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.
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’’.
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?
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.
Yes. Start with Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing. From there, post threads asking for suggestions based on what you liked.
Just avoid games that cost a lot or have lots of micro transactions. Its like smoking cigarettes, better to not start.
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.
Yes
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’re unsure, buy a nice used ps4 with some games for dirt cheap to see if you like it. If you do, I suggest eventually moving forward with the PC route. Either a steam deck or a laptop and an Xbox controller. If you know you’re liking gaming you could go all out on a gaming desktop PC.
Consoles are nice, but a PC game library is compatible for decades of games, and you can buy them for a lot less $ most of the time.
Yes games are fun. I made friends, had so many memorable adventures with complete strangers, managed to keep in touch with family and close ones no matter the distances.
Honestly its about how you want to game, do you like something chill? Or something more like adventurous? How long do you see yourself playin? Something that is played on a desk or a couch? Do you like “gamey games”, or do you like realism in your games?
First, you need a system if you dont have one. A system is needed to run a game.
If you are a comeplete beginner the switch by nintendo is in my experience a great onboarding experience, but that might be a bit expensive in the long run once you accumulate games. The system is a bit underpowered, but delivers such great experiences through their exclusive nintendo game titles. Great on the go, light, great for couch co-op, has online play.
Playstation and xbox are very easy to manage, and deliver more on the realism side of games while still having great gamplay first experiences. Its honestly a great balance, old ones are just as great since the old games are cheap and usually have great classics. (Warning about compatibility though). Couch gaming, has online gaming and couch+online coop.
The PC is extreme: its kinda hard to build the right machine for your needs, it can deliver whatever experience you want (it can basically “cheat” and pretend to be a playstation or switch gameboys etc through emulation, a process that is not very beginner friendly), has ALL the games (except the latest nintendo ones, except through the mentioned emulation) but can be pretty expensive if you want a high quality graphical performance to the point where you can see a cyborg sweat running down his firm and physics enhanced abs. You use launchers to go to an online store to buy games that you have to find on the internet and download, like Steam (my fav) Epic (they give a free non freemium game each week I believe!) Gog (very privacy, and consumer oriented ) and many others. Some miscreants will tell you that you can (gasp!) Pirate (arr) games, so a good system could potentially cost less in the long run! Its more of a gaming on desk unless you dont mind having a big PC next to your tv. Couch co op games are rare, but the online experience is really good.
My two cents, get minecraft if you like legos. You can also make it prettier on PC. It runs well on even old laptops. Its a great entry for anyone. If its not what you are looking for, you can look up what youd like!
Also please newcomer, do not EVER pay for the microtransactions, for they plague us all. Games should be about fun, not a tool for extracting wealth from people who just want to go on cool adventures, explore strange worlds, meet interesting characters or experience lives never lived.
I wanted to make this shorter but I get excited about theses things. Gl hf!
How about the steamdeck-like, for.PC gamas. The Pros and Cons.
I actually own a steam deck! Its a great system, that runs on Linux, so there is a little bit of tinkering and buyers awareness to get through as not all games on steam run on it easily.
The catalogue compatible with just one tap/click is still growing, but you still have to use the proton tool before launching a game that is windows based. Some online games are also protected with some anti cheat software that may or not stop you from playing your favorite online games. Its also a handheld, so unless you plan on connecting the steam deck to a screen and bringing out a keyboard for your keyboard based game, you are going to have a bad time. (Note, there is a virtual keyboard thay pops up if need to enter some text occasionally).
The thing that attracted me to the deck, is the fact that you can actually launch the steam deck in desktop mode, that gives you access to a fully functioning linux system. There, you can also download your games from other launchers/stores and link them to your steam game library and access them through the non desktop mode.
