How to get your girlfriend to play video games

@Pikachelsea

I don't really see the problem with at least trying to introduce your girlfriend to something she may or may not like, be it gaming or whatever. It's a lot better if its something you can both enjoy as an activity together, and still good if its something you can each do on your own. Gaming is both.

It really just comes down to personal preference. Some girls will get into gaming, some won't. It seems like it'd be a bit hard to tell which ones will get into it, so you never know unless you try.

Heh, I don't think girls should take offense to this article. Whats there to take offense in trying to find another activity for the two of you to enjoy?

I am a slightly-gaming girl and I got my ex into gaming a bit. It was an awesome experience for the both of us.

I definitely feel like if you want a hardcore gamer girlfriend look for one that already plays a lot/well. I've been playing First Person Shooters since 007 Golden Eye (at the age of 7)and have continued through Halo to Resistance. Yet every time I played against a guy they were shocked if I was better than them. I suppose another key to getting a gamer girlfriend is to not be demeaning or sexist. Saying things that imply that having a penis automatically improves your chances at winning in Halo will not win you any points. If your current girlfriend doesn't play games at all, go for ones that fit her personality. Try to appeal either to their skills or media preferences.

Also, not every girl likes Grey's Anatomy. I personally have never seen a single episode, and neither have any of my friends :\

I work at a Gamestop, and can beat the pants off my boyfriend at Street Fighter (hm. that sounds kinda kinky...)So maybe my guy is lucky I already share his hobby.
I do enjoy games we can play together, I'm trying to get him to play Fatal Frame with me--beacuse I'm a total chicken and have no patience with puzzles. Or maybe a cooperative game like Baldurs Gate/Diablo (you get to dress up your characters, and kill stuff--whooo!)

@54 Seriously, Grey's Anatomy is gay. House all the way.

And speaking of gamers, my old boyfriend is a gamer, and I totally called him gay for liking Kirby =P. We have basically the same tastes in games though which made it nice. I really liked it that we both had played games growing up too. It's like playing piano since you were a child; you're going to be better than someone who just started. I consider myself pretty hardcore, though I won't play FPS's except on the computer because the 360 controls bother me.

And Pikaelseawhatever, get over yourself. You're elitist attitute sucks. As a girl I don't find the article offensive whatsoever. There's no need to be a touchy brat.

Call me crazy, but does the WikiHow entry read like "How to get your girlfriend interested in porn?"

"If you can, get a game that is multi-player or, optimally, co-op."

"Next time you and your girlfriend are in a game shop, casually walk by the video game section and ask her if there is anything that catches her eye. She will probably say no at first without looking at any game, but coax her into it."

"Recognize that she probably doesn't want to play for 8 hours at a time. When she wants to do something else, don't make her continue to play or make her feel guilty for only playing 2 hours."

"Have fun when you play with her. If you make it a good time she will enjoy it, even if she's not that "into games.""

and my favorite:

"Teach her how to uncramp her hands, because they will get tired during her first few sessions. Show her how you usually stretch out your hands, because if she equates video games with sore and stiff hands, she won't want to play any more. Maybe you could give her a hand massage to make her feel better."

and so forth.

okay, seriously.
I'm offended. And I'm a guy. Sorry if it sounds close-minded or anything, but any woman aged less than 20 by now shoulnd't be alienated by video games.

Come on. If you have a girlfreind that isn't a gamer, why bother to 'convert' her? That should be the first rule of finding anyone to share a relationship with- make sure she has similar interests. Sure, my girlfreind won't bother taking anyone on in Unreal or CSS, but she has just about the biggest collection of PS2 RPGs you could imagine, and loves getting all competitive at the WoW PVP. There are varying tastes between the two genders, but I find the idea of trying to push your interests on someone who obviously dosn't share them to be quite unsavory.

jessica alba is so frickin hot

I'd let her play MYYYY video games anyday!

[incredibly immature and bad innuendo intended)

i personally think the anger in your post spawns from an inner hate for women, and you probably fit into the "elitist" category who calls everyone a "n00b" and smash your controllers every 7 minutes.
On the other hand i do have a girlfriend who has played a few games growing up, but can be hardly called a "gamer".

I don't know how you could say that I think gaming is a thriving female metropolis, yet I hate women at the same time. And since I worked in a video game store I know from first hand knowledge that so many girls/women play games articles like this are useless. You also called me mad, I'm not just angry. There is a difference. So once again, how can I think so many women enjoy games that this subject is finished, yet I hate them for some reason?

I forgot to mention this: How come so many women are agreeing that they play games on this one article, if I'm so wrong?

@62

Uh.. because this is a gaming website, and generally, only girls who play games would be reading it in the first place. Right?

Okay. Nobody is saying that there's some rule that says girls don't play video games. People are saying that there -are-, in fact, a number who don't. This article is for -their- boyfriends. :P

And if it's a useless article, why have so many of us posted about our own experiences getting our significant others to play video games?

More importantly, what is UP with that hat?!

