I need a girlfriend game

[giles]

Start with two-player games. Couch co-op (e.g. Borderlands), pass-the-controller (e.g. Rayman Legends, Mario, Dark souls) and versus (Soul Calibur, League of Legends) games are all solid starting points, just make sure it's something where you can physically be in the same room and involved in the game at the same time.

This isn't a sinister plot to hook your SO on video gaming unwittingly, it's more the basic bloody common courtesy to acknowledge that part of wanting to share someone's hobbies is an implicit request to actually spend time together. If you give her a random single-player game and tell her to go off an play it you're _dismissing_ her, which besides being rude probably means your relationship countdown timer has started since finding a better SO than you probably isn't difficult at that point.

OP,
I thought I'd highlight the good post so you don't have to dig through the conceited pseudo-hidden insults. Next time just don't state the gender of the person you want to introduce to your hobby. People here have a tendency to snap at that sort of thing and attack you if it's a woman.

Though honestly, you don't even need to go the extra mile and get your hands on coop games (though some the good ones like Rayman have already been named). Just pick a title you thought was great and wouldn't mind playing again and start a new game with her, passing the controller. It's about spending time on the couch together doing something fun. I started gaming with my sister like this and we played God of War (the entire trilogy) of all things. The games are great, if goofy, overly manly and kinda sexist but it doesn't really matter if the point is spending time with someone you like, right?

 

[Gamer87]

That would depend on what type of gameplay she likes and what kind of genre story wise she enjoys.

Why not introduce her to the games you like and see if she likes them too? After all if you're a couple you must have some degree of similar taste in things you like.

If you are into single player games or multiplayer ones, gaming can be a couples activity either way. Discussing the story of a good single player game can be as fun as playing an action game together.

My boyfriend was already a bit of a gamer when we met, but did not play the same genres as I did. Since then I've gotten him to try and love FPS and horror games and despite of him being the opposite sex he has not found them too hard

 

[Belaam]

Go out to dinner/lunch and discuss genres. Simulations, rts, gps, racing, sandbox, fighting, mmorpg, everything that you have that she could try. Point out that things like fighting and racing games are pretty casual and you can play a complete round in just a couple minutes, but sandboxes, moms, and RPGs are expected to take dozens or hundreds of hours. Then let her mess around with a good one in that genre. Do NOT take the controller from her at any point, even if she asks. If she likes it, she'll keep playing, if not, see if she wants to try another genre another time. Don't expect her to play for that long at first.

 

[MirenBainesUSMC]

I'd say Mass Effect 2, piss her off by beating her time and time again with Mortal Kombat ( You'll be out of the apartment/house in no time!), Transistor, Deponia, Sims, Halo, Fable, Flower, Overlord, Final Fantasy games ( thats usually a nice one of which I've seen plenty of lady gammers like).

There is a lot of them actully. It all has to do deal with her interests rather then us blindly showering you with titles. Is she into Sci Fi? Mystery? Horror? - action? RPG? Point-and-click adventure?


Mine just started Deponia from Steam and she was quite intrigued by it. Hell I no some women whom like playing Dead Space so... shoot... I don't think there is such a thing as " For Women Only" games unless you want to count the cutsie pet game by the Wii or that raising a baby thing. Now you offer that as a title my friend and you may be single lol!!!!

 

[DjinnFor]

How about not treating your girlfriend like an idiot?

None of those games you listed aren't nearly as complicated as you're making them out to be.

Most people aren't gaming hobbyists. It's not about "idiot" it's how much time and effort they're willing to invest.

Ask her what she's looking for, and try and find something that fits, if she doesn't like it try another, rinse and repeat.

Someone who doesn't play games is going to have no idea how to articulate what they're "looking for" in a game.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Something simple and instantly rewarding. Like a shooter or a puzzle platformer. Wouldn't go with RPGs and RTSs, at least not at the very start.

Y'know, I wouldn't agree that instant gratification is very good for an introduction; of course depth can be discovered later, but I guess it depends on the level of fascination.

Not disagreeing on simple, though. Throwing someone in at the deep end *can* work, but that relies on a fascination that's already established, as opposed to 'I'd like to try that'.

 

[EHKOS]

One of the Harvest Moon titles, anything after 64/Friends of Mineral Town. Like, A Wonderful Life or the Futuristic one.
Crash Bandicoot 3 starts off easy and is a great platformer that I grew up on (Although I started on the first one)
Sly Cooper 1 could also be an interesting game, it certainly holds your hand, I swear replaying through it you want to kill Bently. I KNOW, THE CIRCLE BUTTON. STAHP.

