Menu Close

Does The Woman In Your Life Play Video Games?

I've done articles on girl gamers before and in fact, one of them generated such an outpouring of feedback from female gamers everywhere that my inbox exploded over the weekend. But I've been wondering: we all tend to assume that a guy gamer's fantasy is to find a really cute girl who is also into his favorite hobby. And as the industry grows and the years wear on, this is becoming less and less of a novelty.

So the question is, does your significant other or girlfriend play video games? And if so, are you responsible for getting her into this form of entertainment or did she already have a big ol' game collection when you met her? And if you are currently without a lady, do you want to find someone who shares your enjoyment of the interactive video medium? …how many different names can I come up with for "video games?" Anyway, the goal is to see if the old-school "fantasy" remains the same for both long-time gamers and gamers from a new generation. Personally, I'd have difficulty finding anything wrong with a girl who plays games but at the same time, perhaps there's something a little boring about being with someone who's too much like you. I mean, I suppose there's no shortage of conversation due to your shared interests but sometimes, there are particular differences between couples that prove to be the most appealing and, well, "spark-inducing." So, what's your take on this? Anybody ever date a chick who loved games but still turned out to be intolerable?

I suppose my problem is that my generation never really had girl gamers. That would be like guys playing with Barbie dolls; it just wasn't done that often. Therefore, women around 30 years of age still don't understand gaming and see it as a kid's hobby…but then again, I've outlined all this before. I'm not about to start again. 😉

182 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
TGG
TGG
14 years ago

The fact that she plays games at all would be cool, I think.

BikerSaint
BikerSaint
14 years ago

Ben,
I think you're absolutely right about that male to female ratio.

I'm in my 5 local GS/EB store about 4 to 5 times a week & I've only seen a ratio of about 16 females to 1,000 males in there all year.

And every time, the woman's reading off the game from her written shopping list, either getting the game as a gift for a friend, or it's for her own son.
Most of the time, the woman will ask questions that let's me know she's not really a gamer, questions either about the game itself, or what system it's supposed to be for. And even after she get's the info, she still seems puzzled. Plus, the majority of the time, she's asking for a WI or DS game.

And it's even worse in my local mom & pop Bandit Video games store, because I've never seen a woman in there, ever.

My own feeling is it's a real shame that we don't have a lot more woman gamers(along with more cute female motorcycle riders too, but I've done my share to boost their ridership, by helping to teach about 10 of them to ride).

Anyway, in the last couple years, I have noticed that slowly, there's more & more female gamers on gaming sites now, so at least that's a big plus for future gaming percentages.

(OK, all you gaming cuties 18 & over out there, go get yourself a Harley, & call me in the morning)

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
14 years ago

The question is, if you are trying to get with a girl gamer and are playing a game against each other, do you let her win?

Ben Dutka PSXE
Ben Dutka PSXE
14 years ago

Not in a million years.

WorldEndsWithMe
WorldEndsWithMe
14 years ago

haha, you were quick on that one!

King James
King James
14 years ago

Hmmm….good question. Depends on how much gaming patience she has? and how fine she is? 😉

Nynja
Nynja
14 years ago

Ah ha! It's not about letting her win. It's about winning with her.

What worked in getting my girlfriend into games were the co-op ones. Anything that is co-op, she want's to play. Something about teaming up and taking on the world together gets them excited. This way you share the victory or defeat with her.

NeoHumpty
NeoHumpty
14 years ago

Yeah, we don't like playing fighting games against each other because I'll start learning combos and whooping up on her. She can, however, beat me fairly steadily on Mario Kart. That's why I've already got approval to buy Modnation.

johnld
johnld
14 years ago

i usually get myself beat almost until i'm dying then come back and win. its pretty fun. hahaha

YesterdysRising
YesterdysRising
14 years ago

I'm single right now and since school keeps me really busy I don't have much free time, but when I do, I squeeze in my video game time. I've never really had a girlfriend that's been into games though. I've had a couple that would watch me play but that's it. I think it would be pretty sweet to have a gamer girl but it's not a necessity. As long as she's not the type of girl who thinks they are stupid and gets mad if I play. I couldn't handle someone like that. I have some friends who get assigned a certain amount of "play time" a week by their wife and I don't understand how they deal with that. The second a girl tries to put me on a schedule is the moment she gets a swift kick out the door.