This means that with some more tinkering (kinda alot actually, i wont lie), you can turn the steam deck into the ultimate emulator for any switch/some ps3 games and lower (as in raw processing power, so gameboy, gamecube, ps1, ps2, xbox etc) on the go. You also get a rather powerful computer for an amazing price point,at the cost of an hdmi/usb/ethernet dongle or dock. Since its a computer in the shape of a hanheld console, you can dualboot windows if you wanted.
The other very cool thing, is that you can use steam to stream your games from your gaming pc right to your tv by using your steam deck as a streaming game console, which is amazing and in the end extends your desk PC capacity to offer the best couch gaming experience with no drawbacks if it wasnt for the whole ensemble price. Also the trackpads are a very cool addition to the gamepad layout, amd it has extra buttons on the back! Since it has bluetooth, you can also just get a controller and let it chill next to your tv.
You can configure it the way you want, you can apply cool mods, change components within pretty easily (some ppl buy the cheapest version then upgrade the hardware to save money!) And since its a steam hardware product that has successfully proven itself to enough ppl, the support its gonna be getting is very exciting.
To me the problem of the Steam deck is the time and tinkering that it requires to setup this perfect machine, but its a new system, and emulation is in a gray zone legally in many countries so it will probably always require some amount of tinkering. (There are vids online that take you through it, its absolutely doable but can be a barrier for some newcomers) You can manage well the battery, but it drains rather fast. If you dont like steam, idk if this product is right for you, but you can install windows or another linux distro if youd like. (Level 3 tinkering right there)
I love my steam deck, and actually do work on it occasionally, which got me more comfy with the linux ecosystem (but this is about just using linux as an operating system so im gonna stop here). Its the best for the indie games on steam as long as they have gamepad support and are compatible with or without the proton tool.
Now for the other handheld PCs, I cant speak. I heard that some are very powerful, more than the steam deck by quite alot, however imo they are held back by being run on windows, an Operating System that is not made for such a device, but will absolutely get you through the anti cheat headaches that a steam deck might have.
They also have a 1080 p screen for the fancy ones, but this impacts battery.
You can install chimera OS or Bazzite if you want the linux experience, and the Steam Os (on the steam deck) is coming soon (its gonna be a while though).
So yeah im gonna stop there cuz i cant stop talking about this thing.
very informative. thx.
Start with stardew valley and thank me later.
This is a good entry but may feel daunting to someone whos never played video games.
If you do play stardew valley, you may want to watch introduction videos on YouTube
One more day… just one more day… need to those gold star crops… got to go fish… shit need bait, got to go to the mine… one more day… just one more day…
This. My ex loved this game
It’s definitely worth trying if you’re interested.
I would not recommend buying a console or gaming PC first as that is a money sink that you’re not sure is worth it yet. My gaming PC broke when I arrived at university, and I got by playing less graphically intensive games on my standard laptop for a few years.
Good games I’d recommend to start with:
- Stardew Valley — cosy, charming farming game that you can play at your own pace. Has great characters that you get to know, and fun, simple, rewarding gameplay. My girlfriend got really into this game.
- Minecraft — this is where many of us started as kids. It’s an excellent game that’s fun for all ages. There isn’t a clear goal so it’s more about making your own fun.
- Vampire Survivors — extremely fun, simple, cheap, and addicting game. Play at your own risk.
- LIMBO — a puzzle game classic with a unique, dark aesthetic. Only takes a couple of hours to complete.
- INSIDE — made by the same people as Limbo. Grabbed me and wouldn’t let go for the whole 4 hour experience. I don’t play many puzzle games but I couldn’t get enough of this one. Probably because of the narrative.
Those can all be played on the average laptop or desktop anyone would have.
Best of luck on your journey! Feel free to reply with any questions or suggestions for specific genres and such. My girlfriend didn’t play video games until I introduced them to her, and the most important thing was that I didn’t try to force any games on her, just show her what there was and let her interest lead the way. So take a look at all the suggestions people are leaving and go with what interests you most. And if you’re not enjoying a game, it’s okay to go play a different one.