I'm assuming girlfriends don't like a lot of violence, I have yet to have one personally, so I'm going to go with how my mom and sister react. Also you could tell us about her personality and what she likes, theme wise.

EDIT: Oh, FF Crystal Chronicles might be interesting.

 

[RandV80]

If you're looking for something like a game that tells a good story from a female perspective without being too difficulty I'd recommend Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. The first game in the series, The Longest Journey, while being more highly regarded uses the more traditional point & click adventure game and all the frustrations that come with that. Dreamfall streamlined a lot of that out and is more a 3d adventure with light puzzles game.

Of course for just straight up fun & original you can't really go wrong with something like Portal.

 

[Zakarath]

Magicka's a pretty fun "co-op" experience

 

[Bad Jim]

The Bioshock games would be good. They have good stories, the plasmids/vigors are great fun, and the environments are imaginative. They also have virtually non-existant death penalties, making them very forgiving.

 

[cdemares]

Portal 2. The co-op campaign is the best co-op experience I've ever had. It's an everybody game.

 

[maninahat]

I'll tell you what happened when I tried getting my GF back into games. I say "back" because she played Doom 2 and the like when they first came out, and hadn't really played any since. She is convinced that gaming is for children and hates that I still play them as an adult.

I tried to introduce her to Portal. I thought this was a good idea, in that it is a game with fairly simple controls and a (comparative) lack of violent competitive enemies. As a plus, it also had a non-sexualised female protagonist, which surprises her whenever they crop up. It didn't work out.

It turns out that first person shooters require a ton of coordination. Pressing keys to move, moving a mouse to look around, and focussing on a specific task all at the same time is quite a big jump for someone who hasn't played games in over a decade. It was horribly frustrating for her to try, and for me to watch. I did have some success with a previous girlfriend, but only by me handling the keyboard controls whilst she worked the mouse; plus the game was Vietcong, and the "quick fight" mode let you play as a communist killing American soldiers - something which she, as a Chinese girl, found hilarious.

For absolute beginners, I recommend games that limit player input to either just the keyboard, or just the mouse. Coordinating both at once is too damn hard. DON'T START WITH FIRST PERSON SHOOTERS. Strategy or point and click adventures are more intuitive, so start with the classic versions of those. Games like Civilization tends to attract some interest from my better halves for this reason. They'd probably like the Sims games too, if only I could get the bloody things to work on my computer.

 

[Dark Prophet]

Mass Effect series and you can play it kinda co-op like me and my so did she did the talky bits and easy combat and I did the hard combat.
Dota 2 we both suck at it but we'r having fun.
Borderlands 2, stupid amounts of fun if played together with someone who is sitting right beside you.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

What exactly do you mean by "girlfriend game?" Are you just looking for a game to introduce her to gaming? If that's the case you could try starting her off with your 2D platformers like Mario or Sonic (Classic). I also recommend this:

And there's also this


Good Luck!

 

[loa]

So a game pretty much everyone likes?
How about plants vs zombies.

 

[Callate]

I don't know much about your girlfriend. My wife, for instance, loves RPGs, but she was so put off by the turret and racing segments of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic that she couldn't get into it. Likewise, Bastion, while a delightful game, was a bit too arcade-y for her, but she takes to games like Torchlight just fine.

If she's trying to understand you as much as the hobby, you really need to pick something that you play, or want to play; preferably something that you can play together, and that having one person who knows the systems looming over the other's shoulders giving advice isn't going to feel too annoying or patronizing.

Sorry some of the people here are on such hair-triggers. I believe your inquiry is well-intentioned.

 

[Bad Jim]

I tried to introduce her to Portal. I thought this was a good idea, in that it is a game with fairly simple controls and a (comparative) lack of violent competitive enemies. As a plus, it also had a non-sexualised female protagonist, which surprises her whenever they crop up. It didn't work out.

It turns out that first person shooters require a ton of coordination. Pressing keys to move, moving a mouse to look around, and focussing on a specific task all at the same time is quite a big jump for someone who hasn't played games in over a decade.

I'd say Portal was a particularly poor choice, because it has a lot of fairly tricky flinging that requires a decent amount of coordination. Most FPS games have difficulty settings to make fighting easier but there is no easy mode for Portal. Portal 2 on the other hand has no tricky stunts at all, so she might have been happier with that.