to try my (old!) hand at gaming?

[dejarderoncar]

I've always felt that gaming would not interest me very much, as all the most popular games seem to involving killing people and to have ultra macho protaganists and women with few clothes on, sometimes being sexually abused or worse.

But quite a few women on Mumsnet seem to be keen gamers, and often games are mentioned which I know nothing about.

Can MumsNetters help me with the following; what games don't involve too much killing and don't demean women? what's the best system to buy? will it take over the rest of my life?!!

I'm 70, love messing about with technology, have spare time but not too much spare cash at the moment for endlessly buying new games etc. Also don't think 'fantasy' would do it for me either.

So many brilliant ideas, I shall enjoy the next few weeks researching and reckon I will be gaming with the rest of you very soon. And what a friendly lot you sound! Many thanks. X

Splattoon on the Wii U is good - no killing, just lots of throwing paint around and trying to "splat" people by hitting them with paint.

I have an Xbox 360.

I v highly recommend portal 1 and 2 - it's a great game where you have to complete puzzles created by a crazed computer.

I love the fallout games. Now there is a lot of shooting and killing BUT it is entirely possible to complete the game without killing anyone! You can explore the map, sneak around and talk your way out of things. It's also post apocalyptic rather than fantasy if that helps.

If you get Steam, Banished is one I'm quite enjoying at the moment. It's like medieval sim city.

Is pretty old now but if you have a pc/laptop I would recommend black & white or black & white 2. You basically play God and have to build up a village so have to provide resources etc you can choose to be an evil or benevolent God. Not a great explanation so maybe look it up but I lost many an hour to these games and think they are fantastic and more than likely very cheap now as they are quite old. If the point and click style game appeals to you I don't think you can do better than the monkey island series. Happy gaming!!

Great idea for a thread. I've only a tablet, just recently started playing castle story again. Can anyone recommend any similar games? I used to play and enjoy sims on dds DS a few years ago will see if I can play that on tablet. When I was still with sbxh I got him a PlayStation and I did enjoy playing mission impossible on that as even though it was 'shoot em up' there were also tasks and riddles kinda.

I actually dream of 'the last of us' sometimes! Haha - agree it was so perfect...

I love elder scrolls but agree not as much as skyrim.... Can't wait for a non-online version. I'm enjoying fall out 4 for similar gameplay and landscapes but can't quite get my head around the aiming/firing process... LOVE the record station though - DS and I do an awesome (to us) version of 'civilisation' at the top of our voices!!

I'm quite tempted to down 'two souls' on the ps4... Does anyone know it?

Can I try a different approach? The world of gaming is huge and covers so many different experiences, I wouldnt want you to be overwhelmed or put off before you start. So perhaps if you can narrow down what you had in mind, more relevant suggestions can be made. Google images of my examples to see what i mean.

Platform: (where are you planning to play?)
Laptop
Console plugged into computer
Portable handheld console you can take with you
Phone or tablet

Type of experience:

• single player, no storyline, passes the time but doesn't require deep thought, - like 'patience' that you play with cards. (E.g. Candy crush saga)
• single player, storyline to follow, perhaps with missions or quests to complete? (E.g. Skyrim)
• world builder, designing, where you have free rein to explore, build and create. (E.g. Minecraft, sims, themepark)
• mulitplayer where you play with other people in the same room as you?
• multiplayer where you play online with family/friends/strangers, are you interested in chatting as part of the game?
• car racing games have any appeal?
• sports games of interest? (Golf/football/fishing)
• do you like the cartoony appearance of e.g. Super mario, or more realistic e.g. World of warcraft?
• i get you dont fancy games where you are an assassin etc but is all killing out, even if it is zombies, cartoon animals etc?

Perhaps if you start with these questions, we can make a good suggestion for you to start with.

Sorry that should read 'console plugged into tv' 😳

I agree that PC gaming is the best. I mostly play simulation/building games such as City Skylines and Prison Architect. I also recommend The Sims. I've lost days of my life on that game!

If you like the idea of Minecraft, can I also suggest Terraria. It's basically a 2D version of Minecraft, but with more emphasis on collecting crazy items, reaching certain goals, exploring different biomes (and in my opinion much, much, much more fun!)

A very different, but really fun game that you can get on Steam is Geometry Wars:Retro Evolved. It's a completely over the top, eye popping version of the classic game Asteroids. Very addictive though!

What interests you otherwise, OP? My dad got into gaming very late because he always enjoyed watching touring car racing. The excellent TOCA Touring Cars game came out in 1997, when games were really starting to make a good attempt at simulating events like that and it just went from there. Nearly 20 years later and I'm helping him to spec his own PC.

80 Days might be a good one, it's a text-based game with some beautiful writing and art where you have to travel around the world in 80 Days while keeping you companion happy. Doing it is the easy part, but discovering adventure all over the world is where the drama lies.

Much harder is Invisible Inc, a turn based spy game on PC where you infiltrate procedurally generated facilities, very tense and a very good mental workout.

You can get Phoenix Wright on iPhone (and presumably Android), not sure anyone mentioned that.

DP gifts me random cheap stuff he sees on Steam every now and then. I just bought a beast of a gaming PC but I was on a struggling 5 year old laptop until recently. I found 'Her Story' short but a very interesting concept and enjoyable to play. Very retro. It involves lots of video clips of police interviews with a woman and you have to use search terms to find more in the database and figure out the story. It was great, actually - stayed up till about 10am the next day finishing it. Will run fine on any old thing.

Oh and you might find you love World of Warcraft. I wouldn't be where I am now without that game...

Super Mario is a good start, or Donkey Kong

Another vote for The Sims on PC. Be warned it is a HUGE memory hog and can run really slowly.

Big Fish have a ton of casual adventure/hidden object type games which are often really beautiful.

Steam are very good too. You can use filters to eliminate anything you think you won't enjoy. Civilisation V is a particular favourite of mine as you can set the difficulty, take out the barbarians and refuse to make war on anyone if you want to. They also do remastered versions of some real classics, like Grim Fandango.

I don't use any consoles (can't get my head around the controls), but ds and dh do and enjoy them.

Glad to see some other fans of the last of us! To answer Britnay up thread, yes, I watched the making of the game and it was just as interesting. The soundtrack is beautiful too, I was gutted to finish it. I've played it four times now, on both ps3 and ps4.

Other games I've enjoyed recently included the Uncharted trilogy and dying light. I'm getting until dawn and tearaway for Xmas, I hope!

My dd is getting a wii u for Xmas, along with splatoon, mario kart 8, yoshis wooly world and Kirby and the rainbow paintbrush. All harmless, fun games.

The last of us is amazing! I loved it.

I'm on a ps4 and am playing through uncharted atm. But my major love are the assassin's creed games.

Fans of Skyrim and the likes, have any of you played Baldur's Gate? The remastered version is on Steam and is often on sale. They also have oldschool sets of Sierra games such as Space Quest series and Kings Quest series :)