I’m a 30 year old woman who’s only really played card and puzzle games on my phone. Im considering new hobbies. Is it worth trying to get into video games for the first time. Where would I even start.
… Yes?
Start wherever. Buy games with interesting covers or play free demos.
A lot of women I know who aren’t the typical “gamer” type really enjoy Stardew Valley. It’s a little farming game where you live in a town, foster relationships with the townspeople, and generally go about small town life. Very cute game, especially fun with friends.
Also Minecraft, it’s very open ended and there are many ways to play it.
As for how to start, an affordable laptop will run both of these fairly well, if you want Nintendo games you’ll probably have to get a Nintendo Switch.
Definitely make a Steam account though, you’ll find pretty much all the games you could want in one place there (Minecraft is separate).
My wife is a 30+ woman and she loved (among others) OneShot, World of Goo, and Final Fantasy XV.
OneShot is an atmospheric, story-based game with some puzzle elements and a lot of lovable characters. On the flip side, there’s a lot of walking and it’s easy to get lost. Nevertheless, there’s a deep connection you as the player can build with the characters and the world they inhabit.
World of Goo is a physics-based building game, where you build bridges and towers out of cute sentient rubber-like balls, but beneath the solid physics, art and music there lies a deep social commentary too.
Final Fantasy XV is the most mainstream of these, but it is an entry into the FF games specifically designed for newcomers in mind. It follows four main and several supporting characters on a journey that starts as a road trip interspersed with beginner-friendly but still jaw-droppingly well rendered and animated combat and slowly but surely escalated to an epic catharsis.
World of goo… 100%. My wife and I have also played through this together and she enjoyed it. I also started a Baldurs Gate 3 playthrough with her making most of the decisions and me actually playing the game. That went pretty well, but it’s a long ass game
This game recommendation thingy might be helpful: https://apps.quanticfoundry.com/surveys/start/gamerprofile/
In the profile you choose what you are looking for in a gaming experience - it doesn’t matter if you don’t know yet or need to make up some answers. There are questions like “How important is working towards a common goal with other players?”
It’s a place to start anyway.
Something else to consider is that it’s a wonderful social window if you have friends that you don’t get to hang out with very often due to geography and life.
I have a couple of good friends who are too far away after I moved to another area. We play games online and have a nice social hangout for a few hours each Saturday. Voice chatting works great.
It’s fantastic to be able to regularly spend time with them.
This!
I got my 75 year old father into video games.
With him, I started by getting him an xbox and an xbox live account (which allows playing multiplayer games online).
We play World of Tanks now together quite a bit.
If you have a PC download steam and get half life 2 for free.
We all have our type of game. Try out a ton of new genres. Maybe you don’t like shooters and you like simulators. Or maybe you like roguelikes. Or just platformers or building games. Don’t stop trying new things till you find the genre that is right for you, then ask people for recommendations within that genre.
I had a comment earlier that had a bunch of.free games, I will try to post links later.
There is a concern about accesability and hidden gamer slang.
First person 3d games can make you motion sick.
There you would need to learn to control a camera.
Red is health, Blue is mana, Yellow is for climbing.
There will be countless stuff that are build upon years of gaming culture.
Try to start with co-op so someone can guide you.
Make a post it note on the monitor with button mappings especially if you play on gamepad.
Games can be one of the nice forms of entertainment like tv series or films, so i’d say yes.
Just try to look for really good games, like zelda breath of the wild, bioshock infinite, twelve minutes, sayonara wild hearts and so on. No online games, no infinite games, no games that are more like a job than a game (where you have to grind for everything) and so on. Games that let you enjoy the gameplay, the art and the story without making you feel like ‘‘oh i have to login or i lose the fit and i have to get the daily rewards and bla bla bla’’.
Why are you recommending the worst BioShock game as a really good game? Shouldn’t a person start with the best BioShock game, BioShock? Or at least start with the second best BioShock game, BioShock 2? It just doesn’t make sense to start with the one BioShock game that actually kinda sucks, that being BioShock Infinite.
Good advice. Solo player games where you actually buy them is usually a safe bet. If it’s free, they’ll want your money later or make it an impossible grind. It’s a bit of the same on the mobile side so OP is probably aware.
You can make some searches about good games for new comers because of all the games I’m currently playing, none would be a good start.
Done recently that could work :
Baldur’s Gate 3. It’s turn by turn so not reliant on mechanical skills. Can be played on concoles or pc with keyboard or controller. The story is so amazing. The acting, the branching, the choices… Loved it.
Frostpunk. Game where you try to save people gathered around a generator cause the earth is now ice cold. You manage ressources and tech to meet people expectations. They’ll have demands but you can’t say yes to everything. Hard choice. Can be kinda hard but you just start over the scenario with the knowledge you just got. It’s mostly just figuring things out…
Skyrim? I liked the story / setting. I don’t know if that aged alright or if there’s something better in the same genre that could be welcoming. I remember that it wasn’t particularly hard. On easy it should be more focused on the story / immersion.
Depends on what you want to achieve.
Video games are an easy way of losing yourself in a hobby for an afternoon. Can become addictive and you may lose the entire weekend.
Do you want games that focus on the social aspect and make friends? The story? Quick reactions and precise timing? Building something? Compete? Challenge yourself and improve (at ultimately a pointless task in a video game)? Simulate something accurately?
Before you start, as a gamer what do you non gamers do to spend your free time on anyway?
Video games used to be good, now most games are just quick cash grabs. I highly recommend old classics if you’re planning to get into it.
Lots of modern indie or AA games are cheap and really, really good.
This is like asking if you should get into books or movies! The answer is absolutely! 💜 There are so so many games.
The genre “cozy game” is a pretty good place to start, I think. They focus more on the vibe than challenges.
Definitely stay away from games that use phrases like “souls like”. Those are games that are trying to be intentionally difficult for the sake of being difficult.
A lot of this depends on what sort of console or computer you have access to. A lot of indie games are not very taxing and you can probably play them on your computer easily even if it isn’t a gaming computer. Things like Stardew Valley and Spiritfarer come to mind.
Get a Nintendo console. Nintendo Games are absolutely a gateway drug. They’re high quality and generally very easy to get into.
There are a lot bad games out there, and not everyone likes every type of game. So try highly rated games from various categories. Just be aware that video gaming consumes a lot of time that you could use for productivity in other areas of your life. I play video games pretty regularly, but I also turn it off when it seems excessive.
Yes,
