Asklemmy

Yes, it is worth getting into video games. Mental quickness, friends, and less Alzheimers are some benefits.

People in this post are making excellent recommendations for quality commercial games.

I can recommend starting out in videogames, by getting into Free Software (Libre) games.

Libre Games cost nothing, have no spyware, and usually have positive, helpful, DIY focused communities.

Here is a post I made that lists a few of my favourite free games on desktop and mobile.

https://lemmy.world/post/20786563

If any on this list are too difficult or hard to set up, just skip.

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Historical note

The Fool's Errand game, from 1987, sold very well with women gamers. Over 50% IIRC.

It is a tricky puzzle game with Tarot Card theming and an excellent sense of humour.

Fool's Errand is not Free Software though, and way out of print. It could probably be emulated on a device that you have, PC or phone.

Game detail at Wikipedia

Play original Mac version online

PC version online

Heck yeah, my wife didn't play video games before she met me. Now she's obsessed with Assassins Creed, and Stardew Valley. Like others have said, there's something for everyone out there. You just gotta try stuff and see what you like.

Yes. It's a scalable hobby, and can run from virtually no cost to why-are-you-burning-money. But you can do a lot in gaming with little monetary investment.

There are lots of budget indie games that are lots of fun, and if you find out you like gaming and want to try more fancy titles, you can always upgrade hardware.

Minimal entry: your current pc. Install steam, and buy/try what you like, returning it if it's too slow/doesn't work.

Light entry: get familiar with your pc's ram size, hd/ssd size, cpu speed/type, and graphics card. Use that to ensure your pc can handle the game by looking at the game's minimum requirements.

Medium-heavy entry: Upgrade things.

• ssd if you don't have one. The difference between that and spinning disks is night and day. If you wished things loaded faster, get this.
• 8 gb graphics card in the $150 range, amd or nvidia-based. Get this if you want a smoother experience / if you can notice individual frames happening. You don't need the most expensive tech to play most games that are out there.
• Genuine XBox or PS4/5 controller. These standard controllers are generally pretty solid and durable. $60ish
• new cpu ($$$, and may not even be an option): most games won't be processor-bound. But some are cpu-heavy. Get this if you really want to upgrade overall, or have a particular title in mind that needs it. Or..
• Low-mid range gaming computer ($900 ($600-$1500)): wait until you want to do a pc upgrade, and get a low-end gaming computer. I recommend Lenovo LOQ or Legion. Lenovo in general has provided laptops that don't fall apart on me, and that's not something I can say about most computer manufacturers. That said, keep them long enough and you'll have to replace the keyboard - but that's every laptop out there that I've run across.
• or: go crazy and buy everything all the time at the moment it his the market because it is a game or has "game" written on, near, or associated with it (not recommended)

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.

Steam for your PC will have a large library of free games you can try, and also paid games. If you like board or card games there is an application called table top simulator. This opens up access to traditional board games people have converted to PC--when you can't find it as a standalone game. Also a suggestion for standalone games if you are into cards:

• Wingspan. It has a steep learning curve but hours of fun once you learn it.

• Dominion. If you like this genre of game it can be a lot of fun.

• Catan. if you have played Catan board game and enjoy it, you can also play online for free https://catanuniverse.com/en/game/

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.

If you like phone puzzle games, have you tried Monument Valley?

I'm gonna go against the current here and say no. Videogames are not a good hobby and a poor investment of your time. If the alternative is deer hunting or anything shady then playing videogames is one of the less harmful things you can do on earth but among the thousand activities you can do and pick up as a hobby videogames are not free of issues.

First of all by specifically getting into video games you are looking at stare at a screen and sit for hours. Not a big deal if you can manage it but don't limit yourself to just videogames, there are board games, social games, mind sports and many other games you can get into.

Videogames industry has become very rotten and has appropriated the whole community. Many of the titles being suggested here are "products" made by evil companies with mechanics built to mess up with people. Steam which many recommended you to download is a proprietary software launcher that belongs to a company that has no problem pushing loot boxes and abduct kids into gambling. That's the sort of business you are getting your hands into.

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.

Video games used to be good, now most games are just quick cash grabs. I highly recommend old classics if you're planning to get into it.

I would only recommend short games. Ive been gaming my whole life and basically quit recently, because I was playing grindy games that were so exhausting mentally.

Even great games like Terraria, Minecraft and dont starve leave me exhausted. Such huge time sinks. Ive moved onto hobbies that are much more satisfying.

