I can't predict which games my wife will play.
Some folks would probably stop me right there: "You're wife plays games?!? Amazing!!!" Don't go too far, my friends - she's not what we'd call "a gamer".
For the most part, she'll keep half an eye on what I'm playing. Every once in a while she'll actively pay attention, like during segments of F.E.A.R. and BioShock . I've offered her the controls, but she always declines saying that she doesn't want to play.
I was recently playing Neverwinter Nights (for the first time - bought it on day 1, and it's collected dust ever since), and she would occasionally peek over as she normally does. After a few days of this, out of the blue, she asks, "Does this game have multiplayer?"
"It does," I respond. "I'll get things set up so we can play tomorrow."
I spent the next few hours attaching a computer to the main TV, installing NWN on the TV computer, installing NWN on a laptop, and making sure the area looked nice (no wires running everywhich way). Even bought a new cordless keyboard/mouse combo for "her" computer.
We played all the way through the game.
She was a fighter (barbarian, I think) and I was a druid. She got enjoyment from her character's one-hit kills and the ability to charge into rooms with guns blazing, so to speak. I played the role of part-time healer and navigator. There were (thankfully only) a few quests that rewarded her with a weapon or armor that was above her level - these items worked as carrots, driving her forward in the game.
It was fun playing with her, but she hasn't expressed any interest in other RPG games.
She has taken a shine to Viva Piñata , which I picked up for myself for $5 at a local discount store. In fact, she's played it far more than I have!
She's also had a go with Plants vs. Zombies . And finished it. Multiple times. While not multiplayer, we'd chat about strategies and favorite plants.
And she's also enjoying Demigod . We play 2v2 co-op against the computer a few nights a week. We're at a point where we'll consistently win against the Hard AI. (I know some Demigod players will scoff, saying that Nightmare is too easy. Keep in mind that we're chatting about my non-gamer wife.)
I guess I can't call her a "non-gamer" anymore. "Gamer" seems too aggressive, however. Wherever she falls in the spectrum, I hope to find more games that we can play together. Being an avid gamer myself, I think the odds are with me.
Three words. World of Goo.
Just got it, and it's awesomely amazing.
I got my wife hooked on Guild Wars. Later we moved to L4D and soon L4D2.
I also built her a Warhammer 40k army (she has a heavily house-ruled sisters army) and we've played Space Hulk together.
To top it off, she's a player in my monthly D&D game.
It's a nice feeling.
My wife likes Tropico...give that one a try.
My wife is a gamer too but she's mostly into those stupid FaceBook apps. Something called Farmville, YoVille, and something else that looks stupid. She's also into the Sims 3. I got her into WoW when I played it. She likes Prototype which I find funny because that's normally not her style of game. Surprisingly she likes Batman Arkham Asylum and she always gets me to buy her the latest Guitar Hero. I just got her part 5 the other night when I grabbed myself Win 7. She likes some console games too, mostly Mario Galaxy, things like that.
Still just as the OP said, I wouldn't call my wife "a Gamer" like most of us here.
Try games that have some combination of:
A) Don't take huge amounts of time.
Involve socializing/customization.
C) Aren't based solely on violence: sometimes this is a bit of a crutch for the industry - people know how to make combat so they use it to extend a game's length.
D) Have some atmosphere/style/wit that makes them interesting.
Within my generation, I'm sure the proportion of women that would call themselves gamers is quite small compared to the proportion that have fond memories of cleverly written Lucusarts adventures like Day of the Tentacle, for just one example amongst many.
Looking at the earlier posts, I think World of Goo and Tropico are really great examples. They just ooze fun and silly gorgeousness, you don't have to have a special interest in gaming to see the appeal.
I must be the only person left not on facebook, guess i'm the loser now haha.
I picked up an extra copy of Guild Wars: Prophecies at the local closeout store. I'll spring that on her in another couple of weeks, once NWN is further in the past.
It's not that she's not exposed to games - quite the contrary! But if I were forced to get her a videogame for her birthday, I have no idea whether she'd actually play it.
World of Goo is truly fantastic! But she's not interested. Ditto for the Facebook games (except for the truly fantasic part). She's amused by the recent Monkey Island releases, but not enough to play them. (Although she's in tune with their wit - she's quickly figured out some of the sillier puzzles)
She does like Gish multiplayer. She can't help but "grrrrrrrr" when she makes her character "heavy"
I'll have to investigate Tropico !