frylock25
frylock25
14 years ago

those guys that let their women tell them what to do like that want their women to tell them what to do like that. personally i have to agree, my gf complains sometimes about how much im playing. i just tell her she can find something else to do.

shindelion
shindelion
14 years ago

My fiance plays games. She loves War Hawk, and Little Big planet but she got damn good at it, kick ma ass at it most of the times. So I change game to something we both would win 😉

King James
King James
14 years ago

Holy crap! She plays Warhawk?!
No wonder you popped the question.

shindelion
shindelion
14 years ago

yup, she likes it. I'm looking forward to the next one.

frylock25
frylock25
14 years ago

i would have to say that it is my fault my gf is into video games. as a matter of fact she tells me as much. she has told me several times how she never cared about playing video games before me. she actually just saw me writing this and now wants to read the article when i am done. 😉

she is more of the casual facebook gamer. she has her farm and some pet on there. i dont really care for facebook at all nor those games. i recently got her to try god of war 3 and she is having a lot of fun. she doesnt like to watch me play but when she is playing its all good. she really wants to play heavy rain and even played the demo a few times.

she has a serious orientation problem with the controller. i tell her r1 she presses r2 or l2 or l1. anything but the button she is supposed to press.

she grew up on n64 and knows sonic and mario type games. she gets lost on a lot of this generations games. i think they are to complicated. she likes simpler games from the psn a lot. zombie apocalyse, zuma and even bought uno and bloons cuz she wanted to try them.

she watched me play bioshock 2 and now she talks about wanting to try it. she watches me play mag and wants to try that. i let her try the training part of mag and she did horrible. most of it comes back to her not knowing the controller well enough.

King James
King James
14 years ago

Wow, frylock. Thats a trooper right there. I'd say keep her. 🙂

SvenMD
SvenMD
14 years ago

That's my problem too frylock. My wife could do OK back in the days of the 2 button NES controller….but now there are just too many options and too many things to do at once.

CH1N00K
CH1N00K
14 years ago

Yeah that's where my girl is to. Anything that forces here to use anything other than a d-pad and she doesn't enjoy it. She'll play the Sega Genesis collection I found her playing some classic NES this weekend, but that's pretty much it.

Although her and I used to play Burnout on the PS2 all the time before the PS3 days, so I was a little choked when Paradise City launched with only single player. We used to have a great time with head to head road rage events all the time, now we can't do that anymore.

When I met her, she owned an original Xbox which was cool, but she stilled loved her Mario Cart more. Her biggest complaint is that the new controls have too many buttons..


Last edited by CH1N00K on 5/3/2010 8:25:46 AM

inkme101
inkme101
14 years ago

mine dont play games but she does play with my wii! LOLOLOL ikid ikid

my ol' lady hated gaming until we got the wii and now shes pretty into it!

hopefully when the move comes out i can get her into some more hardcore games!

King James
King James
14 years ago

The ol' Trojan Horse trick, eh?

Sunni_Boi
Sunni_Boi
14 years ago

My Chick Loves Playing Uncharted 2, and She Owns A Wii And Psp

Robochic
Robochic
14 years ago

@ worldendswithme, yep I'm married sorry 🙂

I didn't really get into certain games until I met my husband, he introduced me to final fantasy first, I was more into the FPS, and tomb raider stuff like that when I met him, he expanded my collection, now I'm a bigger console gamer than he is, he's more into PC gaming (WOW. Starcraft) he's trying to get me to try starcraft (beta) since I got my code but I would rather just play on the PS3 I am not a fan of PC gaming.

@ worldendswithme never let a girl win, we don't like men who can't stand a little competition, now if she's new to it, introduce her to something like LBP or something on the PSN 🙂 start something simple, or if she's anything like me and loves to kill things Naughty bear is releasing soon LOL jk.

King James
King James
14 years ago

@Robochic
You have to try Starcraft. Maybe not the new beta, but definitely the original. One of the best games of our times.

spiderboi
spiderboi
14 years ago

I'm proud to say my girl's somewhat of a gamer. We play Marvel Ultimate Alliance (1&2), LBP and Band Hero (so sue us :p) on the PS3, and she's into puzzler games in the PSP.

