How Shambling Zombies Brought My Girlfriend And I Closer (And Reminded Me That Games Have A Long Ways To Go)

36 Comments Posted November 19, 2009 - By Patrick Klepek

How Zombies Brought My Girlfriend And I Closer (And Reminded Me Games Have A Ways To Go)

My girlfriend isn't one of those people who likes to sit and watch other people playing video games. The moment the screen lights up and the controller pulses, sync complete, either she's flipped open her netbook, found a book between the couch cushions or simply left entirely to watch a recorded show in another room. But she'll stick around if she can get involved in the action, like a Wii Sports Resort or the litany of LEGO-linked video games (LEGO Batman being her favorite).

It's not that she doesn't like video games; she loves them, proudly carrying a DS in her purse. It's that modern video games, largely dependent on a nuanced understanding of the interaction between two analog sticks complemented by the litany of buttons both on top and to the side of the controller, overwhelm her. I've seen it happen to plenty of other people. They want one stick and an A button, maybe a B. But not X, Y, L1, RB, LB -- you know what I mean. It took one video game to change that.

BioShock, because of its surprisingly deep contextual weaving of the writings of Ayn Rand?

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony, due to its respectful treatment of homosexuality?

Nope.

Left 4 Dead, owed to the fact that it let her live out an impossible fantasy: slaughtering zombies.

Left 4 Dead 2 Boycott Ending Next Week

This is not the first time I've written about this. Almost a year ago when the original Left 4 Dead was released, I first documented my girlfriend's experience coming to grips with the dexterity demands of the video games we debate day in and day out over at the MTV Multiplayer blog. But with Valve having launched Left 4 Dead 2 on PC and Xbox 360 this week and my girlfriend being one of the active participants who helped me review the sequel, it seemed like a topic to revisit here at G4.

As I wrote before, from the beginning I knew Left 4 Dead was a poor choice for introducing her into this environment but I had no options; she wanted to come to grips with all of these new buttons and mapped movement options explicitly because of the subject matter. She'd sought out time with Left 4 Dead because the prospect of properly mowing down a zombie horde was far more appealing than tackling the aliens in Resistance 2 (which she called "ugly") or Gears of War 2 ("no comment").

"My poor friends," I thought to myself during her first game. Instead of sticking to offline split-screen for her first adventures against the undead, my friends asked me to hop online, so I brought her along for the ride. Luckily, both were friends that knew this was her first attempt to try this fan-dangled shooter thing, so they were understanding when nearly every time we failed a stage it was because of her. But even I had trouble remaining patient with her sometimes -- a personal failing of understanding.

"She's trying," I'd tell myself, but that didn't make the frequent Smoker attacks less frustrating.

These were some very clear problems my girlfriend had when first trying out Left 4 Dead:

The difference between left button and left trigger ("Why are there two?")
Having to literally look up to climb a ladder ("Why do I keep falling off?")
Moving and shooting at the same time ("I always have to stop and aim.")
The amount of buttons on the controller ("I keep tapping X instead of Y.")

There was one comment that underscored everything.

She asked how I could move the screen around while running at the same time. "Uh, because the other stick lets you look around?" I said jokingly. Except, she was serious. She'd never put two and two together. And this has proven the biggest obstacle even a year later, after Left 4 Dead 2's release. When we both jumped into the Dead Center campaign to tango with some mall zombies, her ability to manipulate both movement and aiming simultaneously had improved (largely because she became temporarily obsessed with Batman: Arkham Asylum -- remember the LEGO connection?), but it still remained a significant obstacle to success in a twitch-based shooter like Left 4 Dead 2.

We have much further to go to give them [new players] the tools to enjoy the best of what gaming has to offer

I always appreciate playing these games with her because it reminds me how far we've come with introducing casual players to games with DS and Wii...but we have much farther to go to give them the tools necessary to enjoy what we typically associate with the best gaming has to offer on a deeper level. Unlike movies, music or books, a certain skill-set is required to enjoy video games. That doesn't exist in any other medium, but if the concept of slaughtering zombies or the embodiment of Batman was enough to get my girlfriend to dive in and figure it out, maybe everyone has their own hook out there.

The controller will always remain an obstacle. Even though Nintendo has brought gaming to an entirely new audience, they're being indoctrinated on another control approach. Maybe Project Natal and Sony's unnamed motion controller can help bridge the gap. As it stands, even if someone wants something more than what's available on Nintendo's platforms, coming to grips with what's being asked of their hands isn't going to stop being an issue.

The industry has one extreme and the other. It's not enough. We need something in the middle.

For now, I'll keep playing Left 4 Dead with my girlfriend. Boomer! (Not again...)

