Konga, Eyetoy, Karaoke Revolution titles.

If someone isnt in to games though, the chances of getting them "come over to the dark side" is slim to none though. There has to be some seed of inclination already there. Plus any game that looks too difficult will scare them away automatically. Even the controllers, because they have so many buttons make alot of non gamers believe they can't play it because they wont be coordinated enough and will refuse to try even if you explain that the game you are wanting them to give a go only uses one or two of them. They are daunting for the reflex challenged or first time game user.

If in doubt, try some classic titles. There are very very few people that will pass up a chance to play Pac Man, Galaga or Space Invaders. These games were simple, well known and fun. They also trigger nostalgia which is a powerful thing.

And yea my mom will probably get the latest Spyro for Christmas this year... lol
 
[quote name='ZForce']The cat in Mrs. Shipwreck's avatar looks EXACTLY like the cat at my house[/QUOTE]

That would be Mini, one of our 3 cats.

Top Games that Mini recommends:
  • Mouse On A Stick
  • Shoelace
  • Gray Fuzzy Ball
  • Watch Birdies Out The Window
  • Run Up And Down The Stairs As Fast As You Can
 
My girlfriend is hooked on the New Mario Bros. She makes sure I bring the DS everytime we go out. She told me she used to play Ninja Turtles in the arcade when she was a kid. Time to get a working SNES to play Turtles in Time. :)
 
First off, I wouldn't recommend reading the article with the idea of turning anyone into a gamer - as people have previously stated, that's just not possible. The tips I've given aren't really even specific to women; they could be used for non-gamer men and their gamer wives, too. Shipwreck and I thought it would be a good idea to illustrate some tips that might help couples spend more time together via gaming. While you might not be married to/dating/spending time with a true gamer, there are always things you could do to make video games (and thus playing them with you) more appealing.

Second, I will have to put Mario Kart Double Dash at the top of our list of stuff to play! And forgetting Burnout 3 (the crashing mode) was a huge miss on my part. It's like bowling with cars. You can't get any more entertaining than that.
 
Reading that first paragraph of your tips was like I was reading my own words. Although I do have a soft spot for Rainbow Brite and the Care Bears. :oops:

Aside from my sister (who doesn't even game anymore), I don't know any other girls personally that are into videogames. I always found that rather sad.

It was different back in elementary school. Everyone had either a NES or a Genesis or both. My closest friends were guys, so we were always playing either one. On the rare occasions I went to a girl's house, we played "her brother's" games. Once puberty hit, it seems like girls just weren't into it anymore. Even now, well out of college, I never met another girl gamer.
 
great post Mrs. Shipwreck!

And I agree with Dr. Mario Kart, that you can't make a nongamer into a gamer. The tips Mrs. Shipwreck gave were great, but there has to be that spark of interest in the person to begin with.

My wife is a gamer, and thats one of the many reasons I married her. But after we started living together, I turned her 'gamer sense' up to 11. Now she had access to all my systems and games, and she played alot more than she ever did before. And she does not like 'cute girly' games. She wont touch harvest moon, or animal crossing, but she will play the hell out of God of War, or Unreal Tournament. Right now we are playing the hell out of Time Crisis 3 with our 2 guncons! Were like Bradgelina in Mr. & Mrs. Smith!

I have one tip to add. Guys, if you ever get tired of playing coop hack n slash games with the wife, just introduce her to World of Warcrack. Thats what I did, and now I can play any game I want, whenever I want. Its also never a problem if I just want to out with the guys. lol
 
[quote name='Puffa469']
I have one tip to add. Guys, if you ever get tired of playing coop hack n slash games with the wife, just introduce her to World of Warcrack. Thats what I did, and now I can play any game I want, whenever I want. Its also never a problem if I just want to out with the guys. lol[/QUOTE]

My girlfriend hated World of Warcraft... thought it was boring, and the people online were idiots. Can't say I blame her, I've grown bored of the game myself.
 
My wife enjoys playing some games with me (and really likes puzzle games single-player), but she really also enjoys "back seat driving" (helping me figure out what to do, where to go, when I'm low on something, etc).

