Looking around online I found the following wiki-article: ‘How to get your girlfriend to play Video Games.’ Apparently it has been of use to some men out there because it has about 260,000 hits and its rated as a featured article by the wikipedia articles. I’ve included some of my favorite excerpts in my post:
“Many men will be forced, at some point, to part with their beloved game console by supreme order of their female companions.”
“Do not grab for the controls or tell her what to do every 10 seconds. Unless she asks, don’t tell her what she did wrong every time she makes a mistake. You figured this out on your own – she will too.”
“Try some simple button mash games, such as God of War, and Devil May Cry. They are really simple and have easily recognizable humor, and in devil may cry, you can have her play as the girl.”
And, my favorite: “When and if she starts to beat you on a consistent basis, do *NOT* stop playing the game with her. Remember you wanted this.”
I highly recommend scrolling through the article- it provided me with many laughs. But then, it also made me think about why I thought some of the parts of the article were funny – because I think they are true! When the authors suggest that girls will be more willing to play as a female character, I agree. When the authors say that most girls enjoy making their characters (such as a Mii or a Sims character), I think they are spot on. After our class discussion yesterday and the articles I have stumbled upon in my online searches, I think there is something to be said for the ‘girl-gamer sterotype’. And although I that attitudes towards women as well as video-game playing women have been the primary focus of the ‘gender in videogames’ discussion, I think that attitudes and stereotypes towards videogaming men are important to consider as well.
All in all, the article seemed more focused on how to get a new gamer to start playing videogames. I am pretty sure that most of the methods outlined in this article would work for you brother, best friend, uncle, or mom. The linked article at the bottom, ‘How to find a girlfriend who likes videogames’ was almost as amusing as this one!
http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Your-Girlfriend-to-Play-Video-Games
P.S. I found this chart on another article, a comical look at how men and women would construct an exchange rate:
http://www.notaddicted.com/forums/showthread.php?t=542