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My mom (55) just got into PC gaming and it's very cute and amusing (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 months ago by ericbomb@lemmy.world to c/casualconversation@lemm.ee

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So my mom has been saying for awhile how she wished she could play Hogwarts legacy, and my older sister just replaced her gaming PC. So my sister sent her old pc to my mom. Nothing crazy, but meets minimum system requirements! My mom is now kind of speed running learning about gaming and it's been amusing. I just think these are adorable.

She complained that she couldn't find the game for sale for PC anywhere, she could only find it for XBOX and PS. She was looking on amazon, and I had to point her towards steam, and help her setup an account for steam.
She happened to purchase it while it was on sale and she was super confused why it was randomly on sale! Had to explain how steam works. She's disabled and the $60 was the extent of her fun money for the month, so getting it on sale was a huge deal to her.
Complaining at how long it took to download the game off wifi when she was ready to play RIGHT NOW. She kept asking if we could use an Ethernet cable to make it go faster, but her PC was like 40 feet from the nearest jack and we didn't have a long enough ethernet cable (No I wasn't driving home to my house to look for one, and no I wasn't buying her one. Love you momma! You gotta wait!)
She realized she hates mouse and keyboard, so used the money she saved from the sale to buy a little controller from walmart.
She talked about how much she likes that because she's on "story mode" she can skip puzzles/challenges she thinks are stupid. Considering there are games I never beat as a kid because of a specific mini game/challenge I couldn't beat, I resonated with that. Back when we were kids if there was a quick time event you couldn't beat, we quit the game!
A few weeks later she talked about how she was super happy to finally find a youtuber that would give walk through/tips/advice on how to do things in a not annoying way. The one she likes are basically "Here is a 30 second clip of doing this specific thing in this room". She is not a fan of 30 minute lets plays with intros/outros.
Complaining about long load times between rooms, and quests that make her go through multiple loading zones. No comment, she's just right to complain.

All her revelations were super relatable and I just thought it was cute that at an older age she went through modern gaming transition in a few weeks, and hit on emotions we all basically hit.

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[-] Iheartcheese@lemmy.world 78 points 4 months ago

Give her Skyrim and show her the Nexus and see how long it is before she's a furry.

[-] ericbomb@lemmy.world 59 points 4 months ago

Uhh maybe I'll have her try Stardew Valley next....

Then again, I'm certain there are furry mods for Stardew valley as well. No where is safe from them.

[-] Iheartcheese@lemmy.world 24 points 4 months ago

She's gonna lust after Shane. they all do.

[-] ericbomb@lemmy.world 28 points 4 months ago

Another excuse to roast her about her terrible taste in men then!

[-] Iheartcheese@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago

You're the reason he drinks

[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

Or the consequence of her terrible taste in men 🤷

[-] ericbomb@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

That I am XD

If my mom was a better judge of character I wouldn't exist!

[-] morphballganon@lemmynsfw.com 4 points 4 months ago

I mean, free pizzas, need I say more?

[-] SzethFriendOfNimi@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago

There’s also Spiritfarer although it can be pretty heavy emotionally. But the gameplay loop is on the easier side.

[-] anomoly_@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

The emotional roller-coaster in this game is definitely real.

[-] SharkEatingBreakfast@sopuli.xyz 4 points 4 months ago

Whoa, cool it! Maybe going the route of emotional decimation for someone new to playing games is a tad much.

Start with the light-hearted stuff first, then ask if she enjoys having her heart ripped directly from her chest, then suggest "Spiritfarer".

[-] SzethFriendOfNimi@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

I’m halfway through it myself. Guess I need to buckle up for what’s coming eh?

[-] SharkEatingBreakfast@sopuli.xyz 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I think it may be more impactful if you've had someone close to you pass.

What absolutely wrecked me was

Tap for spoiler

the chicken. I've aided in caring for a grandparent who went through it, and I expect at least one of my aging parents will go through it, too.

That's all I'll say.

[-] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 7 points 4 months ago

Then to Disco Elysium to turn her into an anti-fascist

[-] Maalus@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago

Launches game picks khajiit or an argonian

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[-] wesker@lemmy.sdf.org 31 points 4 months ago

Very wholesome. Thanks for the share!

[-] ma11en@lemmy.world 30 points 4 months ago

If it would help with loading times you could buy her an SSD for her birthday/Christmas present.

[-] ericbomb@lemmy.world 27 points 4 months ago

True! Could slowly help upgrade her little pc if she keeps playing games.

[-] shasta@lemm.ee 4 points 4 months ago

SSD is a good option because they're not too expensive and will have a big impact on reducing loading times, which she complained about specifically

[-] PaupersSerenade@sh.itjust.works 19 points 4 months ago

Love to hear it! My mom is in the same age range and still isn’t a gamer. I did have her play Journey a few years ago and she enjoyed it, so that might be a good option.

Something I haven’t seen mentioned is the steam family library. It’s been a while since I first set it up, so I hope it’s still as useful as it was back then, but it was a great resource to share games since you mentioned she was on a limited budget.

From what I remember as long as you aren’t trying to play the same game she can play from your steam library.

