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Online Gaming for Couples?
psuedo_samurai asks: "My longtime girlfriend recently had to move to complete her studies at a University, which is nowhere near where I live. Talking on the phone is quickly becoming old, as I'm a typical guy and hate being on the phone longer than 3 minutes, but I try. So I was thinking - I like games, she likes to talk, why not combine the two? So are there any online games suggested for couples using a headset? I can't see Counter-Strike or Rainbow Six working, but I was thinking maybe DDR Ultramix on Xbox Live? How about PC titles with headset support? Any suggestions?"
A friend of mine and his girlfriend, plays AA together. They use TS.
My girlfriend and I were in a similar situation. We played Civ:CTP (via email). This had several advantages:
1) Being that it was via email, we could do it "asynchronously" as needed.
2) While we were chatting online (which we both prefer to the phone), we could still play, and it was easy enough to do since it was still email based.
3) It was a fun game!
4) We could "show off" to each other based on our Civilisation building skills. (Hers were always better.)
5) I played it on Linux, and she played on Windows, and there were no problems!
All in all, it was a good experience, and allowed us to game together while far apart.
libertarianswag.com
The second I read this article I thought about NWN and Nordock in particular. In fact I just logged off Nordock. (I am Pops for those that play RR).
I have been playing Nordock for a about 6-7 month along with a best friend of mine. It is a great way to hang out if you aren't able to hang out in person.
The world is role play based and staying in character leads to great communcation.. Far better than what you would see on the more... immature games out there (ie Diablo-esque, Everquest, etc).
There are a ton of NWN servers out there... and the immature element is definatly on many servers.. but find a good Role Playing server and make your self at home.
You will find great scenary to explore as well as many good places to sit and talk.
It is no replacement for intamacy, but it is a great way to keep in contact a) inexpensivly b) creatively c) fun
Interesting point. Women do tend to gravitate towards guys that listen. I don't know that he's a "dork" though, hopefully he'll think to ask his lady what she wants rather than 10's of thousands of geeks...
Someone mentioned that playing a mmorpg game as a long distance couple might be a detriment to communication. I strongly disagree. We played through several major mmorpgs and beta tests of other games together. During "down time" in a game we carried on "normal" conversation. During the exciting parts of the game we got caught up into solving problems together. We even developed mutual friends whom we visited in the real world.
As far as someone worrying that "girls" might not like to play games for hours at a time: I and many of my friends are evidence to the contrary.
Lastly, though I think the MMORPGs are best suited for couple gaming, don't discount the FPS games either. I enjoyed Action Quake and beta tested Planetside. I just think they aren't as good for a couple because they (I'm talking public server play, not clan gaming) tend to be all action all the time rather than a mix of action, socialization/political skill, and strategy.
~Fricka
OffLineTshirts.com
They could use voice over the net. Use Yahoo, Ventrillo... Plenty of options to avoid those pesky long distance charges.
If you want to play online games and want the social interaction, maybe both get a trial of The Sims Online. It's not bad, and if you can't shag her in person, you can at least do it in the game:)
Lazy Penguin Girl-
Normally, I would agree with you- saying that girls would like 'golf and tennis' sounds pretty bad. Your friends might want to whack me over the head for suggesting that they play these games, but they may change their minds once they see them in action. Plus, just seeing the blood dripping from my face might satisfy their primal urge to kill.
But- more than being good 'chick' games, I've found that Links 2004 and Top Spin are UNIVERSAL games. I've probably had 30 different people (even numbers of each gender) come over to my housing playing games in the last year.
The 2 universal favorites by far are Links and Top Spin. The women especially liked Top Spin- and as I mentioned before, Tetris. I have yet to meet a woman who looks at Halo, and says "I want to play too".
It does sound stupid though- "get your girlfriend to play sports games" - but these just aren't sports games. The appeal is much greater than that. (at least from my experience when trying to get these girls/women to play games)
No reason to lie.
Invest in webcams.
My girlfriend lives a bit under 2 hours from me. We see each other on weekends and sometimes during the week, but not as often as we'd like.
I was always getting in trouble by misinterpreting things said on IM, so I got us two webcams for Christmas. The visual interaction beats anything you'll get in an online game.
Now, if I can just figure out how to best conform to Valentine's day....
paintball
I'm kind of a button masher, but he's slowly but surely teaching me the intricacies of Soul Calibur II for Xbox. I've never been good at fighting games of that style, but hey, if you know one you can learn 'em all, and for some reason I'm really into Soul Calibur 2, so that's gonna be the one I learn fighting games with.
For some reason when playing multiplayer games with them, I'm not a fan of playing online. I really like Counterstrike, but for some reason I was hesitant to join my boyfriend's cousin in an online game he was playing. I know it's lame, but I think I'm just pretty self conscious about my playing ability, and I don't wanna drag the team down against people we don't know. For some reason, I don't mind as much when it's just people I know at a LAN. It's weird.
heh, currently, the only way I win at SC2 is because they have played so much that they have a rhythm of attacking/blocking/parrying/whathaveyou. I can't quite get the timing down yet, so I win by being unpredictable. Once I learn how to play the game better, I'm gonna lose all the time. :)
I don't get the metrosexual stuff either. A lot of the stuff that they are co-opting (being well groomed, well-dressed, etc) is what gentlemen are supposed to be anyway.
Simple really.
Some guys find it boring to be straight white anglo males. Lets face it, you might be sitting on the apex of the social advantage pyramid, but culturally you're group is the probably the dullest ethnicity the species has ever produced. People at the bottom of the social respect pile have to work harder. Culturally speaking, they're overacheivers. Think about it: no blacks would mean no jazz, no rap, no blues (and therefore no rock). When the general population notices what's going on in the group culturally, it raises the status of the group, at least among the smarter people. Think about the white guys you may have known who affected black music and styles of speaking and dressing. Same thing really. Usually its some of the brighter kids who take this path of reinventing themselves.
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