However, I missed the fun of trading the contoller back and forth to play single-player games (I very fondly remember renting Faxanadu with my best friend in middle school and trading the controller back and forth all night until we beat it in one night). BUT, I recently discovered that if she's watching me and I keep dying in the same place and getting frustrated, or just want to quit for some reason, I can hand her the controller (or throw it at her depending on how pissed I am) and say "Here, you do it!"

Then she'll give it a few tries, and often get past the part I was stuck on. Only then will she realize that she CAN play the game (the newer games with 6 zillion button combinations intimidate her so she won't usually even try them). And then we can play together. This has happened with Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy, Sly 2, and most recently Jak and Daxter 2. Yay :)
 
Luckily my girlfriend loves games, these are a few she likes to play on her spare time:

Any Mario Kart game, Animal Crossing GC/DS, Fatal Frame, Katamari Damacy, Luigi's Mansion, Dance Dance Revolution, Taiko DrumMaster, Hunter: The Reckoning, Hunter: Redeemer, Hunter: Wayward, Rez, Any Mario game, Guilty Gear X2, Donkey Konga, BloodRayne, Ragnarok, Capcom VS SNK 2, Hamtaro GBA games, etc.
 
My girl loves playing Super Princess Peach on the DS lite, nintendogs and animal crossing as well. Like mentioned earlier the mario multiplayer games(Mario Kart, Mario Tennis, Mario Party etc) are great too since the learning curve isnt steep and they are loads of fun.

My girls very favorite though which id like to add is Streets of Rage. Weve played through it together a few times its pretty fun to do.
 
[quote name='mrs. shipwreck']
How To Get Your Girl Into Gaming​


Advice from Mrs. Shipwreck, a gamer wife​



Most girls who grew up with My Little Pony, Rainbow Brite, Care Bears, and Barbie have a very limited gaming past. I started gaming on the Nintendo Entertainment System. I don’t remember why my sister and I were so enthralled with getting a NES, but we knew everyone else wanted one, so we thought we should have one too. We played Super Mario Brothers. We played Super Mario Brothers 2. We played Super Mario Brothers 3. We played Mario Is Missing, which was boring…very boring. It wasn’t until we bought the Zelda guide that we realized where we could find the red lantern and then Zelda became fun too, which brings me to my first point.

Tip #1: Limit the frustration! Games are not fun if we can’t control them. Nor are they fun if we get stuck in the same place and keep dying. If your chosen female gaming partner isn’t really into gaming to begin with, she’s definitely not going to be dedicated enough to die repeatedly without making progress. This illustrates the reason why I never play games that involve flying airplanes. If you hand a woman a controller early in her gaming career, don’t expect her to master the whole “up is down” and “down is up” thing. Gaming should be fun, so explain the controls/rules/concept prior to hitting “Start” or she’ll be dead before she even knew what hit her. If she’s playing a single-player game that seems to be getting frustrating, buy the guide (or visit GameFAQs). It’ll save you BOTH a lot of frustration.

Tip #2: Try games that might seem more “girly” in nature, but don’t assume that’s all we will like. Sure, I love the cuteness of Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing, and Super Princess Peach, but I also enjoy the headshots of Goldeneye, GRAW, and Metal Gear Solid. I have even outlived my husband on occasion. While I may not be the most accurate shot, I can still have fun poppin’ caps.

Tip #3: The couple that plays together, stays together. To have a shot at getting your girl into gaming, she has to somewhat like you. If she likes you, she probably likes spending time with you. Find games you can play together in cooperative mode. A few good choices are Baldur’s Gate, Champions of Norath, Kameo, X-Men Legends, and Lego Star Wars. The bonus with these games is that you can select characters that are designed to each of your strengths. I am not an accurate marksman, so I tend to gravitate to the wizard/sorceress/mage type characters. I can still kill just as many enemies as Mr. Shipwreck and I tend to die less than if I were an elf-ish character. Help your woman choose the character that is best for her.

