Thursday, October 18, 2012

A Girls Guide to Gaming and First Person Shooters

Disclaimer: This post is directed at beginners. I know there are girls out there who can outplay most of the boys ::cough::cough::Amanda::cough::Brandi::cough::Megan::cough::cough:: among many others! So you are not allowed to judge me, however, any other tips and opinions are appreciated in the comments section :)

If there is one thing I know all too well, it is the frustration that comes from living with an avid gamer, when you are not. Watching them play for hours a day (you think I'm exaggerating) can be boring and sometimes infuriating.  I can not tell you how many times I have sat on the couch, while Colin is playing some shoot-em-up game for the 18th hour that day, thinking "OMG just stop! THIS IS SO STUPID". That's because I didn't, and still don't fully understand first-person shooters. I am not good at them, so I hate them. Yes, narrow-minded, I know.

When Colin and I first met I was working at GameStop (he'll argue and say that it was when I worked at Sam Goody, but I don't count selling him CDs as meeting...but that's beyond the point). I knew NOTHING about video games. Zip.Zilch.Nada.

I figured since customers constantly asked about how games were, and I would either have to ask the boys, or re-iterate what I had heard them telling someone else earlier, maybe I should start playing. I should form my own opinions about the games. So I asked for a coworker to teach me.. I went to his house and we started playing Call of Duty. His idea of teaching me was running around killing me every five seconds..No tips other than "DUCK!". Not very effective when you don't know how to run let alone duck. Now, I wont mention any names ::ahem::Jared::ahem::, but he was a jerk ;P and I learned nothing. This brings us to my first tip.

#1. Don't ask someone to teach you.
They will get frustrated. You will get frustrated. You wont learn anything.

So after my Call of Duty experience, I was less than enthused about gaming. I felt like trying was pointless, I will just stick to Mario Party and that's the end of it.
Then this talk about a new game started going around. A wonderful game where you could build teddy bear guns and use your right bumper to slow down time while the game aimed for you. Awh yes, Fallout 3 <3.

#2. Playing first person shooters takes practice.
One of the main obstacles I personally faced with first person shooters, was the movements of the game. When I watched the boys play, everything was smooth and seamless. They made it look so easy. Then I went to play and the movements were jerky and inaccurate. Lame.
With VATS in Fallout 3 I was able to experience some of the fluidity that I saw when I watched the boys play Call of Duty.
As I played more and more, I started to become less and less dependent on VATS and was progressively able to produce the same fluid movements as the boys. Woohoo!

What was this?! I was actually ENJOYING a video game? I never thought I would see the day.

#3. Do NOT play video games with your significant other when you are just learning.
I REPEAT DO NOT! I have never been more angry at Colin in my life, than when we were playing video games together. I love him, but he is a jerk! He got mad, frustrated, yelled, you name it. O did I mention we were playing LEGO BATMAN?!?! What was supposed to be a night of superhero fun saving Gotham City, turned into me throwing the controller at him.

Lesson here? Boys are jerks and fun-ruiners.

And with that..

#4. Have fun. Who cares if you suck.
 One night when Colin was in class, I was watching Netflix alone at home. An invite to play Battlefield popped up on the TV screen. I went on simply to let Danny know that Colin was in class, and he told me to play then. Reluctantly I did.
I was horrible and died every other second, but I had SO much fun! I didn't even care how terrible I was doing.


Moral of the story? Give it a try. You never know, you may find that you actually enjoy the same damn Xbox that you were cursing for stealing your husband for a few hours yesterday.

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2 comments:

  1. I love Kaydee! (And I totally worked at Sam Goody as well) And Suncoast. And a music/movie/video game used place called the Music Recyclery. My husband is not a gamer, but I've dated them in the past!

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  2. #3 is so much the truth! I have to play and learn games without my hubby around. He's had a controlled "tossed" his way a time or two.

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