Games for girlfriends

… see if she likes knitting?

No. Knitting must be stopped with extreme prejudice. Nothing will drive you crazier than a woman who is constantly asking you to hold her balls… of yarn.

See if she likes Fallout, and if she doesn’t, slap her.

Or, in the realm of things that a sane human would do, get Guitar Hero.

I’m with Hanzii. You like gaming. She doesn’t. Accept it.

I understand the instinct of wanting to have your cake and eat it too.

But to be honest, on the rare occasions when women have:

a) noticed that I have a gaming console
b) proactively raised it with me
and
c) suggested playing a game together

It hasn’t been all that rewarding of an experience.

  1. It’s always felt forced. They’ve never really been into gaming. They have been - to their credit - just trying to show me that they’re interested in my interests; and while that’s nice, it means that playing with women - in my experience - results in some pretty shallow play sessions. And playing with someone who is feigning interest, just isn’t a rewarding experience. It’s certainly not even close to what it’s like to play with a buddy who’s really into the game.

  2. More often than not, women who have insisted on playing a game together have said something to the effect of, “I used to love playing Mario.” And each time, I can’t help but inwardly groan. Like movies, music or books, games come in genres. And in my mind, a comment like that is akin to stepping into someone’s den, admiring their collection and saying something like, “I like books too. I used to read Dr. Seuss.” It shows a shallow interest.

  3. And when women are into gaming, it’s never the type of games I really get into. It’s more like XBLA stuff, which is fine to dabble around in, but it’s not really what I like to focus on.

And to be honest, I’m not sure how I’d feel if a woman I had over said, “Hey, I noticed you have a 360 Pro. I have an Elite myself. Though, that’s a recent purchase. I’m more of a PC Gamer, specifically a fan of Civilization IV and X-Com fan. That said, I loved BioShock and Crackdown on the 360 recently.”

Part of me would worry. Fair or not, I would wonder in the back of my mind, “Is she a little off?” It’s just not normal for women to be into gaming at the same level men are - and I’m fine with that.

Personally, I just don’t want to date someone who would criticize my hobby.

Up until Halo3 my girlfriend was playing on the box more than I was. She was obsessed with Carassone and Catan.

Weird, my wife knits and I never get asked anything remotely close to that question. :)

The thing with knitting is that they have to watch something and typically TV or a movie is what they’d rather see than you play a video game.

Lego Star Wars II was a big flop at my house, since it’s too frustrating for her and when we play together the screen gets pushed around by either one of us-- ending up dropping each other off cliffs and whatnot. I don’t think the controls are very good for deflecting blasters and such either.

She enjoyed Katamari Damacy for a bit but when she left for work one Saturday and came back and I blew away all the records she had on levels she was pretty annoyed. (Hello, too competitive-streak.)

LSW has serious camera issues and the like, but a complete absence of penalties worth mentioning. I mean, I guess if you are a total achievement whore you might get upset when you get tossed off a cliff for no reason a few times, but it’s really not that big a deal. It was a good opening game in the current generation to acquaint a new (adult) gamer with a single analog + button control. It’s also got a lot of silly charm and is completely not threatening, and I think that’s a real plus in an intro game.

Halo 3 coop/easy or normal is what I’m using for Two analogs +triggers and buttons intro. I guess I never realized that entering the current gen directly has some real control issues for adults (unless you are talking about a Wii, I guess). Once the control issues are less, the discomfort felt with real games played in real modes seems a lot less prevalent.

The key is to have a backup console (my other ps2) hooked into a backup tv in case she gets a little too into a game (thus far, only gh2 presents this problem). It gives you a videogame escape route, which is nice to have.

Daedalus, what gaming platforms do you have other than the 360?

I think I saw people here suggest Ico and maybe Katamari Damacy (both PS2) as girlfriend games.

Adventure games are fun to play through as a team as well, since they’re essentially just interactive movies. I hear the Sam & Max games make for a great group play activity. And, I think Gametap is still offering one month for 99 cents for new accounts; So, it’s literally only costing you a dollar to try it.

I can’t look at this thread title without thinking of “It’s a pill… that gives worms… to ex-girlfriends!

“They just don’t get it!”

Thank you.
Yes.
Absolutely.

My partner loves Diablo-style action/RPGs and sim/strategy stuff like Caesar and Majesty (and back to Zoo Tycoon at this moment). Maybe you’re just showing her the wrong stuff for her tastes?

WoW here as well. She won’t really do quests on her own, but she’ll happily go farming for stuff.

Jewel Quest

It’s like a drug to her. The positive side effect is that she can relate to this when seeing me stay up late to play games.

I tried the Lego Star Wars demo on her, and she thought that is was ok. Until she found out (rather quickly) that she could shoot and kill my player. Then she thought that it was great fun. We didn’t make much progress though…

Well…I’m looking at older consoles, but my girl is obsessed with Tetris on the N64, and has loved every Mario Kart game. And she DESPERATELY wants a Wii…we played tennis, bowling, etc. at a friends, and she really really wants one.

I disagree - or at least, I think all he’s proven so far is his girlfriend doesn’t like violent action games or puzzlers. There’s still a lot of other genres to explore. Unfortunately, the 360 has an overweening focus on Big Tough Manly Games, so if she’s not interested in them, pickings are a bit on the slim side.

Still, Guitar Hero 2 is an obvious choice, as are the forthcoming GH3 & Rock Band. Racing and sports games (esp. golf & tennis) are good options. Of the 360 RPGs out there, I’d say Eternal Sonata is the most cutesy / inviting to someone who’s clearly turned off by bloody violence; though Oblivion may be worth a shot, too. Marvel Ultimate Alliance is a good one for coop play, though I don’t know if she’d be into superheroic beat-em-ups. Not much in the way of adventures games on the 360, unfortunately; although if Dreamfall runs on it, you might consider checking it out.

Be careful making that statement, bub. You don’t want to get me into a feminist rant again!

But I too agree with Hanzii. Although there are plenty of us women out there who do like to game, it’s not something you can force. If she shows interest, then you can ask her, take her to look at games, show her demos, etc.

Christ, that’s almost enough to make me go into a feminist rant. Did a girl kick your ass at Joust when you were young or something Jake?

Yeah, he wishes.

  • Alan

Viva Pinata is a good bet. That’s the only 360 game so far that my GF has been interested in.

Barring that, go buy a Wii.