IMHO it's worth getting into games because they are a mainstream form of entertainment these days (just like movies) and there are incredibly well made games and all sorts of genres, so that everyone can find something. It's also a fun hobby, at least as long as you play either with friends, or singleplayer, or a multiplayer game with a non-toxic community. Stay away from popular e-sports titles, they're usually filled with toxic teenagers.

If you like puzzle games, there are some great ones, for example Portal 1+2 or The Talos Principle 1+2 are probably the most polished ones out there, these are AAA games made by big studios, who don't usually do puzzle games as they're somewhat niche but there are some exceptions thankfully. Portal 2 is the highest ranked game of all time on Steam (I think it's deserved).

There are also tons of great indie puzzle games out there, of course.

Somewhat related to puzzle games are "point and click" adventure games. That genre was very popular in the 80s and 90s, now it's also rather niche, but still some great ones are being developed all the time. Adventure games are (also) about story-telling and solving many puzzles to advance in the game. You usually find lots of items in those and have to combine them in various ways and interact with the game world and its characters to solve puzzles and advance the story. That's maybe the key difference between those and more focussed puzzle games where it's more about the puzzles, less about item combinations and character dialogs. But adventures can also contain quite challenging puzzles none the less.

Genres are hard to distinguish these days because so many games are a blend of different genres. Anyway, you probably want to stay away from games tagged with "action" or "e-sports" and primarily look for "adventure", "puzzle" or "casual" tags.

If you want to try an FPS, the original Half-Life is amazing (if visually dated), and was designed to ease the player into the experience as opposed to something like Doom or Dusk that throws you into the action without any tutorials. I'm biased though, Half-Life is my favorite FPS of all time lol.

It goes on sale for around $2 regularly, which is a nice bonus. I second the Portal and Stardew recommendations of others too.

Very much so. As people have mentioned there’s a lot of good advice here. A Nintendo Switch might be worth checking out as a starting point. It’s handheld and can also connect to your TV to play on a larger screen.

What sort of experience are you interested in? Something challenging and competitive would have you looking at very different games than something relaxing. I’d probably recommend stardew valley for a first game as it’s widely regarded and cozy but not without challenges

Sure! Are there any that interest you? There are many genres and types.

There are a lot bad games out there, and not everyone likes every type of game. So try highly rated games from various categories. Just be aware that video gaming consumes a lot of time that you could use for productivity in other areas of your life. I play video games pretty regularly, but I also turn it off when it seems excessive.

Others have said it and I agree, Stardew Valley. Don't even need to buy a console.

Depending on your tolerance for low resolution graphics there are a literal lifetimes worth of games from NES to PS1 that can be emulated at better quality features available than the originals.

Evoquest 1-2 would be wild for you, the gameplay is designed to replicate the evolution from 8 bit to modern mobile gaming platforms. You'll get a chance to "catch up" on what games have been like with a coherent story tying it together.

If you want to get into multi-player stuff there are a lot of MMOs out there for mobile as well.

Well, what is it that you would like? Women usually go for stuff like the Sims, Stardew Valley or Zelda, maybe some of those are for you?

Do you want to play alone, are you looking for a group, ...? The games I mentioned are usually played alone (Stardew can also be played with up to four friends) so they aren't very social, but they are fun nonetheless.

Edit: Also PlateUp and Portal.

There are lots of different kinds of games out there. If you're new to games and like puzzles, here are a few I can recommend.

Portal is humorous and has fun puzzles, pretty easy to get into. Viewfinder is another similar type of game, also The Stanley Parable

Baba Is You is a creative puzzle game.

Planet of Lana, and Limbo, and Somerville are neat puzzle/platformer games.

Torchlight us a good example of an action RPG genre, Children of Morta is another.

FTL is a neat roguelike game.

Faeria is a card deck building game.

Turn based tactics games can be pretty fun, and are easy to get into. Triangle Strategy is a good one to try.

I also find narrative driven games really fun. For example, The Wolf Among Us is really excellent. Afterparty is pretty entertaining.

All of these should be fairly easy to get into if you're just starting gaming.

If you have a continuous online connection, download Steam. Also look at GoG if you dont want to deal with valves drm

I just realized that the most obvious choice for new players is Stardew Valley. I never really thought about it. Even newer Mario or Minecraft could be a barrier. Controlling cameras can be confusing and difficult for newer players. Stardew doesn't require you to be good at twin stick mechanics (although that is used for the slingshot if you want to do that). It gives you lots of encouragement and is very straightforward with missions. The screen is never cluttered with junk or pop-ups. It gets more complex as you progress but you'll never be "stuck". The fishing and fighting games teaches how to use button control and timing. Everything feels rewarding like you are making progress. Not to mention it's pretty universally loved and will run on almost any PC and is available on all consoles or tablet or mobile devices

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.