With some one-player games, you can have fun taking turns by passing the controller back and forth. This worked well with Paper Mario, Kingdom Hearts, Sphinx (a very underrated game), Futurama, and Psychonauts (why did no one buy this game?). The Mario Party games are fun, but a warning… you must be very comfortable in your new relationship as co-gamers before playing against each other. Many a Mario Party has ended with me being relatively angry with Mr. Shipwreck. Users beware.

Tip #4: Find a genre she likes and stick with it. Some games are appealing because they are nostalgic (Mario, Zelda, Tetris, PaperBoy). There are a million different puzzle games that we’ve played (Devil Dice, Bust-A-Move, Pokemon Puzzle Challenge). I play Zoo Tycoon and Harvest Moon because I like creating my own gameplay elements. If you get confident enough, bring your significant other to a video game store and figure out what interests her. If the game turns out to be crap (as so many of them do), don’t be afraid to turn it off before frustration ensues (see Tip #1).

The most important thing to remember to be successful at getting your girl into gaming is that it’s your job to make gaming fun for her. Girl gamers are increasingly common and while we don’t have games that directly appeal to our gender like Dead or Alive Beach Volleyball (with new multi-breast physics), we still have our niche in the market. Mr. Shipwreck bought me a teal DS because it matched my Kate Spade handbag.

Of course not all women are the same, so don’t assume that we’ll all like the same games. However, here are my top choices for games to get you started:

Games I Enjoyed Playing Alone:
  • Animal Crossing
  • Harvest Moon (coincidently, some of the games in this series I hated, others I loved: Musical Melodies, Back to Nature = good, A Wonderful Life = bad)
  • Kaya: The Dark Lineage
  • New Super Mario Brothers
  • Any non 3-D Zelda game
  • Broken Sword Shadow of the Templars & Smoking Mirror
  • Adventures of Lolo
  • Legend of Mana (this game would have gone over better if I had the guide – buy the guides!)
  • Zoo Tycoon – the PC Version
  • The Nancy Drew Series – these would also fall under the category of “games I’m most likely not to admit playing”
Games I Enjoyed Playing with Mr. Shipwreck:
  • Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance 1&2
  • Champions of Norrath & Champions Return to Arms
  • GRAW
  • Goldeneye & 007: Agent Under Fire
  • Lego Star Wars
  • Star Wars Battlefront 1&2
  • Halo 2
  • Devil Dice
  • Mario Party (either I get mad because I lose or because I think he’s letting me win on purpose)
  • Kameo
Single-Player Games We Took Turns Playing:
  • Psychonauts
  • Futurama
  • Metal Gear Solid
  • Jak and Daxter
  • Sphinx
  • Paper Mario & Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
  • Kingdom Hearts
  • Katamari Damacy
  • Medievil
  • Hot Shots Golf (Yes, it has multi-player, but we had more fun taking turns.)
[/QUOTE]

I disagree with your mention of Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball. I am a girl, granted, a little bit bisexual, but my favorite part of it is the mini games and all the different outfits and items you can get. I loved Final Fantasy X-2 because of the cool fashion and all the girly-ness oozing out of it. I think at least 50% of girls would really enjoy the mini game/collecting/fashion aspect of Beach Volleyball, plus lots of girls actually ENJOY beach volleyball, so that's a plus too.
I'd like to add, another thing that girls might like are character centered story based games. I know I certainly enjoyed Final Fantasy X and I love Xenosaga. Granted, I'm pretty "hardcore" for a girl since I play so many obscure games and tons of 2d stuff, have never touched Nintendogs or Animal Crossing, etc. However, I do think games like FFX or Xenosaga might really interest a girl, especially since the gameplay is more linear and holds your hand a little more. Plus the stories would make some pretty good movies, and most girls do like going to the movies.

Music games are especially good too: Dance Dance Revolution, Parappa the Rapper, Guitarfreaks, Dance Maniax, Para Para Paradise, etc. Seriously though, if you're a guy and your girl doesn't seem to like video games at all, don't force them down her throat. Girls CAN BE pretty close minded when it comes to technology and media. Some girls will watch nothing but chick flicks and the most they'll touch is the power button on their TV or the numbers on their cell phone.

