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| I doubt either of these women play Call of Duty in their spare time... |
So the next time Shawn came over, I immediately asked him rapid-fire interview-style how he got his wife to succumb to the dark side. Apparently, Shawn discovered her latent powers while they were dating when he took her to a retro arcade center. She soundly beat him at almost every old school game, like Pac-Man and Mortal Kombat. I guess she used to casually play video games as a kid, but never as an adult.
Then when Skyrim came out, she would watch him play while studying for school. A purely passive role, like having the TV on the background, but it introduced her to more contemporary titles. It wasn't until XCOM: Enemy Unknown that Shauna's interest was really piqued. I'm not a big fan of turn-based, tactical role-playing games (often known for having grid-based movement, like chess), but XCOM is sooo cool and modern and addicting! Shauna started making little comments here and there, like "Why don't you move your character behind that car instead? You need to give your medic backup in case that chryssalid alien around the corner decides to attack." Tired of having a backseat driver buzzing at his ear, Shawn finally suggested, "Why don't you start a game of your own?" And the rest is history. :)
Since then, Shawn has introduced his wife to Minecraft on PC and Fire Emblem for her brand new Nintendo 3DS XL. Maybe it's a coincidence, but they all seem to have have grids and squares in common. Guess it'll be interesting to see what she thinks of Monster Hunter since it's all about free-form, real-time, slashy-slashy gameplay, which is my favorite kind of video game. :)
Question:
If you play video games currently as an adult, how did you get started? I'm curious how many of you were also "converted" by a significant other, like Shauna and me.
When I first met my husband, I had no idea he was a gamer (or what a hardcore gamer was). He thought that girls don't like guys who play games all day long, so tolerated being dragged on romantic picnics, walking trails and other "normal" couple-things, without revealing his "dark side". He then casually introduced me to his hobby by playing Prince of Persia Two Thrones, and I was amazed at how interesting modern-day games were to watch. My Dad was a geek, so I pretty much grew up with computer systems and lots of games in the house. I used to spend many many school holidays playing throughout the night. Quality time with my Dad meant playing Wolfenstein together, and my sisters and I would LAN, taking each other on in Age of Empires. But that was years ago... My husband was delighted and encouraged me by introducing me to RPGs (I LOVE anything with a good story). He swears today that he married me because he always told himself that he would marry the girl who could actually beat him at a game. He ended up buying me a PSP because I couldn't leave his alone.
ReplyDeleteI was a lonely child, and only child, I started reading at 3 and then when I was 7 One of my cousins started me with an Atari 2600, then he saw I was reaaaally adicted to it so he sold it to me (I still have it), at certains times of my life I didn´t have a tv so I went to arcades (I receive kind of weird glances because one of my favorites is House of the dead, so it was funny to see a pregnant woman killing zombies)the rest is history, I have DS lite, PC, PS1, PS2 and a certain point I will buy a new console, I haven´t decide wich one in about 3 years, I introduce my kids to this also, my youngest is an avid minecraft player, she likes other games but that mean she has to be in my room, so she doesn´t play so constantly
ReplyDeletewhen I was younger I was told "VIDEO GAMES=BRAIN ROT MMM'KAY???" but I begged and begged my grandma to buy me a game boy when I was eight. the only games I had for it wher Q'billion (boring) and tetris (boom!). I was hooked, but we weren't a gamer family... until we won a super nintendo at a company chirstmas party raffle. only had super mario brothers on it. played through that over and over and over again during high school. fast foward to band camp 1994. I met my future husband and he invited me over to his house where they were playing war craft 2 on LAN. his dad and his best friend also opened a net cafe in 1997 before net cafes were cool in a strip mall close to the school.
ReplyDeletemy husband introduced me to duke nukem, command and conquer, mechwarrior, diablo 2, then warcraft 3, EQ, and rest is history!
we also got married. 7 years yesterday !