The girl im working on hooking up with it looks good. She isn't much of a gamer, but she'll play with me, like CS on xbox. she wouldn't give me back the controller, she wouldn't stop playing it, even when she was supposed to go home, she kept going. so maybe there is hope for her yet. :-D

Jessica Alba + Me +/- Videogames = HAPPY MAN

My girl doesn't mind playing COD3. She's always a medic fo the most part. but go figure. she wants to save me when i'm down.

i'd call that a good woman.

Aside from that she like a whole bunch of games. and on top of that she's extremely hot.

I'd pop her myspace link but she'd probably get pissed.

Luckily, (though unfortunately for elitists like me?) there are a lot more females who play games now. And a lot of them play games that are actually good. I find it amusing that people still think it's impossible to have a nerdy girlfriend and one that is also attractive. If you are one with tastes that make it difficult to find such a girl or to get your girl to play, I also will suggest Wii. I suppose some girls find controllers unfriendly (Xbox controllers still feel too big...). But the Wii should be no problem. I showed my father Wii sports and he really wanted to have Wii parties, but Mom has awful "hand-eye coordination" and was a skeptic until the boxing...she announced that she wants a Wii. It really has made a lot of unlikely people more interested in gaming, I think.

I play gears of war, halo2, crackdown and basically everything my boyfriend buys, we play the coop of gears of war together. The biggest thing to get a girlfriend is stop being a homo.
You probably don't have one cause you are the jerk offs online calling every girl gamer "fat" and a "whore" or saying we have no life cause we are playing video games. News flash, you're just bitter you lost. Also, don't be creepy. To the guys that are nice, thank you.

No girl wants to look stupid in front of her boyfriend and his friends. So if the girl's never played a game before, I'd suggest playing something non-competitive. Competitive sports games like Madden and shooters like Halo just aren't for newbies.

Instead, start with something team oriented like Mario Kart: Double Dash or Guitar Hero 2. By playing with her instead of against her she'll discover that games really aren't as hard as they look. She'll also see that you make mistakes too and that losing isn't the end of the world.

Girls are also ape-sht for simulation and puzzle games, like The Sims and Super Monkey Ball.

Funny stuff here...

As a woman I actually LOVE video games! Favorite games include:

1. Resident Evil series (yes, even the side games, I'm that much of an RE geek). :D
2. Tomb Raider series (seriously, is there any female video game heroine cooler than Lara Croft?)
3. Devil May Cry series (made by Capcom and originally set to be Resident Evil 4, nuff said) :P
4. Eternal Darkness (instant classic)
5. Prince of Persia games (so fun!)
6. GTA games (so addictive!; and yes, I have a good sense of humor when it comes to the prositutes) ;)
7. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance games (what can I say, RPGs are the shit) ^_^
8. Any good comic book game (mostly ones from the movies & cartoons).
9. Any Mario or Sonic game, and Starfox Adventures
10. The X-Files: Resist or Serve & 24: The Game, if only because they're my 2 favorite TV shows. :)

So basically, any guy who likes Survival Horror, Action/Adventure, RPGs, Racing, and puzzle games or are willing to try them, just throw em my way and I'm good to go! ;) Of course, I'm open to suggestions... I've yet to play Silent Hill, Final Fantasy, God of War, and Halo- all games that sounded good and interesting to me...

I did play Kingdom Hearts, just not all the way through, which means I never beat it, which also means there's no way it can be a fave of mine even though I've heard only good things about it and the sequel.

And finally any man willing to admit that Lara Croft can kick your ass any day of the week, even on Sundays, well then, you're just fine in my book and I'd probably even let you play any game as long as you want after that. ;) Lol

...oh yeah, and Jill Valentine & Claire Redfield are awesome! ...the men aren't too bad either. ^_^ Lol

In a way, though, I agree with Pikachelsea, #50...wouldn't it be sad if your girl was reading up on how to try and take your games away? But I think it's okay to try introducing your girl to games if you truly think she might like something, if you'd like to share something with her. My fiance is a huuuge FF Tactics fan and a long time ago, he tried introducing me to the game because he thought it was just so awesome. He couldn't keep it to himself. I can see why he and so many others like it, but I couldn't get into it (Maybe it didn't help that I was playing the Symphony of the Night at time). He didn't pressure me further. You have to know when to stop. If you just can't and a gamer girlfriend is so important to you, then find one rather than make one.

Oops, that "the" in Symphony of the Night made me look pretty not hardcore. Silly typos.

It's simple.

Some girls are gamers and some aren't.
If she doesnt have any interest in gaming what-so-ever.....drop it, things are better off that way.
However, if she makes excuses it probably means she's not paricularly interested in that game.
Get to know her interests and find a game that suits them. Then work your way up from there.

Try with something like DDR (which I doubt many guys play, and it's okay if you do). And if you're a Guitar Hero fan, I'm sure she will try it....no matter what you say, Guitar Hero is a lot more like DDR than you think.

Just don't kick her ass and rub it in her face that you did. She won't play again if that's the case.

