I’m a 30 year old woman who’s only really played card and puzzle games on my phone. Im considering new hobbies. Is it worth trying to get into video games for the first time. Where would I even start.
Get an emulation handheld and play some great retro games
If you like puzzle games I suggest trying portal. Portal 1 is inexpensive on Steam and playable on any modern PC including on Linux. It’s low pressure, has some humor, not very violent, and you can restart from anywhere you like.
Get a switch lite, yeah. I highly recommend playing star fox 64, Pokemon stadium, and the older legend of Zelda games. They are very good entry points into gaming and are all available via a Nintendo online membership.
Can I go completely 180 and suggest programming as a hobby? If you want a hobby where you’re in a computer. Then try learning to program little things. If you work on a computer then it’ll make things easier for you in the future, it’ll keep your brain sharp and teaches you problem solving.
maybe something like Minecraft or terraria? I’d recommend starting with the classics, no shooter games or stuff like that.
Steam would be a great place to start. Tons of games, many of them free. If you’re willing to buy some hardware, getting a Switch would be a good bet. Lots of excellent games, many of them are beginner-friendly.
As much as I hate Nintendo and how they’ve changed, their ganes are super approchable for new players.
I’d recommend Portal and its (much better) sequel Portal 2. Excellent puzzle games, good writing, fun characters and short. It should take you abojt 3-5 hours if you have never played a 3D video game before.
Oh and btw the website linked is Steam, the most beloved PC game buying plateform. Be aware that you shouldn’t buy the games at full price on stem, check websites like instant gaming, humble bundle or fanatical to get better deals (-80% sometimes!) On these alternative websites you will get a code that has to be activated in the steam app (downloaded on your computer). Search “activate steam game code” on YouTube for explanations on how to do that.
Portal should cost about ~3$ now (it’s a 2007 game so it can run on basically anything)
Of course portal and portal 2 are fantastic games but I would never recommend them to someone who has never played a game before. One of the reasons it’s so good is because it subverts the tropes and even mechanics of other games.
Yes.
Everyone has different preferences, so it can be difficult to judge what you may like or dislike. Even in gaming, there are such disparate subcommunities that one subcommunity may not even know of the existence of another. I personally prefer slow paced, artistic, single player games and I can’t stand multi-player games, much less competitive ones.
So my answer is there’s likely something for you somewhere, but without more information, I wouldn’t know how you would begin finding that something
Loads of great experiences and tons of diversity. I’ve had lot of great experiences through video games and it’s never too late to start.
You could start with by looking through some video game threads and asking more specific question like “I’m new to video games, what are some games that you recommend that are not to hard to pick up” or something.
Recommend: Portal
I personally think you should give Portal a shot, it’s a 3D puzzle game that you can run on any computer and is one of the best games of all time, it’s also pretty funny on top of that.
Video Games are a broad medium, akin to reading. Asking “should I get into books?” would be similarly difficult to answer.
Also, be mindful of sturgeon’s law. 90% of everything is crap. For every “Taylor Swift” that was widely popular and successful, there’s 9 meh bands no one remembers.
All of that said, it’s a wide and deep medium with a lot of experiences.
If you like card games, there’re related genres. Deck builders are popular. Slay the Spire is popular. Cobalt Core is fun and not as hard. Monster Train is pretty good.
Those are all also “rogue lites”, so you could make the leap from there to something like FTL.
Lots of options.
Probably don’t spend a lot of money up front. Stuff goes on sale on Steam pretty often.
Probably avoid “gacha” games that are free to play or have “loot box” stuff. Those tend to be exploitive and bad.
In general, it’s worth getting to video games. I would caution against trying corporate-created games, mainly because they are a money sink (for you) first and worthwhile entertainment second. There are a lot of “indie” games out there typically created by people truly passionate on their craft… you can take a look at them and see if it interests you.
- Stardew Valley
- Songs of Conquest
- No Man’s Sky
- Factorio
- Disco Elysium
Get a Nintendo console. Nintendo Games are absolutely a gateway drug. They’re high quality and generally very easy to get into.
Depends on what you want to achieve.
Video games are an easy way of losing yourself in a hobby for an afternoon. Can become addictive and you may lose the entire weekend.
Do you want games that focus on the social aspect and make friends? The story? Quick reactions and precise timing? Building something? Compete? Challenge yourself and improve (at ultimately a pointless task in a video game)? Simulate something accurately?
Before you start, as a gamer what do you non gamers do to spend your free time on anyway?
No