XxNoir
XxNoir
14 years ago

I'm single so i can't really reply to the article the same as others but I'll try my best ;]

I wasn't very aware of the sheer number of girl gamers until i played…[wait for it…wait for it.]….Uncharted 2!! ;D In nearly every game i played there was a girl and a lot of them actually kicked my ass.

You guys are probably going to like this bit,a girl i met on uncharted 2 is actually one of my closest friends now.We have a really good friendship even though we've never even met[and it doesn't hurt that we get to kick butt together….playing video games of course!] ;]

LegendaryWolfeh
LegendaryWolfeh
14 years ago

my ex was an avid gamer, but now i have no one to game with =(

Gamer Girl Gemo
Gamer Girl Gemo
14 years ago

I'll be your P2! ;D

Qubex
Qubex
14 years ago

That's really cool of you GGG… wish we had more gamer girls like you around 🙂

Q!

"play.experience.enjoy"

Gamer Girl Gemo
Gamer Girl Gemo
14 years ago

I think we all know what's going to come of my comment. I absolutely adore video games and I plan to someday, as I've mentioned before in another article, become a 3D animator. I've played video games my whole life since I was 3 years old and I'm proud to say that I'm up in the ranks with the guys 😉
I can kick some booty on MW2, Guitar Hero (I play expert, mind you), and I own at wii (Big accomplishment there, eh?). Let's just say I'm a hardcore gamer girl and my sisters, yes my older sisters, are to blame for getting the controller in my hands. The Mario theme song was my constant lullaby the moment I came home from the hospital. So, in other words, I'm the biggest nerd and tech junkie of a girl you could possibly meet.
Watch out guys, you got yourself some competition 😉

King James
King James
14 years ago

U sound like my homegirl, Chelsie. She aims for the head and pwns noobs on xbox live everytime I've watched her play.

Hezzron
Hezzron
14 years ago

"I can kick some booty on MW2…"

Them's fighting words! You better bring your "A-game" if you run into me.

Aw, who am I kidding…..I'm the guy cowering in the corner saying "Please, not in the face!"

Alienange
Alienange
14 years ago

I have never ever EVER seen someone write "I own at wii."

I'll be damned if that's not the funniest thing I've heard in 2010.

Gamer Girl Gemo
Gamer Girl Gemo
14 years ago

@Alienange

Lol that's what I was aiming for, don'tcha know?! 😀
I'll get the Wii remote calibrated faster than you can say "Wii!"

nogoat23
nogoat23
14 years ago

I'm currently single, and honestly, I'd rather find a girl that plays basketball and loves to go camping and hiking than one that games as much as I do.

Vivi_Gamer
Vivi_Gamer
14 years ago

I actually agree with you, i like to think of gaming as my own guilty pleasure.

Alienange
Alienange
14 years ago

Guilty?! No need to feel guilty because of some hiker.

Atoris
Atoris
14 years ago

My Wife plays perhaps more games than I do. I bought Heavy Rain and I went to sleep. I woke up in the morning just in time to view the ending for Heavy Rain….. Another episode, I bought MAG and was playing and then she says she wanted to play, so I went out and bought another copy for her. And now her level is higher than mine. She also plays Uncharted 2 online more than I do lol

King James
King James
14 years ago

Sucks she spoiled the Heavy Rain ending for you.

FM23
FM23
14 years ago

My girlfriend does not play video games unless they are Wii based, everything else is just, in her words "Too complicated to waste time trying to understand". I told her most games have better stories and music scores than most movies (refering mostly to MGS series at the time), but she didn't care anyway because she isn't that much into movies either. Me and my girlfriend think the same, but we don't do the same things and that is why we work so perfectly. But if she played the mature titles that come out on PS3 or Xbox 360, I would love that because we would have alot to do together in our down time inside the house besides you know what. I try to make her play, but she just doesn't care and I don't think she cares if she isn't good because she isn't afraid of embarassment so she probably just doesn't find it interesting. I think girls who plays games are sexy, but to tell you the truth, I find that most of the girls who plays games on a level that I do are either very macho or not that attractive. I am not saying every girl gamer is like this, but I know a lot a true girl gamers that I wouldn't date if I had a girlfriend. But if my girlfriend were a gamer, man she would be even hotter…I guess…lol

Lucifer_Light
Lucifer_Light
14 years ago

I'm female, and sad to say, my significant other aka man of the house is no gamer. I managed to rope him into playing MGS and I'm so proud of him when he completed all 4 MGSes on the Playstation. My fellow gamers and I managed to get him hooked onto Gears of War and I played co-op with him for both games. I'm trying to get him to play Splinter Cell and Uncharted, but to no avail. Well, at least he plays Mario and he kinda loves the new super mario bros.