I am a female gamer, and I am more into games then my boyfriend at this point. Most of my guyfriends at school are gamers, so I have lots to talk about. XD

I bought my girlfriend a pink DS and got her New super mario brothers and mario cart. Now she has pushed me to buy her all kinds of games for us to play (mainly Nintendo ones). Now its time to get her to move to Viva Pinata on the Xbox360! She's slwoly getting into the RPG phase (She is currently playing on Children of Mana).

My fiance (might as well call her my wife) Is bedridden most of the time because of an ongoing physical impairment. She hated just laying in bed and watching TV. It made her feel even weaker physically than she already is. I could see the depression growing and really eating away at her....

She had seen me play World of Warcraft many times and she saw the fun I had playing. I finally decided to try to get her into it. I knew she wasnt as competitive as I was, and I was afraid that the constant "ganking" from the Alliance would frustrate her too, So we created horde characters on Tanaris (Beauvouis for her and Perpetuo for me) and we play together alot. She has found that the game and the feeling of accomplishment really help her feel better and distract her from the pain that keeps her in bed most of the time.

Now she may be still bedridden, but at least when I come home she can say "I dinged 30 today!!!" and she gets so excited and has so much fun that she is actually levelling faster than me.

The best thing you can do is offer to help her learn a game. She had an ex-boyfriend that played Everquest all the time, and never tried to introduce her to it, so she felt alone and couldn't enjoy what he did. It may not mean much, but just the introduction to a game makes her feel involved in your passions and enjoyment.

Women that love you will always want to know what makes you happy even if they don't enjoy it.

Well all I have to say is... I have the best Girlfriend you could EVER IMAGINE! She is amazing, When we started going out she was all into RPGs such as Final Fantasy and stuff, she still is! loves it all! Now that we're going out I got her into MMO's the only mmo she really played was Runescape and we all know thats just not even a real game.. lol

We've played Lineage2 for awhile now we're on WoW and we like love it lol play hours a day sometimes, needa take a break because people forget we're alive =P

omg lol I love this girl and each day it gets better and better having some competition in a relationship and arguements on whos the noob never gets old, always something to do and talk about i love it, i love her. Ally

The truth about gaming for me, as flatline911 said, is a distraction as I am bed-ridden, but even being stuck in bed was not enough to pique my interest. It was the interest my fiance had in the game, as he said, when you love someone and they are truly interested in something, you become interested as well. But what made the difference for me is the fact that he took the time to sit with me and play the movements for my character while I learned the how, when, and where. Now, I get a sense of accomplishment from being able to level up and learn, and to be able to share an interest with my loved one.

My first girlfriend wasn't much of a gamer, but i got her into the the whole MMO thing (Maple Story lol). She did quit after we broke up though, so I guess it was just for me. The things people do for love...
Another ex of mine was kind of into gaming, she could kick my butt at DDR, and for a little while at Guitar Hero II (but after having the game for about 2 weeks I owned). I'm sure she beat me once or twice at Soul Calibur 2, shes into the Tekken series and Final Fantasy too. Yet I couldn't get her to play Maple Story...

I try games for my boyfriend all the time....I'm not into a lot of them, but I try them to make him happy. So here are my tips :

-If you have to make us play a game we're not so interested in....try not to completely annhilate us when you beat us at it.

-Don't tell us which video game characters you find hot.

-And if you have to be a game hog - try Guitar Hero I or II. At least then we'll be happy you're building finger strength ;D

give me gears of war and some chocolate and ill be happy ;)
for u guys out there i know its hard to find a gamer chick. i personal (as a girl) find it hard to find a friend who like vedio games unless of course your a guy.so here r some things to take to heart

-dont be a jerk while playing vedio games. do u think your girlfriend likes to 'be owned' whenever u win. it just makes u look like an a**hole.

-work your way up. start simply and work your way up like mario for example. who doesnt enjoy playing as a lil italian man haha

-role playing games r very good to start with. theres no real competetion and if she gets stuck u help her out like a gentle man. haha

-find out her interest. if shes sarcastic and head-strong go hard core with the games.

-keep in mind she might be squemish

*one last note the more brothers the easier to convert to gaming, trust me

Braintraining worked for me.. now i just need to actually get on the darn DS myself.

It hasn't morphed into an acceptance of games like Metroid or Mario 64 though.. but minigames seem acceptable.

A Wii, Wiisports and 2controllers is the next stage in the masterplan...

Also, usually the first-time girl gamers dont like getting into anything too hardcore, or anything that might cause a broken nail. Try to ease her into it.

And yes, we deff. love stimulation games. It gives us a boosted sense of control...over everything. The Sims is an awesome example.

I've been able to get past girlfriends to play video games. Most of them have play console games but I've managed to get them all addicted to things like Everquest and World of Warcraft ;)

http://www.tyleringram.com

My boyfriend got me to play NBA2K7 by kissing me whenever he made a basket/steal/etc... I can watch him play video games for hours because of his expressions! I'm more interested now that he has an XBOX 360, PS3 and a WII there are tons of different games out there for the systems we can just pick which ones to play-- love it!!