Home 
GamerSpeak:
How to Get Your Girl Gaming
Guys in the Xbox Community often talk about how they wish their girlfriend or wife was a gamer or at least was more understanding of their habit. As a public service for those not lucky enough to love a gamer girl, or even a GamerchiX, I asked for advice from both the dudes and the ladies on how to get a reluctant girl to game. Here's what some of you had to say:
Dance Dance Revolution
Girls will play DDR. For some reason they all love it
o ManBearP1g o
Two controllers, a girl, demo of Lego® Star Wars® II: The Original Trilogy= fun.
I also remember when I was playing GTA: Vice City on my original Xbox®, my girlfriend saw it and was like "Ooooh, is that Grand Theft Auto?" I said, "Yeah." So she yanks the controller from me and starts killing pedestrians, lol. She had a blast.
Crazzytzar
I got my girl to play Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved in the beginning. She then got hooked on that and wanted to play some more challenging games. Next thing I knew she was on Gears of War® chainsawing people :) Also the Wii helped a lot. She loves Wii bowling.
Yell0wpages
Frogger.
It's easy if you have a big group of guys and girls together. The girls will play with encouragement from guys they have a little thing for. Good gateway games include UNO®, DDR, Frogger, PAC-MAN. Later you can try Halo®, I've got a few girls into that in my time, but you have to start with the softcore stuff. Girls can also get into RPGs. Gears is way out, at least at first.
If you do get them to play Halo, let them win at least until they get some real skill.
o0Priest0o
I've actually found that a lot of girls like to play Guitar Hero! It was probably the last game I thought they would like, but I guess they like pretending to be rockstars or something. They aren't very good, but it's still kinda funny/cool.
kmillard92
I don't have to "let" her win anymore,
now I have to work hard for the wins.
-Lord Honko
She might be more open to gaming when you play it WITH her and next to her … Maybe play a bit first, then show her the controls and let her go, and encourage her if she gets to a checkpoint, or help her when she gets stuck. Try playing a game where you can play together. HAVE FUN! Fun gets her to enjoy it and play more, negative pressure gets her intimidated. Also don't be a hog, I hate it when people do this, but when they let you play and learn their game they start to take it away since it's their turn to play after only a minute or two.
BlackFox117
Girls like to play Dead or Alive® 4 and Perfect Dark Zero™ a lot. (I think it is because girls are the main character of those video games.)
Speeding Target
Fuzion Frenzy 2
I'm hoping Fuzion Frenzy 2 will get my girlfriend's attention when it hits because she loves party games like Scene-it? and every other DVD board game, and FF2 looks like it could be really fun to play while we have company over here …
IRISHprik411
My biggest advice is be patient with her and start her off with "training wheels". Games with easier difficulty options, games with a lot of mini-games in them, arcade games, and adventure games with an "easy" difficulty setting are the places to start. Traditional turn-based RPGs are good too because you can usually level up with random battles as much as you need to if you find yourself having trouble with the bosses.
VegasShowgirl
I introduced her to Dead or Alive®: Xtreme Beach Volleyball and she discovered she could play a game that let her accessorize her character and make friends with the other NPC's. She played it more than I did! I then gave her a Sims game for her birthday and she was on the PC every waking moment. I had to let her go … no time for poor Godzilla360. Talk about role reversal, geez. Now I have a cat that attacks the TV whenever I play Astropop. I can't win.
Godzilla360
I used to set up a couple of versus matches in Dead or Alive against my girlfriend. In the beginning I always let her win so that she would not get bored of it. Now I don't have to "let" her win anymore, now I have to work hard for the wins
Lord Honko
I ended up with a big bruise after she whacked
me with the controller in frustration.
-Craigy Spinner
If your girl plays, great, but if she doesn't, give it a shot but do not force this on her, she will hate it even more.
SuMsHadY
The best way (that worked for me) is to introduce them to gaming through nostalgia or older games that have simple controls. Avoid games like Rainbow Six until they are familiar with what hand-eye coordination actually is. My wife loves Ms Pac-Man and Frogger, so of course I downloaded them and she was hooked.
SL1M DADDY
Zuma Deluxe
- puzzle and card games
- classic arcade games with simple controls - (Pac-Man, Frogger, etc)
- Games we can play together in co-op
- Cute games: Viva Piñata™, Lego® Star Wars®, etc
- Games where you battle each other are usually a no go, playing together seems to be the key.
- When 3 and 4 can be combined it's a slam dunk and she'll want to play.
Limafoxtrot
As any real player will tell you. Zuma® Deluxe is a chick magnet.
TheARCHMICHAEL
The simple answer is: "Know your girlfriend/wife." You have to know what she likes, doesn't like, etc. Simply sitting her in front of Zuma may work for some, but not others. My wife, for example, is a closet Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan. So I got her the game and she loved it. She was also into watching Military/Spy shows, so I got her Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell®, and she loved it.
CooperHawkes
Easiest way I got my girlfriend hooked to Xbox was to say "I bet you're rubbish at this too!" Now obviously I'm not recommending this to everybody, but my girlfriend is VERY competitive. The game was Street Fighter® II' Hyper Fighting on the Xbox LIVE® Arcade, needless to say I ended up with a big bruise after she whacked me with the controller in frustration. But it did get her to at least acknowledge my Xbox 360™ and now she plays SF2, Mortal Kombat and Tony Hawk.
Craigy Spinner
Texas Hold 'em
Card games are a good first game. My wife plays Texas Hold 'em on a regular basis on XBL, and is beginning to branch out into other arcade games. Simplicity in games seems to be the key for some women. We also hook up the old original NES that I bought back in '87 every now and then. Two button, two player, side-scrolling action is still addictive!
MAVER1CK
Don't make them feel silly for not knowing the basics, something you have known for years might be newfound info to them. This is also a good reason to introduce her to it when it is just the two of you.
Diginoize
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
The Elder Scrolls® IV: Oblivion™. Being in a first-person view, it's an excellent game to teach a needed skill to enjoy any FPS game.
Kracus
I think most girls are suckers for games that they can make their own (female) character in, i.e. The Sims, World of Warcraft, etc.
Scorpion WINS
She gets into playing a co-op game with me where she can help. (I finally got all 1000 achievements on Dynasty Warriors® 5: Empires with her help!)
MiScOnCePt1oN
Simply wait for the right opportunity and unleash their unknown love of gaming for them. Find a game, or a console, or anything that sparks their interest. They won't believe how much they enjoy it, and they will soon understand why we loved it all along!
MuckRak3r
All it took was Lumines™ Live! on Live Arcade. I then had to fight for my 360 back and constantly one-up her scores.
TriZ
Start with Viva Piñata and ease her into it. My gf loves it and now she wants to try others such as Oblivion, Rainbow Six Vegas, etc.
Sadistic Cao Pi
But be careful what you wish for…
I think the last thing anybody really wants is their girlfriend playing their video games. You may think you do, but really, you do not. I had this problem and she became so addicted to some of the games that I had to fight her for the controller. My next girlfriend will never be introduced to my gaming. She can just sit in the other room and watch Desperate Housewives or something.
WH COLDFIRE