I'm not really complaining, I get to hog the TV and sound system all I like. But it does get kinda lonesome as I will be downstairs blasting my way through Gran Pulse and he'll be upstairs looking through cars website. Since he loves cars so much, I'm going to try to get him to play GT5 with me soon.

King James
King James
14 years ago

Don't get him GT5!!!

Ben Dutka PSXE
Ben Dutka PSXE
14 years ago

Cool. A backwards story…so rare. 😉

Lucifer_Light
Lucifer_Light
14 years ago

@King James: Why not GT5? I would have thought it's one of the games to get a driving enthusiast.

@Ben: Well, granted that I was the one who intro-ed gaming to him. And now with him prepping for his anesthetics exams, it would so much more difficult for him to sit and hold that controller.

King James
King James
14 years ago

You'll ruin his life. The man you know & love with goals and aspirations will wanna nothing but play GT5….another GT fan is born. Just kidding, but seriously doe don't buy him GT5 if u want him to still accomplish things in life.

😉


Last edited by King James on 5/4/2010 9:28:55 PM

King James
King James
14 years ago

I'm single right now. I used to be so busy between skool and work, that I didn't have time for a gf. But now that I've graduated, and I'll I do is work and party on weekends…I don't want a gf. lol

I honestly never had any gfs that I would call gamers. I'm 23 but I like older women. So I usually date women that are 2-15 yrs older than me.

Some have just watched me played. Some were totally uninterested. But there were some would play a few games with me like LBP, Tekken, and I even had one play Fallout 3 once.

But they all seem to lack the hand-eye coordination w/ the controller. In my experience, most of them stopped playing games after the controllers got analog sticks, so they don't understand controllers that have them. They just can't use it. I was hilarious when one of my ex's was playing Halo 1 (she just moveed the LS and had the character strafing everywhere b/c she couldn't turn him with the RS) but I got concerned after I saw the exact same issue with future girls I let play shooters or any game that required 2 sticks to play. Its like they can't use both thumbs! The left works fine but the right just doesn't move.

However, I do know a couple of legit girl gamers. They play all the hardcore games that use controllers (not the Wii). They play online. They pre-order games. And they can hold great gaming convo's w/ u if u test their knowledge. Hell, one of them put me on Katamiri! But all of them are either overweight (I'm 6'2" 175, I can't date a girl as heavy as me), or they're just not my type.

I guess having a gf – that appreciates games as much as I do – on team would be nice…I'll prolly never find one doe. The two women I'm talking to now are ages 28 and 41….I don't c it happening lol.

Plus I like the fact that I'm the only 1 playing games in the house. So when I want to play my game, I dont have to worry about some hot chick hogging my PS3.
😉

RadioHeader
RadioHeader
14 years ago

lol they say women are the multitasking champions but apparently that doesn't including moving both thumbs at the same time.

FxTales
FxTales
14 years ago

Ok skipping back to the "losing to a girl during a game" thing, don't, I wouldn't want that done for my sake. If I'm good I'll prove it.

natho86
natho86
14 years ago

My girl is no gamer she likes the wii but that doesnt count since i sold the thing. But my friend came around the other night with his new girl,we had a few beers and put some MAG on, she asked for a go just after i came first in my platoon and she ended up beating all 255 players on there she absoulty dusted everyone.

Turns out she is in game design and is a pro i cant win a game against her now so i just sit back and drink my arse off!

RadioHeader
RadioHeader
14 years ago

No, for I am happily single. The only bi*** in my life likes to eat, dig, swim, play fetch, eat, chase rabbits, sleep fourteen hours a day and eat… She is a Labrador without the opposable thumbs 🙂

RadioHeader
RadioHeader
14 years ago

Oh, so that's why I was in moderation land. Sorry for the 'B' word but that IS the name for female canines, you know?