If you see a game you think you'd enjoy, go for it.

Personally I find that I'm not super into video games as an adult just because I don't have the time, and I don't find them very fun in short bursts. And when I do have the time I always think to myself I'd be better off spending it on a "productive" hobby like programming. That's an entirely personal thing for me, but it may be something you want to consider, ie if you want to learn a hobby that's also considered a real world skill so to speak, and one that could give you products of your hobby you can actually use and enjoy (eg programming, crochet, cooking, woodworking, etc—so creative hobbies).

Also, feel free to pirate a game if you don't know if it's worth the investment, especially since you won't have a reference point of games you do enjoy. I have no ethical quandary with pirating any game, but if you do, you can just buy the game if you like it, and that way you won't waste money on a game you only get 5% of the way through before getting bored.

It's just like any other hobby, you have to see and decide for yourself! All I can say as a person who's been playing video games for 27 years and loves them for both their mechanics and their artistic potential is that so far it has been time well spent!

To start, i'd first think about what kind of games tempt you most. You have a wide array of genres from which to choose, like cerebral real-time strategy or 4x games (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate), narrative and player expression centric role-playing games, action-packed shooters, or agile and clever platformers.

Then, you can use storefronts like Steam or Epic and run general searches based on genres - I'd recommend sorting according to top sellers/most purchased, as score-based sorting isn't always reliable.

At the end of it all, however, the most important factor is whatever tempts you in any way. Steam (this is what I use most of the time) offers Demos for a lot of games nowadays, so you should be able to try pretty much whatever tempts you! Be it flashy graphics, an interesting story hook, or just sheer bloodlust, everything is valid!

I'll leave a list of games I think would serve as a gentle introduction to this hobby below - they're also not resource intensive, so you should be able to play them on any consumer laptop (or smartphone, some of them!):

• Stardew Valley - management-like game, you have to administrate a farm. But there's a lot of extra complexity I won't spoil

• Cloudpunk - combination of cyberpunk delivery person simulator and role-playing game, I've found it both relaxing and gripping!

• Cultist Simulator - it's technically a card game, but what you actually do is balance having a socially acceptable life with investigating incomprehensible forces and leading a cult

• Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic I and II - these two are meat-and-potatoes role-playing games with really solid stories, well-written and presented characters, a neat progression system which sees you unlocking awesome Force powers and/or other valuable perks, and the combat, I find, is the perfect mix of engaging and lenient

• Rocket League - this is as a taste of faster-paced action, basic multiplayer interactions, and relatively high-end graphis - it's football with cars, but awesome!

As an extra note, you may notice I've left links from everywhere. That's because you'll have to select a game storefront (it's a whole thing nowadays, but you really don't need to interact with that side of the hobby if you don't want to...). The storefronts share most of their libraries of games, but there are a few exceptions, so it's best to check them all out before sticking with one. Some examples of such:

• Steam is the most popular and is good, but you can't run games without running Steam, plus it periodically needs to connect to the internet. Things are fairly priced, the community features are nice, the community is ok, frequent sales. They also offer a no-questions full refund if you choose to do so within two hours of play time, so that's a way to try out games without Demos.

• GOG (Good Old Games) is basically Steam, less meaty. However, the main strongpoint is that, beyond installing the game through their platform, that game then exists as its own independent entity, not requiring any periodic validation through an internet connection (unless the game itself is online), no shady 3rd party software installed alongside the game to "protect it from piracy," etc. The games are as yours as they could possibly be in a digital-only environment.

• Epic wants to be Steam's direct rival, so their storefront has many of the same features, but it's not as popular within the community. I honestly have no opinion about them.

Other than that, all I can say is try to explore the hobby, check out gaming outlets, watch Lets-Plays on YouTube, and you can always lean on the online community for suggestions and tips! Also applicable to myself!

Yes it is worth it. The return on gameplay hours for the cost of a game can be incredibly high.

I recommend you start by downloading Steam on a laptop or PC and browse some games, or try some demos. Some games require mouse and keyboard, while others are better with a controller - my preference is a regular Xbox controller, it's plug and play.

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?

Yes,

There is a concern about accesability and hidden gamer slang.

First person 3d games can make you motion sick.

There you would need to learn to control a camera.

Red is health, Blue is mana, Yellow is for climbing.

There will be countless stuff that are build upon years of gaming culture.

Try to start with co-op so someone can guide you.

Make a post it note on the monitor with button mappings especially if you play on gamepad.