Some thoughts on why your wife likes what she likes:
1. Easy introduction, but deep gameplay. Neverwinter Nights has a lot under the hood, but the gameplay itself is pretty easy point and click. All of popcap's games fall under this umbrella, which is why Plants vs. Zombies is no suprise. Even Demigod has been labeled as a beginner RTS, in that you only have the one character to worry about.
2. More of the carrot. Rewards! Rewards create addictive gameplay. Plants vs. Zombies is loaded with them, as is Neverwinter Nights. As is Demigod.
3. Obvious sticks! Most good games have something good that you're toying around with, and something else you're trying to avoid. All of the games you mention have very obvious sticks - avoid death! Don't let the zombies by!
4. Quick restarts. In Plants Vs. Zombies, if a zombie gets by, you can restart the level very easily. In NWN, quick saves work wonders, and even if you don't have a good save point, you restart at the temple. Demigod makes you sit out for a minute, but then you can game again.
5. Lets face it - they're easier to win at. Once you learn the basics, you can breeze through Plants vs. Zombies with only a couple losses. Depending on the difficulty level, Neverwinter Nights can be the same way. These are either single player, or co-op games, so this goes easily.
The more interesting thing is trying to figure out what she doesn't like in games, and so you know what to avoid. While its hard to gather from just a list of games that "hit" with her, here's my thoughts:
1. How do you play this @#&$*^ game? A lot of the "gamer" games have complex control schemes that require a good bit of getting used to. Sure, FPSes come natural to gamers, but teaching them to run around and shoot something on a map is hard enough. Add in skills and special abilities, and this can get crazy.
2. Help! I'm lost! A lot of FPSes and RPGs require a lot of attention as to where to go. If you're worried about how to walk and shoot, you'll miss the sign that hints at where you are supposed to go. Neverwinter Nights is really direct about what you need to do and where you need to go, and I'd imagine its even easier with a guide there to help.
3. I died again, I don't get it, I can't play this stupid game. I'd tred lightly with Tropico for this reason - there is so much to juggle, it gets very overwhelming. You can lose because of a military coup, the Americans or Soviets kicking you out, you lose an election, or rebels fight and take over. What can make these games worse is that you have to start over when this happens - you lost, try again. Sure, Plants Vs. Zombies does this, but you haven't spent an hour getting to that point just to start over.
4. I'm just no good at this game. Competitive multiplayer games mean that beginners lose well more than half the time, which is not forgiving. It makes it hard to get into and stay enthusiastic about.
Some suggestions for you:
Single Player:
Puzzle Quest. Bejeweled with theme! Easy to pick up and get into, lots of carrots.
Crayon Physics. A lot of fun to play through the levels.
Torchlight - Comes out today online. Should be easy for her to pick up, and will give you a good idea if she'd like to play Diablo 3 with you. If she really digs it, you can grab Titan's Quest for you both.
Peggle. Addictive! Try it out online for free.
Mevo and the Grooveriders - a cute rhythm game.
Rollercoaster Tycoon 3. A great introduction to an economic sim game, hidden under the shiny guise of a theme park.
The Sims/2/3. A great juggling act, following the successful line of thought that if you have a million things you want/need to do, but only so many things you can do, it stays challenging. Lots of carrots with shopping.
Multiplayer:
Audiosurf. Pick her favorite music, run along and pick up colored blocks to score points. Theres no "losing," just low scores and high scores.
Warhammer: Dawn of War 2. What!? That game's insane! Yeah, but the campaign is co-op, and you get new items and level up your squads between missions. Theres also a new last stand mode, where you can play with her and one random chap against wave after wave of oncoming monsters, trying to better your score.
Congratulations, you're married to what we in the biz call a "casual gamer" game suggestions, I second Peggle (multiplayer is specially addicting with a willing partner/victim), and I'll add both Braid and Droplitz to the mix.
And I know this is gonna sound very weird but... err... how about Left 4 Dead? women in general tend to look at the whole 'zombie' thing not too kindly and it *is* a violent game (in that juvenile, 10-liters-of-high-pressure-blood-per-meatbag way so prevalent in horror movies), but perhaps the way the game forces cooperation with other players may entice her to play it.
Take the opportunity to win while you can. It's the only time you'll get to beat your wife at anything
If ANY game will hook someone, Neverwinter Nights definitely fits the bill. Obviously, you could dip into NWN2 with her as well. If she can handle the Sci-Fi genre, Mass Effect will definitely satisfy her.
Outside of that, you could try some of the Diablo clones, such as Sacred 2 or Titan Quest (both real good games). You can get both off of Direct2Drive dirt cheap.
