6mo ago

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

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.

58 comments

Give her Skyrim and show her the Nexus and see how long it is before she's a furry.
- 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.
  
  She's gonna lust after Shane. they all do.
  
  There’s also Spiritfarer although it can be pretty heavy emotionally. But the gameplay loop is on the easier side.
  
  Then to Disco Elysium to turn her into an anti-fascist
- Launches game picks khajiit or an argonian
- I'm still shocked when I see people promoting Skyrim. In 2024.
  Move on, guys.
  Edit: my issue with the way people talk about and recommend Skyrim isn't about how old the game is. I love (good) older games.
  Skyrim is barely playable without third party mods, and it's always been exceedingly mediocre.
  Of all the games to recommend in 2024, Skyrim? It's not even the best game in it's own series... Maybe not even in the top 3.
  
  I assume I shouldn't play Portal or retro games either? If someone is new to gaming, the whole catalog is available to them. Just because it's old doesn't mean it isn't worth playing, especially since the system the mom has isn't top of the line and may handle those games better than new ones.
  
  We will move on, as soon as bethesda does. Hehe. We can't play elder scrolls 6 yet. But serioisly, skyrim with good mods is still a better game than almost all newer games. So, hard to really feel bad for still recommending it.
  
  Deleted

Very wholesome. Thanks for the share!

If it would help with loading times you could buy her an SSD for her birthday/Christmas present.
- True! Could slowly help upgrade her little pc if she keeps playing games.
  
  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

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.
- Family sharing is still up and works (besides that time once every 1-2 years i have to disconnect and reconnect the accounts for some reason). Though access to games isnt based on games, but the entire library. If Player 1 wants to play a game shared with them by player 2, P1 can only play as long as P2 isnt playing anything themselves (though this can be circumvented by P2 going offline to play)

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.

She is not a fan of 30 minute lets plays with intros/outros.
SAME. Maybe it's an old person thing.
- 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
  
  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.

Sounds like she's ready for Elden Ring. Let's go 👏😂
- Oh Lord. I still have PTSD from Margit and I thought I was prepared. I definitely was not.

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

Thank you for sharing.

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.

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
- Maybe if they'd played more splitscreen with us as kids they'd still have it
  Git gud grandpas
  
  Well it’s pretty funny at least when he’s struggling on something and the I come in and do it in 2 seconds
- 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.

This was super wholesome! Thanks for this

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 ;)
- 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!
  
  Thanks! I'll check it out!
- 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.
  
  Thank you! Yeah, I knew about stardew valley. I think I'll get it. Terraria also looked really sweet.
  I have been looking into more games like Subnautica. Like something chill/exploratory. Played factorio for a while and need a break!

Lovely, truly.

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
- Powerline is prone to interference and speed reduction
  
  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.
- 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!

58 comments