worst ways to introduce gaming

[suitepee7]

there's been quite a few threads lately about how best to introduce a person to gaming and what are the best games to do these things. however what i haven't seen, is how to do it wrong. what are the worst things you can do to a newbie that will most likely put them off gaming?

for arguments sake, lets not include anything about "put game X on a high difficulty", it's really obvious and a redundant point.

personally i think there are 2 pretty bad ways. firstly, introduce somebody to a competitive multiplayer game first. now they can be useful for tactics and such, but when you're only just learning controls and the basics, you're gonna die a lot. dying a lot is not fun, it will put people off.

secondly i think it is quite a bad idea to introduce gaming through horror games. this is because they are usually pretty hard, and will put you on edge. if you are only just getting to grips with the controls and how your character works, as soon as you encounter an monster or whatnot, you are gonna freak and probably forget the basics pretty easily. horror games are fantastic, just not so much for beginners.

so i hand it over to you escapist, how can you mess up an introduction to gaming?

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Give them Dark Souls.

It would be hilarious.

Protip: For extra fun, say that the wooden plank shield is the best in the game.

 

[krazykidd]

Give them Dark Souls.

I would be hilarious.

Protip: For extra fun, say that the wooden plank shield is the best in the game.

This or catherine . Even on easy it isn't that easy.

Protip: For extra fun, don't tell them there is a redo button.

 

[Scrustle]

I would say something like X Blades, Rumble Roses or BMX XXX. Something really juvenile and awful like that. It would give people the worst view of gaming possible.

 

[cookieXkiller]

give them a mic and show them call of duty.
or any clive barkers jerico , on hard..

 

[TehCookie]

Force them to play your favorite game when they clearly will not enjoy that genre.

 

[OldKingClancy]

Give them Heavy Rain and tell them it's a fun, happy game with absolutely NO child death or finger dismemberment.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

Start them on a platformer. Or a Driving game, something simple.

The first game i ever had was Sonic for the Sega megadrive. It had one button to jump, yet as a kid i could never complete it but at the same time i had a shitload of fun.

For this generation i'd say Portal and/or then Portal 2
Most of the game is tutorials, there's only a few controls, yet its still challenging enough to be interesting but easy enough that anyone with the ability to think logically can beat it.

Basically you want something challenging enough to draw them in, but not so hard that they get bored. Simple controls are also key if they've never handled a controller/keyboard before aswell.

EDIT: oops, just been informed that im silly and misread the thread. So for the Worst ways to introduce someone to gaming just do the opposite of what i said before, give them something very challenging with a stupidly complex interface and/or control scheme, that has no tutorials and offers little help to the players, and gives them no context of the story so that you have no idea why you're actually playing.

 

[Mr. Omega]

Have them play the following games:

League of Legends
Defense of the Ancients
Call of Duty
Heroes of Newearth
Counter-Strike
Battlefield
World of Warcraft

Pretty much avoid PC Gamers and FPS fans like the fucking plague. Because they will treat your friend as if they are carrying the fucking plague. SINGLE PLAYER OR COUCH CO-OP IS YOUR FRIEND.

 

[Amnestic]

An internet gaming forum. /snark

League of Legends
Defense of the Ancients
Call of Duty
Heroes of Newearth
Counter-Strike
Battlefield
World of Warcraft

I will be honest, despite WoW's awful community, the kids of CoD, the flamers of Counterstrike and the stupidity of many, many Battlefield players...no community has ever seemed quite as awful to me as the DotA and DotA-clone (MOBAs, I think they're called now?) games.

 

[MammothBlade]

For this generation i'd say Portal and/or then Portal 2
Most of the game is tutorials, there's only a few controls, yet its still challenging enough to be interesting but easy enough that anyone with the ability to think logically can beat it.

I let my sister play Portal. She's played some games before but I think that's the first game she's actually completed, because of its intuitive solutions and highly focused pace. So it really is a great way to introduce people to games.
This is about the worst way to introduce gaming, though...

Europa Universalis is likely to put people off for life, or at least discourage them from gaming for a long time, because of its complex interface, immense details, and considerable difficulty. I love EUIII, but I wouldn't use it to introduce a friend who hadn't first played something like Civilization or Total War.

 

[lobster1077]

Give them Heavy Rain and tell them it's a fun, happy game with absolutely NO child death or finger dismemberment.

Ah, but Heavy Rain has that trademark hilariously awful voice acting syndrome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4xI1gua748&feature=channel_video_title

 

[Tallim]

Dwarf Fortress is the worst possible (good) game to try with. Even regular gamers find it mind boggling to start.

