Finally got my wife playing video games today...

[stonecutter]

After trying for years, with little to no success I got her playing tonight. IN the past she has played a little but not much, only Tetris I think.

She has just had surgery this Monday past and was saying today she is finding it boring now at home all day. So naturally I say " If I was going to be home all day for the next six weeks I could get through some serious video games!" To my surprise she says I think I would like to play that new Harry Potter game...... well seeing an opportinity to maybe hook her on one of my favorite past times I decide SWIFT and IMMEDIATE ACTION IS REQUIRED. I jump in the car, go to Wal-MArt and buy her Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets for the XBOX, and proceed to relocatethe XBOX from the basement to the living room so this can be the best experience it can be for her. Here we are annhour and a half later and she is still going strong up there and enjoying it.

I think our relationship may have just became much stronger than ever lol. To now share in this woonderful hobby with her.... I hope and not have her look at me like I am a kid or an idiot when I get all excited about something video game related. To think also that maybe the purse strings may open more than ever.......


AHHHHH thats what dreams are made of my friends.....
Don't anyone try pinching me either!

[icest0rm]

Good for you! Not many guys can convince their girlfriends/wives to play video games.

[Happy_Dude]

For me thats a prerequisit for marrige ;)

Don't wanna be stuck with someone who just dosen't "Get it" :-D

[Dobie]

Definitely a serious step there, getting your wife to play games. Mine doesn't play very often, but at least she understands my obsession--she has hobbies of her own, so its mutual I guess. She doesn't "get" games, and I don't "get" Fiestaware. She'll join in on a game of SMB or Tetris, and I get to eat dinner off of the Fiesta ware, so I guess it all works out in the end. :D

It sounds like you've got a budding gamer!

[chocobokick]

Whatever you do, don't get her the first Harry Potter game, it's horrible!

And also I would like to agree that gamer girlfriends are wonderful and rare, and so should get lots of praise and flowers more often.
*AHEM*

[stonecutter]

Update.... she played for almost 3 hours. Towards the end there was one part giving her some trouble, so she enlisted my help, telling me that neither of us would be going to bed until we passed that part. I tried a couple of times but turns out she did it on her own!

@ Happy_Dude, I did not make it a prerequisite. I was just happy there was someone who would tolerate my level of obsession and not ask me to stop gaming. lol Some guys seem to be asked to give up things they love for their women, I don't think that is good, however toleration is acceptable in my books.

You are right Chocobokick, women gamers are very special, and deserve to be treated as such. For a very long time I didn't even believe that they existed!

[YoshiM]

For the longest time, my wife would never really play video games because she feels too inept when playing a game with me. Like Stonecutter's, my wife would play games like Tetris or Bust a Move 2 and (for a change) Yoshi's Story. She did enjoy Gauntlet Legends, but she lost interest in it. So most of the time she just enjoyed watching.

Recently I picked up Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for the XBox, as it had 2 player co-op. We started up playing it about a week and a half ago and we're now up to the last act after playing a few 3 hour+ sessions. It's been a blast as she asks when we could play again. I wish there were more games out there like this.

[jaybird]

Try some strip Mario Party 4 for a good time.

Worked for me :)

[Tritoch]

Animal Crossing = Gateway video game

My wife had played a few games growing up (they had a 2600 and she played a little MK), but was never really a fan. About a week or two after I got Animal Crossing though, I managed to convince her (with help from a random comment by another family member on how "interesting" it looked in the commercials) to try it out.

She's played pretty much every day since, and on occasion begs me to just delete the town and end her obsession for her. She's also shown some interest in Sega Bass Fishing on DC ( :hmm: ) and playing Pac-Man in the arcade in Pac-Man World 2. Huzzah!

[Nature Boy]

Recently I picked up Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for the XBox, as it had 2 player co-op. We started up playing it about a week and a half ago and we're now up to the last act after playing a few 3 hour+ sessions. It's been a blast as she asks when we could play again. I wish there were more games out there like this.

Funnily enough Baldur's Gate on PS2 was one of the last games my wife played as well. But not the co-op version - she wanted to get through it on her own :D

Baldur's Gate 2 can't be too far around the corner YoshiM :-D

[Oobgarm]

Indeed, Animal Crossing is a gateway game.

I experienced the same kind of phenomenon with my girlfriend, and now she's heavily playing Sly Cooper and wants to get into Ratchet & Clank. Sure, it may seem like the "typical" games most female players are into, but she asked for Gran Turismo 3 for Christmas, which caused me to cry "What?" in a manner suggesting shock.

I too, have been lucky to find a signifigant other that understands my need to collect games, and she doesn't hinder me in any way. Now that she's taken a deeper interest in them, I may be set for life.

[Magus]

I got my mom to play SSBM with me on the C for about an hour yesterday, and she dispises video games!

