I Accidentally Converted My Wife Into A Video Game Addict

For all of my life, I've been playing video games. My wife has not. This is for the editorial fellowship.

My wife's gaming knowledge previously began and ended with MySims Kingdom. After dating me for a while and hearing me ramble about video games, she decided to give some a try.

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First we tried some co-op games. That didn't go so well. We tried Overcooked, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, and Mario Tennis Aces. She was great at Mario Tennis Aces (her favorite character was Waluigi), but she wasn't a fan of working together with me. If there was a funny way to sabotage me in NSMBUD, she found it. So I tried another idea.

Spectating

I let her watch me play some of my favorite games and let her jump in and try whenever she wanted. Some games included Animal Crossing, Pokemon Shield, Bioshock, DOOM (2016), and Horizon: Zero Dawn. The more she played and watched, the more feedback I got.

This gave me some ideas on what I thought she might enjoy, and what I thought she might want to stay away from. Here's what I gathered:

-She liked third person.

-She hated first person shooting.

-She needed a goal, not something open-ended like Animal Crossing.

-She enjoyed violence.

With these ideas in mind, I came to the conclusion that The Last of Us Remastered would be the game to hook her.

Naughty Dog

The Creation

My hypothesis was correct. I booted up TLOU Remastered and handed her the controller, only saying that this was one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time. Very quickly, she was sucked into the grim and bleak world presented in the game through its setting and characters. She grew an attachment to Joel and Ellie, enjoying every moment of dialogue between them, eagerly watching each cutscene. She played almost every moment in the game (I took over for the hospital fight at the end), savoring every moment she got to loot and manage her inventory.

Once we beat it, we wondered where to go next. What game could top this? I somehow landed on Assassin's Creed Syndicate, not knowing what I had just done.

She is 50 hours into Syndicate and has been addicted to it. She has spent so much time running around England, murdering any enemy in sight. She has loved meeting the historical figures in the game, getting the best gear, and (rightfully) saying how much better the one main character, Evie, is than the other, Jacob. It has been so humorous and fun watching her zipline her way around London, learning new aspects that are present in many video games.

What I Learned

Ubisoft

My wife has become a fan of video games now, and it's been a lot of fun. I never expected her to enjoy them; rather, I just wanted to show her why I have liked them for so long, and her playing them has been an added bonus. She has now broadened her games she plays to Tetris 99 too, but mostly because:

"A game needs a catchy theme an unbridled violence" (My Wife, 2021).

Playing video games with your significant other is an easy way to enjoy a form of art together, or, depending on the game, a way to test your relationship.