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Tags: Videogames

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nbabballer

My wife has the same problem, she always complains to me on why there are so many buttons! I just laugh at her but she gives me this look like I am dead serious. But there are certain games that she does like to play. For example Little Big Planet, she loves the cute little sack buddy and it doesnt get her sick like MW2 (motion sickness)

So i completely agree with on how difficult it must be for new gamers to pick up a remote and enjoy the game how it should be enjoyed.

To quote my wife "remember the NES remotes, I miss them"

Posted: November 19, 2009 5:40 PM | Reply | Report

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tha_destroyer_86

yeah i agree it took me a while to get my girl to get into games the first game my girl got into was resistence 2 where we could both play she sucked at first of course but she actually got pretty good at it she currently still plays and is almost supreme commander. like me oh and she likes uncharted 2 and little big planet too.

Posted: November 19, 2009 5:44 PM | Reply | Report

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Bazinga

imo, the keyboard and mouse of pc gaming is alot more noob friendly. the two buttons on the top of a mouse are hard to mix up. and camera movement being moving the mouse around comes naturally considering every non-gamer had experiance using a mouse. and then pick 4 keys for movement, either the arrows or wasd; probably arrows for a beginner, and its alot more straightforward. once that is down, you can gradually start adding other buttons, such as the button ont he side of your mouse, and additional keys on the keyboard, crtl, shift, enter, page up, page down, and delete.

Posted: November 19, 2009 5:45 PM | Reply | Report

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gear176

My girlfriend liked watching uncharted 2 because she said it was like a movie. She also jumps into some modern warfare 2 from time to time so its all fun.

Posted: November 19, 2009 5:48 PM | Reply | Report

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RedObsidion

You Bring up a wonderful point with this article; the hardest thing for people who don't play games to get over is the controller. It's very overwhelming to look at either the PlayStation of Xbox controller and want to take that on. However i think the Wii presents a new Problem; The Wii controller is very inviting but i think also while the motion control's add something they also take away , think about how many different actions there are in certain games and how many different combination's there are to achieve them. Now add the fact that those actions are in the Triple a titles that help sharp the industry- the type of games you want people to play- the ones you can say "this is why im a gamer" to; uncharted, Gears, Splinter cell, the final fantasy's all of the have way to many actions that i think the wii's motion control's are a hindrance to rather than a help. Now this brings up the biggest problem, with all three manufactures now getting into the motion control scene who is this going to impact titles like the ones i just spoke of? Splinter cell project Natal? I don't think so Assassins creed Motion deluxe? We call them hardcore games but really what hardcore means (and i reason i hate using the word hardcore) is substance , plot, charterers you care about and game play that's awesome. im all for making games more accessible but i don't want to see a sacrifice of AAA maturity just so Our Grandma's Grandpa's Girlfriends and Boyfriends who aren't gamers can pick up a wand and play tennis.

Posted: November 19, 2009 5:54 PM | Reply | Report

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Spacepope58

so a Lego of the Dead would be like the perfect game for her?

Posted: November 19, 2009 6:01 PM | Reply | Report

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Bazinga

i never got into consul gaming. im 22 and been playing video games as long as i remember. NES games and PC games. all the good early shooters were PC only and once they started coming out on the consuls, the lack of sensitivity on the analog sticks was reason enough to not bother. i think Halo 2 was my latest attempt. Was with some friends they wanted to play it, i wasnt enthusiastic but agreed. i set controller for max sensitivity and was getting nowhere near the response i get from my mouse. on the pc, its instant. i need to turn around, i flick my wrist, im around, no frames inbetween, it seems like a slow crawl on analog sticks, even on max sensitivity, i dont understand how people can stand it.

i do still have a wii and a ps3. the consuls are for entertaining guests, while the pc is for gaming against others online. the ps3 i mainly just use for blue rays and acouple group friendly games, namely little big planet and street fighter iv. and then wii is also for group friendly games, mostly wii sports.

Posted: November 19, 2009 6:09 PM | Reply | Report

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Metalstorm98

intresting article... so how do we as an industry allow hardcore games to be playable to a soft core audience but still challenging for the hardcore players at the same time?...

Posted: November 19, 2009 6:11 PM | Reply | Report

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tha_destroyer_86

that is an enigma metalstrom98

Posted: November 19, 2009 6:38 PM | Reply | Report

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JTHMROCKS

Having to literally look up to climb a ladder

That still gets me from time to time.

Posted: November 19, 2009 6:39 PM | Reply | Report

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HundredDollarBaby

if you haven't been playing fps games for a long time there's no way you could just pick up an xbox controller and play one these days. There's way too much going on. Recently a friend of mine has become interested in modern warfare. This is her first fps, and watching her play is a little amusing. The whole two stick thing just doesn't work with new players. My kill/death ratio is getting destroyed, but to be fair, it was pretty bad already.