[IGotTheDot]

My wife reads a lot, so I play and she reads and looks up every once in a while and says "oh, that looks cool." She made fun of me through all of Shenmue (because of the cheesy music). She likes 2 player games like Tetris Attack and Toe Jam and Earl, but she doesn't play on her own. I tried to get her hooked on Sly Cooper because it is a great and easy game, but she prefers to read.

My point is that a gaming wife is not mandatory, bu tone that allows and encourages gaming is.

[stonecutter]

Update.... she is still playing today, loves the game and has spent quite a few hours today as well. I just got home from darts and asked her a question while she is playing...... and she got peeved because I made her miss something that was said by another character. I think I hooked her.

Problem is.... who is going to look out to the kids now lol

[MrXanthis]

I couldnt get my wife to play a video game if I held a gun to her head. the next one will have to have gaming skills or shes outta here.

[zemmix]

My girl doesn't really care for games herself. Though she will play the old Mario's and she likes to play racing games with me like Sega GT from time to time. But she knows I like so she has come to accept the fact.

[GENESISNES]

The real question is:

If they were at some kind of thrift store and saw an NES game, would they know well enough to pick it up?

[digitalpress]

You are right Chocobokick, women gamers are very special, and deserve to be treated as such. For a very long time I didn't even believe that they existed!

Careful, there are "people on AIM" who will chastise you for thinking that.

By the way, that's great news! It's a bonus when you've got a "player 2" always nearby. My wife just loves fighting games (much more than I do, actually), it was one of the things that attracted me to her way back when. That inner competitive spirit.

Just keep her away from Animal Crossing, or you may never see her again! LOL

[stonecutter]

My wife doesn't know rarities, but she does know, and has picked me up cheap games in the past when yard sale'ing. She also listens and on different occasions buys me new games that are out. Xmas 2001 she got me an XBOX and aa extra controller and game. So yeah, she does look out for me.

[gamingguy]

Some guys seem to be asked to give up things they love for their women, I don't think that is good, however toleration is acceptable in my books.


That sucks. If the woman doesn't like the package she picked (her husband), then she should have picked a different package.

I recall my brother's wife said, "You need to get a life," when I said I was spending my vacation playing video games. The first time I ignored her, but the second time I asked point blank, "Really? What kind of life should I get? Should I lay in the pool all day while the sun turns my skin into leather... like YOU do? Is that the kind of life I need to get?"

That shut her up.

Me, I'll tell my fiancee straight up: (1) I like to see naked women in Playboy and internet. (2) I like radio control "toy" airplanes and cars. (3) I enjoy playing video games. So, don't bother trying to change me, because if you do, I'll hand you the divorce papers. Better to be single & happy than married & miserable.

Come to think of it, maybe that's why I AM still single. LOL


Anyway, a friend of mine just got married, and his wife made him throw away the Playboys and banned him from viewing internet nudie sites. She's a really nice person, but for me that's going too far. She'd either have to accept my enjoyment of beautiful women (the pictures I mean), or else find herself a new husband. Ditto games. Ditto model airplanes. Ditto all my other personality quirks.

I'm glad to hear that Stonecutter's wife is tolerant enough not only to let him play, but also to try the games herself. BTW, does she have a sister? ;)

[Tritoch]

Anyway, a friend of mine just got married, and his wife made him throw away the Playboys and banned him from viewing internet nudie sites. She's a really nice person, but for me that's going too far. She'd either have to accept my enjoyment of beautiful women (the pictures I mean), or else find herself a new husband. Ditto games. Ditto model airplanes. Ditto all my other personality quirks.

Would you want your wife keeping Playgirls and viewing male porn sites on the 'net?

@DP: Where was that advice three months ago? We've eaten a lot more fast food since she started playing Animal Crossing with me... :/

[stonecutter]

Gamingguy, I like your response to get a life, just because someone doesn't appreciate the same things as another person, does not mean they don't have a life. Having said that, at least our passions are for hobbies, which opens up all kinds of experiences and friendships, which definately qualifies as a life in my books. More so than the example of laying by the pool turning to leather and getting cancer.

BTW all the sisters are hitched lol, but a guy has to ask right.

As people here have said its not right to ask mates to give up things they enjoy, in fact it is good to have different interests and have things you can do elsewhere or on your own, and balance that with things you can do together.

Now that my wife is starting to play games, I have to consider purchasing new gamepads for the systems she might be playing. The as might daughter gets older she will play also, isn't it great to have 4 ports for gamepads on systems!

[gamingguy]

Anyway, a friend of mine just got married, and his wife made him throw away the Playboys and banned him from viewing internet nudie sites. She's a really nice person, but for me that's going too far. She'd either have to accept my enjoyment of beautiful women (the pictures I mean), or else find herself a new husband. Ditto games. Ditto model airplanes. Ditto all my other personality quirks.

Would you want your wife keeping Playgirls and viewing male porn sites on the 'net?


Yes. I support equality. In fact if she didn't enjoy pics of naked men, I'd think something's wrong with her sexual libido. X_x @_@