If your girl likes anime or comics or manga or J-pop or sci fi or anything on the fringe, I'm pretty sure she already likes games or could fall in love with them. Seriously though, don't assume because she's a girl that she could only like Gamecube or DS games. For all you know, she always saw her bigger brother playing Street Fighter, always sucked at it, and would really enjoy having you teach her how to play.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned The Sims, but tons of girls play it. I don't, but I know customization is something that most girls probably like. Being able to choose how the game looks, how the character looks, might be really important [though I don't know] I do know I love it when I can design my character or change their clothes or I can make my headquarters or vehicle look interesting [gummi ship in Kingdom Hearts, changing dress-spheres in FFX2]

Soul Calibur 3 also fits this bill, I can see an "Average" girl really enjoying being able to make herself or her friends or fantasy made up on the spot characters with all the different items and weapons..

And I do think the Katamari suggestion might be a little counter productive, I know for a fact I think the whole Katamari idea is pretty stupid, and I'm open to that kind of freaky Japanese stuff. I don't think a girl who considers Girl, Interrupted, The Notebook, and She's All That her FAVORITE movies, would very much enjoy the drugged up rolling repetition that is Katamari.
 
I dunno if its just all the girls I know (my girlfreind included) but, women seem to enjoy non conventional controller games more than anything. Few examples such as DDR,Guitar Hero, anything with a Lightgun(Time crisis, house of the dead), and to a lesser extent beatmania. Even racing games with Steering wheel and pedals. Although most of those games are simplified do to the controls lessening the learning curve of the game which is possibly why it is more appealing. So I wouldn't suggest Steel Battalion :p. Well I could always be wrong about this but thats just what I've noticed(anyone else notice this?).

Just my 2 cents.
 
Whenver my girlfriend comes over and we just wanna relax for a while, we play Mario Kart on the DS, Burnout Revenge on the 360, or Guitar Hero on the PS2. Those are the games she consistently asks me to play.

Mario Kart she likes because she's absurdly good at it (at least, compared to me). I'm getting better now that she plays it with me a lot, though. I just lent her my DS Phat so she could play more Mario Kart.. probably gonna have to buy another copy of the game :p

Burnout Revenge I described to her as "a game where you're encouraged to crash your car and the cars of those around you" and she jumped right in. She's not very good at all, but she absolutely loves catching me in a crashbreaker every once in a while. I usually drive a car that runs 25-30 MPH slower than hers and the races are closer.

Guitar Hero she likes 'cause she's a musician, I guess, but she doesn't really even like most of the music in the game. I'm not sure why she likes it, I guess it's just simple and fun. To be honest, I'm not sure why I like it either, I just know I do :p
 
I'll chip in a piece of advice on behalf of a friend who doesn't post on CAG:

"When playing a tag-style fighting game (in his case, it was Tekken Tag Tournament) never, ever prevent your lady from switching in her healthy, second character by nailing the first character dead in the back as he's tying to "roll" off the screen."

:lol:
 
[quote name='vietgurl']Any advice on getting guys to play games? Most of my guy friends (and most of my former boyfriends) hated video games...[/QUOTE]

Umm, find another guy and make his dream come true?

Although it might be the type of people you meet..I know I've met many "intellectual" type guys who think games are beneath them, they walk around with a cocky smirk on their face listening to their iPods, drinking some sort of coffee, then they take a cigarette break, then they talk about Proust while eating something made out of soybeans, later that night they get drunk at a party, have some meaningless sex, then wake up feeling hung over, until the cocky smirk comes back and they're Mr. Pretentious all over again

Seriously, it must be -easy- to find a guy who likes video games, except for certain college types..maybe some really snobby rich guys...or some over athletic guys...it must be hard to find a guy doesn't like at least one game.
 
Damn, where are all you girls at? :razz: jk

My wife does play abit when the mood strikes her. She sticks to racers (GT4, Beetle Adventure Racing) and some fighters (DOA mostly). Though she does get into some old school pacman, pole position, and various others. The one game she owns me on is galaga. She just has a gift for it. Anything else that may look to complex she will not touch.