Posted: November 19, 2009 7:24 PM | Reply | Report

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D2theAVID

I'm jealous, I can't even get my girlfriend to give videogames a serious shot. While she (shamefully) admits to having fun playing Wii games (boom blox, punch out, and that fishing game on wii sports), I had to bribe her and promise I would watch bridges of madison county with her before she would try an actual shooter.I haven't quite gotten around to my end of the bargain tho..

Posted: November 19, 2009 7:43 PM | Reply | Report

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CustosIntusSilentium

Well one thing to remember is that most of us have been playing since, what, we were 5? I started with the NES- just a D-pad, start, selects, and good ol' "A" and "B." That could be what she needs. Find a downloadable game that doesn't require all the buttons and have her try that for a while. Or just convince her to try something easier and less reflex based. There are other zombie games out there.

Posted: November 19, 2009 8:08 PM | Reply | Report

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InHumanMarine

Yep, start he/him off with some D-pad action and let them get the feel of the 2D game. It's like learning to ride a bike.

Posted: November 19, 2009 8:30 PM | Reply | Report

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tragedy93

My wife actually own me in most games- shooters included. We were both introduced to videogames as adults at the same time and she never had any of the problems most people seem to associate with female gamers, yes she likes rpg games with a bejewelled twist but she also is way farther along in Dragon Age than I am, I got frustrated a long time ago. I think that either I am extremely lucky, or gamer males underestimate their girlfriends (who may or may not be trying to perpetuate the myth for the sake of teir males ego... Or the general population (male and female) is less intelegent than even I give them credit for, because really the only thing stopping anyone from gaining the skill set necessary to game is having an open mind and a lot of free time...Or maybe most girls know there is more going on in life than MW2.

Posted: November 19, 2009 9:08 PM | Reply | Report

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MKulka31

Actually thinking about my girlfriend playing something as complex as like Assassin's Creed 2 makes me giggle inside.

Posted: November 19, 2009 9:24 PM | Reply | Report

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JLove89

For my fiance it was Halo. Our friends would come over and we would spend hours playing split screen. One day we were just relaxing and watching TV and out of the blue she says, "I want to learn how to play Halo so I play next time everyone comes over." We spent the rest of the day playing so she could get the hang of it. Since then she still plays with us when we have a big group over and we are slowly working our way through special Ops on MW2. She enjoys playing but it is more of a social thing for her, she does it to have fun with friends. The rest of time her reaction is the same as Patricks girlfriend (usually pulling out her laptop to harvest imaginary crops on Facebook). But she also never nags me about playing games like some of friends have to put up with, because she understands firsthand that it can be fun. I am lucky to have it so good.

Posted: November 19, 2009 11:40 PM | Reply | Report

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Aerindel_Prime

I bribed my girlfriend to play through the first two halo's by telling her that I would hold out on her until she got through. It worked, she got through both on normal difficulty but once she did that she never plays anything besides Hexic 2.

Her problem wasn't the controls, she just seemed to be constantly lost in the levels, It seemed like she just couldn't tell when she was going backwards in a game. I kept telling her, "See those bodies, you killed them, that means you've been here before(long pause) that means your going the wrong way"

We did go through ODST together on legendary but afterwords she admited that mostly she just followed me.

Posted: November 20, 2009 3:14 AM | Reply | Report

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iENDERi

Removing the controllers from the eqaution is probably not the answer. This story reminds me of when I properly got my wife into video game with Halo 2. She too, like most people including myself experienced the learning curve of Dual Analoge control, and although the first couple of weeks of playing single player with her was a slightly frustrating process, I kept my sanity by remembering my first encounter with this control set up back on PS2 with the Medal of Honor series.It definitely took some getting used to even for a seasoned gamer as myself. I knew that once she was able to wrap her brain around the concept she would be fine, and here she is today completing spec ops missions with me in Modern Warfare 2 on VETERAN difficulty. So I have to say that this new idea of taking away the controller to make games more accessible for new players is a flawed ideal considering that anything worth doing comes with a learning process. Gaming is an activity which is alot like a sport. And most sports have some sort of equipment that you must learn how to use. Imagine if they came up with some new "control method" that allowed you to play paintball in real life without learning how to handle a paintball gun or the other equipment associated with that game. Having paintballs fly out of a head mounted thought controlled device, or something bizarre. Even when the time comes when we have the option of using mind control to drive gameplay, which I hope is still far off, I think people will still connect better with a controller in hand, and feel the joy of refining their hand eye coordination.

Posted: November 20, 2009 3:35 AM | Reply | Report

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Ailya

This is such a boys club :L

Posted: November 20, 2009 3:58 AM | Reply | Report

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