Wife is New to Gaming

[Gamerforlife]

Great ideas. We actually do play a lot of co-op games together, as well as Zelda and Final Fantasy games. We'll take turns controlling Link or the party and I'll give her tips and stuff to help her out during battles or when she can't get through a puzzle. The thing is though, she doesn't want to stick to just rpgs. She watched me playing Killer7 the other day and is dying to try it but is worried that she won't be able to get anywhere in it. I think I will try the idea of getting her to play some easier action games until she picks up the fast-twitchy muscle memory thing that all gamers seem to develop. I know she will sooner or later, she just doesn't believe me.

I wasn't going to suggest this because I don't know if it's the kind of game that she(or you) would be interested in, but Viva Pinata is an easy game to get into. The controls are as simply as a PC point and click game and the game really lets you do things at your own pace.

Also, if she likes Zelda, Okami might be a good choice for her. Very Zelda-like and not too hard. Beyond Good and Evil is another one she might be able to get into as it is also very Zelda-like and not a game that is particularly hard at least not in the early going. Got a female lead character too, one of the best ever in my opinion.

As for rpgs, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic if you got Xbox or 360. And since I mentioned light gun games before, try Time Crisis 2. Being able to duck in that game, makes it so much easier than other light gun games

Also, try some Gauntlet style games like Gauntlet Dark Legacy or X-Men Legends. Heavy on action, but not so much on the twitchiness and muscle memory. I actually envy you. This would be a fun project for me if I was in your shoes

[Gnashvar]

What about games like Bomberman, Tetris and Dr. Mario? My wife dislikes games yet she likes those.

[CRTGAMER]

I have the same situation, all my wife plays is Zuma and Bejeweled on the PC. I even have the PS2 Pop Cap versions and a Smart Joy Frag for Mouse support! Something about the computer, convenient game right there while taking a break from Internet.

We did play a few rounds of Pacman VS with some friends dropping by.

[Wombatula]

She LOVES Bomberman Online and Viva Pinata. Also, it's not that she doesn't want to play the fast-paced games, quite the opposite. She just gets frustrated because she isn't good at them, and gets even more frustrated when we play co-op because she thinks it annoys me, which it doesn't at all. Her problem is that because she gets frustrated she avoids them, even though I can tell she really wants to try them, and then she doesn't believe me that she'll get there skill-wise eventually.

[prfsnl_gmr]

She LOVES Bomberman Online and Viva Pinata. Also, it's not that she doesn't want to play the fast-paced games, quite the opposite. She just gets frustrated because she isn't good at them, and gets even more frustrated when we play co-op because she thinks it annoys me, which it doesn't at all. Her problem is that because she gets frustrated she avoids them, even though I can tell she really wants to try them, and then she doesn't believe me that she'll get there skill-wise eventually.

My wife is the same way. Nonetheless, she enjoyed:

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (co-op)
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 2 (co-op)
Ico
Katamari Damacy
We Love Katamari
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor (co-op)
The Warriors (co-op)

All of these were a lot of fun because we could play together (Baldur's Gate, etc.) or take turns easily (Ico, Katamari Damacy, etc.). She really enjoyed the Baldur's Gate games - and I have similar games like Champions of Norrath and X-Men Legends teed up - but I want her to try some games in different genres.

In the end, she will probably never be as passionate about gaming as me - and I do not foresee her undertaking a long solo adventure anytime soon - but that is perfectly fine with me. It is nice, however, that she understands my hobby and why I enjoy it.

[rainnyx4]

Trauma Center: New Blood
Trauma Team

Some of the most fun co-op, it's easy, and girls love it.

[Harvey]

Trauma Center: New Blood
Trauma Team

Some of the most fun co-op, it's easy, and girls love it.

Excellent choices to play with the wife. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed New Blood and we have plans to pick up Trauma Team at some point in the future.

[Inazuma]

The most important thing when it comes to gaming success is mindset. It sounds like your wife has a horrible mindset and that's the main reason why she sucks so bad.

She is telling herself that she sucks and can't get good at these games and she is right. If she keeps thinking that way, she won't get good.

Try to get her to understand that everyone sucks at first. She just needs to focus on learning how to play. Once she learns the controls and the rules of the game, it all comes down to decision making. If she can do that, she should quickly improve.

[wootcube]

I find it kind of odd that she understands mmos but has trouble with console games :/

I mean, I've tried WoW and I was good for the first 30 levels or so and then you either have to really dedicate yourself to learning the game or give up...I gave up It just wasn't worth it for me, and I was getting bored of the grinding anyways. Console games just seem so much less complicated (at least to me).

Maybe you could try explaining that to her? Like, make a list of things you need to be able to do to play a MMO (teamwork, understanding stats, understanding class roles, all the other stuff that I can't seem to think of at the moment) and then what you need to know to play most console games (how to find the jump button, how to move forward...etc) and maybe she will see that she just needs to give it time. I mean, hopefully that will help her acknowledge everything she has already had to learn to play WoW, and realize what little you need to learn to play console games in comparison.

Also, sticking to a single platform might help. I grew up with Nintendo and Sony consoles, and while I own an original Xbox I'm still a little fumbly with the controller just because I've hardly ever used it.

And there is always gamefaqs if she gets stuck on some level.

[aaron]

The most important thing when it comes to gaming success is mindset. It sounds like your wife has a horrible mindset and that's the main reason why she sucks so bad.

She is telling herself that she sucks and can't get good at these games and she is right. If she keeps thinking that way, she won't get good.

Try to get her to understand that everyone sucks at first. She just needs to focus on learning how to play. Once she learns the controls and the rules of the game, it all comes down to decision making. If she can do that, she should quickly improve.

i actually agree with this. another thing i think would help would be to have a smaller library so she only has a few games to play. when we were all kids i'm sure we didn't have the libraries we had now so we made use of our gaming time getting good at the games we had access to.