188: The Dating Game

[maninahat]

Good article, although I have sometimes attempted to share gaming with my girlfriend. She handled the shooting part on an FPS whilst I had a hand on the movement. Good fun! Although perhaps her attention was maintained primarily at the fact that she was Chinese and the game in question was VIETCONG. Now that I think about it, her eagerness to go red and shoot up "yankee pigs" was a little harrowing.

 

[maninahat]

But if you want to really include your girlfriend in gaming, I'd honestly stick to the wii if I were you.

 

[RenZephyr]

As others have noted the piece assumes a particular dating paradigm. There are two alternatives:

First, as people have said, games such as SingStar, RockBand, Mario Kart (Wii) etc which can be very much about a shared experience, low barrier of entry, known genre and lots of physical contact.

Second, there are those where both people have already overcome barriers an are in a shared virtual space. Over on TerraNova (where I blog) Andrea Fryer wrote a fantastic piece "Better dating through MMOs" which showed how virtual dating can be superior: http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2006/10/better_dating_t.html

 

[Cousin_IT]

I don't know why you didn't talk about board and card games, though. I get that these days "gaming" is generally considered to be talking about video games, but card games can be great fun on a date, a good way to get to know someone, and, importantly, an even lower cost of entry than a movie has. You can still a buy pack of 52 cards for less than 5 bucks after all.

Yeah, I find bridge a very fun game for a first date...or would if I was an octogenarian XD

 

[plasma-x]

Amazing article, I am just very happy to see people in the business looking to expand the genre and take it in new directions

 

[Wounded Melody]

I met my (now ex) boyfriend while we were all playing Eternal Champions at my friend's comic book store. I've also been hit on at my college's arcade (when I was in school). So yea, it's all good!

 

[Novania]

You can always play L4D

xD its both enjoyable AND cooperative!

 

[TwistedEllipses]

You can always play L4D

Or RE5!

...hmm...maybe zombies aren't the most romantic option...

Co-op on Gears of war, Halo,army of two , 50 cent: blood on the sand and COD don't seem to work either.

Viva Piñata? That's just patronising...