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[-] TootSweet@lemmy.world 17 points 4 months ago

My mother got really into Stardew Valley for a while at about the same age. And like your mother, she didn't like the keyboard and mouse. She ended up going with a USB SNES controller knockoff and was very happy with it.

She got into Minetest for a while too. Preferred creative mode, mostly.

[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 16 points 4 months ago

She is not a fan of 30 minute lets plays with intros/outros.

SAME. Maybe it's an old person thing.

[-] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 11 points 4 months ago

Right, I hate the videos that used to start "hey guys, today I'm going to umm, show you how to do (whatever) in (whatever game)". Then ramble on and on.

I prefer written guides for this reason alone

[-] BombOmOm@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

I always hate when they title the video 'how to x' or 'today we do x'. Then I load up the video, notice it's 90min long, and realize that x is probably a 10s chunk hidden somewhere in that hour and a half.

This is how you get 'don't show me this channel again' pressed.

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[-] Jubei_K_08@lemmy.world 16 points 4 months ago

Sounds like she's ready for Elden Ring. Let's go 👏😂

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[-] Sylvartas@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Back when we were kids if there was a quick time event you couldn't beat, we quit the game!

Or just have a family member/friend to do it for you. I had to ask my older sister to beat the rock gym for me in Pokemon yellow because only my Pikachu was leveled up and I didn't understand types and resistance/weaknesses. Worst case scenario, you'd hit up that one friend who has an action replay

[-] ericbomb@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

Then there were games like Lion King or Yu Gi Oh forbidden memories which were designed to be stupid hard XD

[-] Flyswat@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 4 months ago

Thank you for sharing.

[-] Rolder@reddthat.com 8 points 4 months ago

My dad got into gaming recently. It’s cute until they start asking for help doing things they don’t have the hand dexterity to do themselves lol

[-] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Maybe if they'd played more splitscreen with us as kids they'd still have it

Git gud grandpas

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[-] RHSJack@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Unless he is really up there in age or has the palsy or whatever, he IS going to get better at it on his own eventually. I watch a streamer in his 80s who absolutely destroys on first person shooters and in Lord of the Rings MMO. But all he did was bia$tch when he first started streaming CS Go because he just didnt have the coordination. Now he uses CSGo was a palette cleanser, a cool down, if you will.

[-] Tarogar@feddit.de 8 points 4 months ago

Always fun to see all those things happen. And I may as well comment on the individual points.

That is always the case, you have to know where to find what you want. It could be better though with more places having access even if all it does it point to steam.
Neat!
Hehe, suddenly that old wired connection and fast internet don't seem so useless. So many people have been there.
Controllers go many ways, mouse and keyboard certainly have a specific learning curve while a controller may be a bit more intuitive. But the keyboard and mouse is always there if you need it.
Right... Difficulty is a personal choice and to add a bit of personal story about that. Back when I way a kid and you got to a stupid hard part that you couldn't beat, you tried again until you did beat it. We didn't quit because we didn't really have other games to play so even if it was stupid hard and was bad you kinda had to stick with it. And games back then really got stupid hard. Elden ring looks easy in comparison.
Community interaction is nice when it's positive like that. And finding the info that makes it more fun for you always helps. Even if it stops you from discovering some of the smarter things yourself and may even rob you of a surprise.
Load times... Nuff said.

[-] Focal@pawb.social 6 points 4 months ago

This was super wholesome! Thanks for this

[-] thirstyhyena@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

Lovely, truly.

[-] fossphi@lemm.ee 5 points 4 months ago

Thank you for sharing this, really. I am in a similar situation myself and it's very reassuring (and amusing) to hear stories like these! :)

Wouldn't mind some game recommendations, too ;)

[-] BaroqueInMind@lemmy.one 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I would recommend Dwarf Fortress: it is easy to learn, very quick sessions, very streamlined and focused game with not too many features to be confused about, and has amazing graphics!

[-] fossphi@lemm.ee 2 points 4 months ago

Thanks! I'll check it out!

[-] bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

I think that they missed a sarcasm tag.

[-] fossphi@lemm.ee 2 points 4 months ago

Haha, they got me!

[-] Bosht@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

Please don't get Dwarf Fortress. That was a joke. I do highly recommend Stardew Valley if you like anything to do with farming. There's an entire town of people you can meet and become friends with, fun tasks and quests, a mine you can delve into, fishing, etc. The primary game play loop is building and expanding your farm, but there really is a wealth of content and the price I dont think has ever been more than $30. Goes on sale for $20 or $15 all the time. If you want more recommendations feel free to message me or leave another comment with maybe themes you're looking for.

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[-] MrNesser@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

Get her a tplink ethernet powerline pass through adapter.

It uses the house copper wiring to connect two ethernet ports you can getbpretty decent speeds

[-] x4740N@lemm.ee 6 points 4 months ago

Powerline is prone to interference and speed reduction

[-] MrNesser@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago

I use one myself and I find it a faster and more stable connection than WiFi.

That being said I'm in the UK, I'm not sure if different building specs per country would affect it.

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[-] ericbomb@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Probably would just get a long ethernet cable and hide it properly if it becomes relevant. But I doubt she'll ever play a game that relies heavily on internet, so she'll just need to deal with her slow download speeds!

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