My fiancee was hooked on World of Warcraft for years, and only stopped playing because work and social stuff started to take all of her gaming time away. We used to play the game together regularly. Now we're waiting for that "next game" to play together. Unfortunately her PC is pretty much toast but we can't afford to replace or upgrade it.
My wife used to play Doom and Quake with me a lot back in the day. But nowadays she will play the Nancy Drew and CSI type "puzzle" games. She also likes Tropico. Most of the time though she places those Facebook games that suck your lifeforce.
All I know if my wife cares not if I play a game for hours on end. She'll do her thing (watch TV, knit, game) and I'll do mine. I guess that's what happens after being married for 13 years, you just want your own space, none of this "but we need to watch TV with each other every night". It's more like "can you play your game tonight so I can watch this movie you hate and knit." No problem dear!
lucky bastards
Steal one from the Stardock offices IMO.
Just marry the right woman.
That is a serious response though. While dating I found out my wife liked games (we played Doom all the time together), she loves sports (watches football with me all day on Sunday and goes out with me and the guys to the bar to see big games), loves SciFi and action movies and loves gadgets like computers, HDTVs and so forth.
Don't marry "barbie" who doesn't like anything you like. That's the only advice I have for you single guys. The secks will fade quickly and if you got nothing else in common then you probably won't be happy. Marry the gamer/geek chick and you'll be happy.
I've never heard better advice.
Yeah too bad all the gamer chicks are already taken..
They aren't. Then again you don't need a hardcore gamer chick. I wouldn't classify my wife as that unless you think Nancy Drew is hardcore.
BUT she understands games, likes them in general, but more important she knows that *I* like them and enjoy them. We are secure enough in our relationship that we don't need to spend 24x7 together. She's got her stuff she does, I've got stuff I do. We always make sure we have a couple "date nights" each week and spend time doing things together. That's more important then anything. If your girlfriend or wife thinks games are for kids and hope you "grow up" someday, well, that's the wrong attitude. You want one that at the least understands that it's your hobby just like her hobby might be scrapbooking or something.
Having said that, if you're spending 10 hours a day gaming and never spend any time with her then that's *your* problem. Dragon Age comes out next week and I'll be playing it like crazy. BUT the wife and I will still go out to dinner or to a hockey game on the weekend. We'll still watch our TV shows together and all that. It's not like I'm going to go into a cave to 2 months not to be seen. That is just as bad as the woman not understanding/accepting that games is something important to you.
Balance is the key to a long and healthy marrage. Take that advice from someone who's been married well over a decade and still happy. By far I'm no expert but most of my friends have long ago got divorced so I must be doing something right.
im with you on the barbie thing. cant stand stupid women.
but a nice small ass is also very important to me.
if i have to choose between a smart girl with a nice small ass, but who hates gaming or one with a big butt but love for games, id take the small ass any day of the week with no regrets. gaming is something i do when i have nothing better to do... just so happens that this is most of the time : ) (due to lack of aforementioned petite-bottomed shegenius)
I agree with inerz, lucky bastards. My wife is an occasional gamer. I wouldn't consider facebook games to be part of what describes a gamer. She loves them dam farmville, farmtown, yoville and all those other farm and ville knock offs facebook has. Her most recent obcession was Cafe World, and I thought I was bad with my game obssesions.
I am addicted to the Call of Duty Series, have not played other games like this yet. I was able to get my wife to try it out once but she quickly got frustrated with the amount of buttons needed to play the game on PC. I was hoping to get her into it so she could join me in my clan where we have a few sisters who play games like these and are quite good at them. Point and click, that's her kind of game.
That's ok though, PC gaming will be like my personal basement, a place where I can be myself, my own personal time.
Besides, It's bad enough I take out my frustration son these games by getting mad and slamming the table, having my 11 year old son also do the same (I'm stopping that though, too young to be stressing so much) only to have my wife start doing that too.
LOL, it's funny how not so long ago the idea of computers and gaming was a geek thing and geeks and girls were like water and oil. Now a days some of the hotest girls I've seen are on shows like Attack of the Show, Tekzilla, Cnet podcast and even those E3 shows.
Talk about mixing the prom queen with the most Science Fair winner.
My partner played through NWN and an RPG gamer was born, she's already pre-ordered Dragon Age and is very excited about it on account of her NWN experience...I would strongly recommend showing her their website, especially the characters section...she may just find her next adventure there
Unfortunately for your situation, theres no multi, but I'm confident she'll love it. 800,000 words of dialogue. Eek!
Just make more! Share and convert!
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