Poll: Games to play with your girlfriend

[Fuzzed]

I know a game you can play with her...

 

[Darren Carrigan]

My girlfriend is playing Dragon Age origins right now, 'tis a pretty good time

 

[DrOswald]

I've been on a relationship for over a couple of years now. We share more or less the same interests. Video games are not one of them. I'm always trying to get her hooked on something - because video games are a big part of my life, and I'd like to share them with her - but her reaction is always to get either bored or repelled by them. It's sad. I gamed a lot with a previous relationship, and it's the one thing I miss.

For one thing, she can't get over the violence. Not even Worms-level violence (which I went for because my ex could both stomach it and loved it). I showed her Shadow of the Colossus, which is a go-to game when you want to introduce someone to the artsy side of gaming, right? She complimented the visuals, got bored with riding, then got appalled with the black blood jetting from the colossi. I then showed her a Silent Hill game of all things. She was intrigued by the set-up, but it never went past mild amusement.

So I wanted to hear out your ideas and/or experiences about gaming with your girlfriend. How do you wake up an interest in gaming on your significant other? What titles or genres do you go for? What games have worked for you in the past, whether they're co-op or single player?

EDIT: I should probably mention I'm not trying to force video games on her. She's always shown interest in them (if anything because we're curious abuout each other) and she will occassionally bring up the subject and dare me to find one she likes. So that's my shortcoming, no sex pun intended. She gamed frequently as a kid, SNES and stuff, so I'm willing to believe it works like riding a bicycle - you can always shake the rust off.

Play New Super Mario Bros Wii with her. This is a game practically designed to introduce people to gaming. The difficulty curve was essentially designed for new players, but it is still excellent fun for everyone. If there are only 2 of you the cooperative aspects really shine through. In addition, this will be a type of game she is familiar with because she played SNES game. But be patient. This game, which will be beyond basic and easy for you, will most likely be very challenging for her because she has not yet developed a platforming skill set. All the things we do automatically without even realizing it she will have to learn.

Another good game to play together would be Portal or Portal 2. You play, she watches. This is a great game to watch because it is a puzzle game (so they can give advice and feel like they are participating in the game) and it has excellent writing and humor so it is entertaining to play. If she enjoys this, you may want to play co-op portal 2 with her.

 

[Bad Jim]

forget Portal 2, just the barrier of learning first-person controls will be hard enough without doing confusing co-op puzzles with obtuse concepts.

You don't need to be proficient with the controls to play Portal 2. You just need to be able to think, and sometimes you must be good at looking for portalable surfaces. But the skill ceiling is really very low. Even IJustine liked it.


Another idea - racing games. Fun, not violent, can generally be played multiplayer. Stick to arcade racers and avoid the simulations that make racing nearly as hard as it really is.

 

[Daget Sparrow]

My girlfriend and I generally play as many co-op games as we can together. She really enjoyed Gears of War 3 and Castle Crashers for example. If you're looking for something less violent, try something like Portal 2, Minecraft or Scott Pilgrim vs The World (not the movie, the game. ALWAYS the game) that you can play together.

Alternatively, you could try some shorter games like Limbo or Bastion...or on the opposite end of the scale, a relatively simple RPG like Assassin's Creed or Red Dead: Redemption (which my girlfriend loves) - NOT something like Mass Effect 1 or Skyrim.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Portal 2? Best thing I can think of at the moment.

Not the co-op, oh god. I played that with my fiance, and we almost broke up. It is NOT a couples game. The arguments...

Yeah I think I'm gonna pass on that one too. Co-op puzzlers might be a crash course in patience none of us have.

I know a game you can play with her...

Comedy gold, friendo.

Another idea - racing games. Fun, not violent, can generally be played multiplayer. Stick to arcade racers and avoid the simulations that make racing nearly as hard as it really is.

A good idea, but I'm not one for racing games.