Captcha: Entyak distribution

 

[Tallim]

Give them Heavy Rain and tell them it's a fun, happy game with absolutely NO child death or finger dismemberment.

Ah, but Heavy Rain has that trademark hilariously awful voice acting syndrome.

Yeah Heavy Rain would be great. "No it's really easy, just press the X button to Jason!"

 

[Zay-el]

Start them on a platformer. Or a Driving game, something simple.

The first game i ever had was Sonic for the Sega megadrive. It had one button to jump, yet as a kid i could never complete it but at the same time i had a shitload of fun.

For this generation i'd say Portal and/or then Portal 2
Most of the game is tutorials, there's only a few controls, yet its still challenging enough to be interesting but easy enough that anyone with the ability to think logically can beat it.

Basically you want something challenging enough to draw them in, but not so hard that they get bored. Simple controls are also key if they've never handled a controller/keyboard before aswell.

Aaaaand you've completely missed the point of this thread.

"WORST ways to introduce gaming"

Sit them down and make them play League of Legends and/or Heroes of Newerth. The games aren't bad, but the community will put them off forever, at least off multiplayer.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

For this generation i'd say Portal and/or then Portal 2
Most of the game is tutorials, there's only a few controls, yet its still challenging enough to be interesting but easy enough that anyone with the ability to think logically can beat it.

I let my sister play Portal. She's played some games before but I think that's the first game she's actually completed, because of its intuitive solutions and highly focused pace. So it really is a great way to introduce people to games.
This is about the worst way to introduce gaming, though...

Europa Universalis is likely to put people off for life, or at least discourage them from gaming for a long time, because of its complex interface, immense details, and considerable difficulty. I love EUIII, but I wouldn't use it to introduce a friend who hadn't first played something like Civilization or Total War.

I agree with you about EU. I've been playing the series since i was 10 (so almost 9 years now) and it was only maybe 2 years ago when i switched to EU3 that i stopped playing with cheats and actually figured out how to play the game... even now theres stuff im still learning. Probably the only reason i kept playing was because i loved games like Civ and Total War, aswell as being a bit of a history geek. But yeah its definatly not for everyone.

 

[Zeckt]

Take a person with high upstanding morale's and say "hey! watch me kill this pimp and steal his prostitute in this hilarious game called saints row! this games a RIOT!"

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

Start them on a platformer. Or a Driving game, something simple.

The first game i ever had was Sonic for the Sega megadrive. It had one button to jump, yet as a kid i could never complete it but at the same time i had a shitload of fun.

For this generation i'd say Portal and/or then Portal 2
Most of the game is tutorials, there's only a few controls, yet its still challenging enough to be interesting but easy enough that anyone with the ability to think logically can beat it.

Basically you want something challenging enough to draw them in, but not so hard that they get bored. Simple controls are also key if they've never handled a controller/keyboard before aswell.

Aaaaand you've completely missed the point of this thread.

"WORST ways to introduce gaming"

Sit them down and make them play League of Legends and/or Heroes of Newerth. The games aren't bad, but the community will put them off forever, at least off multiplayer.

Oops, okay fair enough... although from what ive said you can just take the opposite for the worst ways. Give them a game with horrible control schemes and complex interfaces. Something extremely challanging or something that assumes you've been playing the series forever.

 

[MammothBlade]

For this generation i'd say Portal and/or then Portal 2
Most of the game is tutorials, there's only a few controls, yet its still challenging enough to be interesting but easy enough that anyone with the ability to think logically can beat it.

I let my sister play Portal. She's played some games before but I think that's the first game she's actually completed, because of its intuitive solutions and highly focused pace. So it really is a great way to introduce people to games.
This is about the worst way to introduce gaming, though...

Europa Universalis is likely to put people off for life, or at least discourage them from gaming for a long time, because of its complex interface, immense details, and considerable difficulty. I love EUIII, but I wouldn't use it to introduce a friend who hadn't first played something like Civilization or Total War.

I agree with you about EU. I've been playing the series since i was 10 (so almost 9 years now) and it was only maybe 2 years ago when i switched to EU3 that i stopped playing with cheats and actually figured out how to play the game... even now theres stuff im still learning. Probably the only reason i kept playing was because i loved games like Civ and Total War, aswell as being a bit of a history geek. But yeah its definatly not for everyone.

I was introduced to strategy with AOE really, then I moved onto Civ, Total War, and all sorts. Then Europa Universalis III after I learned about it. I've not played EU3 since the summer because of how much time it takes up, though. I'm also a history geek. Can we be friends?