(Also, Steam provides free, no-questions-asked refunds for any games purchased that both 1) were bought less than 2 weeks ago, and 2) have less than 2 hours of game time. So you can always demo a game to see if you like it and return it easily if not.)
Agree with this. Stardew Valley and many games can be found on mobile and quite popular with the gaming community. I am not sure as a beginner player I would start off with Stardew Valley as there are a lot of mechanics? Would recommend more of the below as there are not as many things to figure out:
High recommendations for Vampire Survivors. There is a demo with that link as well as direct app access.
Additionally, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp for $20 come December is great intro. Super relaxing game.
100% recommend Slay the Spire as well.
For games without a mobile option, I feel like Portal 1 and Portal 2 are must plays for anyone. And are not too graphically intense for any computer. Its a puzzle game. You run and jump into portals to figure out the puzzles. I wish I could play them again for the first time. All the above are amazing games. Wishing you the best on your journey!
P.S. if you have a friend to game with, It Takes Two is a pleasant experience.
I’d also add Balatro and Terraria to that list.
Balatroncould be good. Terraria I think is a bit tricky to learn unless you have a friend guiding you. It requires a lot of looking up the wiki which I think isn’t ideal for someone getting into video games.
Stardew can be a bit slow and boring at the beginning
A place to start might be a friend or family member who is into video games.
Gaming hardware can be a little costly, so you may want to visit with someone and play a selection of games before deciding which direction you’d like to start in. I’ll also point out that video games are often the very most fun when shared with friends.
If my 30 year old woman friend came up to me one day and said “Hey I’ve never really played video games before and I’d like to give them a try, but don’t know where to start,” I think we’d talk awhile first to see if I can find what games are interesting to you. I see a lot of people in this comment section recommending Stardew Valley, which is a game I deeply like and respect though I have seen people bounce right off it, including someone recently here on Lemmy. So while I would recommend giving it a look, if you do bounce off it, don’t just go “video games aren’t for me,” maybe cozy games aren’t for you.
Some questions I might ask are:
Are you looking for a more relaxing or more exciting experience?
Would you like your play sessions to be challenging, contemplative, creative, or competitive?
Are you more interested in story, or gameplay?
How important are flashy fancy graphics to you?
Where will your gameplay sessions fit into your life? Do you want something to do during your daily train ride? Will this replace your daily television hour? Is it what you’re going to do all Saturday afternoon?
Do you see yourself playing games on your couch, at a desk, or on the go?
Do you want to enjoy games alone, or with friends? Will you gather in one place to play together, or play across the internet?
Do you have a genre of fiction you like? Are you into historical drama, sci-fi, fantasy, slapstick comedy?
How do you feel about horror? Both the psychological Lovecraftian existential crisis type, and the “oh god a 10 foot monster with 50 mouths for a mouth just jumped out behind a tree and roared” type?
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, it is worth getting into video games. Mental quickness, friends, and less Alzheimers are some benefits.
People in this post are making excellent recommendations for quality commercial games.
I can recommend starting out in videogames, by getting into Free Software (Libre) games.
Libre Games cost nothing, have no spyware, and usually have positive, helpful, DIY focused communities.
Here is a post I made that lists a few of my favourite free games on desktop and mobile.
https://lemmy.world/post/20786563
If any on this list are too difficult or hard to set up, just skip.
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Historical note
The Fool’s Errand game, from 1987, sold very well with women gamers. Over 50% IIRC.
It is a tricky puzzle game with Tarot Card theming and an excellent sense of humour.
Fool’s Errand is not Free Software though, and way out of print. It could probably be emulated on a device that you have, PC or phone.
Considering you’re already into card games, give Balatro a try. It’s got it’s basis in poker, but puts some extra spice on it that might interest you.
Chants of Sennar is also a strong recommend. It’s a puzzle game based around intuitive language translation, but also has a really strong story that keeps it interesting.