Very good post Mrs. Shipwreck.
 
[quote name='shipwreck']That would be Mini, one of our 3 cats.[/quote]

Careful. One more and you become Crazy Cat People.;)
 
[quote name='sarausagi']I don't think a girl who considers Girl, Interrupted, The Notebook, and She's All That her FAVORITE movies, would very much enjoy the drugged up rolling repetition that is Katamari.[/QUOTE]

Is it just me, or does Girl, Interrupted not fit in that list of movies? You pick two kinda cliched chick flicks and a (bad) movie about a mental institution. That'd be like saying, "If you loved The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, and Requiem For A Dream, then you might not like XYZ".
 
[quote name='Dr Mario Kart']I'm not entirely convinced that someone can be made into a gamer. Unless they have a potential gamer hidden away and they've never had the proper exposure, you cant turn lead into gold.[/QUOTE]

I agree 100%.
 
[quote name='alongx']Is it just me, or does Girl, Interrupted not fit in that list of movies? You pick two kinda cliched chick flicks and a (bad) movie about a mental institution. That'd be like saying, "If you loved The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, and Requiem For A Dream, then you might not like XYZ".[/QUOTE]

Trust me when I say, there's hundreds and hundreds of girls who -love- Girl, Interrupted. One of my former friends used to adore it.
 
[quote name='sarausagi']Trust me when I say, there's hundreds and hundreds of girls who -love- Girl, Interrupted. One of my former friends used to adore it.[/QUOTE]
I tried to like Girl, Interrupted but all I could think of was a bad girls version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, my fiancée liked it though.
 
[quote name='vietgurl']Any advice on getting guys to play games? Most of my guy friends (and most of my former boyfriends) hated video games...[/QUOTE]

Find scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and smart liberal arts majors.
 
Great article! My wife wan't a gamer when I met her, but she became interested when she saw how much I enjoyed playing. She started watching me play FFIX, got even more interested and then played co-op with me in it (most people didn't realize the co-op mode in this game which was good fun). Then I recall I came home for lunch one day and I found her playing it all by herself!

Since then, we have beaten several rpg's together!
 
Good article, but I think this is aimed at those who are within 1-3 years of the relationship ... I could be wrong on this though.

I would love to get Mrs. Crim into gaming, but she's too busy watching Lifetime and shopping. I do think she has an inner-gamer, but I'll need a prybar to get it out; she loved the original Super Mario Brothers and Mario 64 (actually, she only enjoyed the part where you would go down the huge ice slide) so there is hope there. I'm hoping that the Wii will bring her into the gaming realm.

Thursday marks 10 years of marriage, I would love nothing more than to get her some gaming gear, but alas I may have to wait for the 15 year to do that.
 
My girlfriend's brother is a gamer so I guess that kind of exposed her to games. She grew up with Super Mario Bros but during high school, she kinda stopped until we met. Since then, I guess I have rekindled her gaming spirit. It started with Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (my personal favorite in the series) which was made even better with my Mad Catz MC2 steering wheel and pedals. Then, I got Burnout 3 and I was so amazed. She took over the career mode and would do those seemingly impossible timed races (the ones where you race a lap in one minute). She has to be the best Burnout player I have seen. Also, she really likes platformers. Her favorites are the Sly and Ratchet and Clank series. She loves puzzle games: Puzzle Bobble, Tetris and Meteos. Donkey Konga and Mario Party are some more favorites. I introduced her to Champions of Norrath and we played through it together. I let her be the warrior because it was easier for her and I was the wizard. I let her borrow my PS2 for a few weeks and she even got hooked on Gran Turismo 3. I also got my cousin hooked on games. She is 17 and she absolutely loves Kingdom Hearts. She is now playing through Kingdom Hearts II and is loving every minute of it. She has had a Super NES and a Nintendo 64 and played through Donkey Kong Country on both systems. She is pretty good at Super Smash Bros too.
 
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