If you’re like many people, you have friends who just don’t get gaming. There are a few variants for non-players; some of them can be excellent candidates for game conversion. How do you convince a person who has no interest in games to play? Similar to the way you became a player, slowly and patiently.

Hardcore fans of the games may have started playing quickly, addictively, and without much persuasion. However, this is not the typical gamer and hardcore gamers do not make up the majority of the video game demographic. The standard hardcore gamer is very vocal and passionate about his game, so it’s easy to assume that all gaming fans fit this archetype.

There are some motivating reasons for players to try to persuade others to love their hobby like they do themselves. First of all, gamers want others to enjoy the rewards of games and they try relentlessly to convince others about the benefits of being an avid game fan. Second, gamers want to grow their circle of local gaming friends because unsavory gamers on the internet have shunned them. Ultimately, gamers who have married a non-gaming partner want their loved one to understand why they gamble so much and to share in the fun.

The first step in attracting a new gaming addict is to understand how a typical gamer takes personal interest in the hobby. Most people don’t jump into gaming at a very advanced level with intense action games, they start simple. Don’t expect your friend or loved one to fire up an Xbox 360 and start playing Gears of War, this is not the typical way to build a gamer.

There are plenty of games out there that cater to the casual gaming demographic. Gaming history shows that casual games are some of the most desired products in the gaming industry. Not too long ago, casual games were big sellers because that was all a game system could handle: the complexities of today’s gaming environment couldn’t be handled on early console and PC systems. Statistics show that many of today’s players are getting older, with an average of 32 years old. If a 32-year-old gamer started gaming as a child, his gaming experiences would date back to the early 1980s. A 1980s console or PC almost always catered to “simple” causal gaming because that was it. what they could handle.

Older gamers started with casual games like Asteroids, Pac-Man, Breakout, Pong, and other hit classics. Some of us got the game bug from the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) by playing stripped-down games like Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, and Duck Hunt. As time went on, we increased our difficulty level and bought Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out, Contra, Final Fantasy, and The Legend of Zelda. We started out slow, grew in intensity, and before long we were addicted to the games.

Today we are in the seventh generation of games. This generation includes systems like the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii. Competition for the gaming market is intense and every system is competing for your gaming dollars. Each generation releases bigger games that boast more gameplay hours, graphically stunning 3D environments, Dolby Digital Surround Sound, and complex control schemes. The barrier to entry has never been higher for a non-gamer.

To draw a player into our seventh generation of games, we need to start simple, just like we did ourselves all those years ago. The older the non-player, the harder it is to break their stereotypical “one-player” view. We must teach them that it’s not all bloody first-person shooters. Not every player wants to shoot the aliens. A non-gamer may have a short gaming attention span, so he must engage it slowly and use repetition to bring it into his mindset.

There are two battlefronts to attack: the home console system and Macintosh/PC. Don’t let your own play style affect the games you persuade them to play. Keep an open mind and allow them to explore their own gaming habits, be patient and keep a close eye on which games they react best to.

A casual game can be something as simple as solitaire, sudoku, hearts, minesweeper, or FreeCell. The next level of complexity will be Tetris, Zuma, Feeding Frenzy and more complex side-scrolling adventure games or puzzles. If your non-player target enjoys a few hands of solitaire or hearts, they already have the itch to play and you just have to provide them with the next level of games to explore their curiosity. Maybe get them started on a bigger game of Texas Hold’em if they are intense card players.

The Internet can help your cause by providing you and non-gamers with web games that mimic early arcade and simple adventure games. PopCap games (http://www.popcap.com/) leads the effort to appeal to the casual gamer. Microsoft’s Gaming Zone (http://zone.msn.com) is another magnet for casual gamers. These casual games can be the worm on the hook for non-gamers. You have to wait for the coil to submerge before winding them. Be patient and let them explore some of the games. If they don’t know where to start, take them to some simple games and see how they react.

If you’re willing to spend some money on your goal, consider the Nintendo DS handheld device or the Nintendo Wii console. Both of these systems are designed for the casual gamer. Many hardcore gamers call them “kids’ gaming systems” and that’s perfect for their cause. People confuse “kids games” with “casual games” on a regular basis because these are games that hardcore gamers played as kids, just when they got hooked. To build your perfect gamer, you should consider the roots of becoming a hardcore gamer: easy-to-play games.

Continuing with the fishing analogy, consider the library of games for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii as your tackle box. Some fish like a specific lure better than others, some fish will accept any lure, and sometimes you need a special lure for a special fish. You will find the same for the players; some gamers are drawn to all games while others will play a specific genre.

Games that will hook a non-player follow the same design as the games that led you to play. Games like Nintendo DS New Super Mario Brothers, Tetris DS, Magnetica DS, Brain Age, Big Brain Academy, Animal Crossing and other similar games. Try to avoid games like Castlevania, Final Fantasy III DS, and Madden 07 until you notice that they are comfortable with the basic games. You want a simple game that can be played in short periods of time, simple game controls, little to no game plots, and games that look more 2D than perspective 3D.

If you’re lucky enough to find a Nintendo Wii in stores, you can buy a few games to explore your non-gaming horizons. Try some innovative games like Elebits, Wii Sports and WarioWare: Smooth Moves, which is coming soon. This system also allows you to choose some games that suit your own interests, such as Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Hardcore gamers may already own a seventh-generation console like the Xbox 360. If you own this console and want to appeal to your non-gaming friends and family, you should be using Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA). This environment is as close to “arcade” as you’ll get in a 7th generation console environment. Many gamers avidly remember the days of the arcade, but our non-gaming counterparts may never have stepped into an actual arcade. This is your chance to bring them back to your past.

XBLA offers some classic video games like Pac-Man, Contra, and Frogger, but offers unique new titles like Marble Madness and Zuma. As with most causal web games, you have the ability to test the games, allowing you to choose between XBLA. Testing a game allows you to judge the interest of your non-player before spending more money on your conversion.

A video game hobby is not much different than reading a novel to pass the time. Remember, before you learned to read a novel, you probably started reading board books and short stories. This same procedure can be used to generate non-player interest in game plots and stories. You can start with a short puzzle game like PopCap’s BookWorm Adventures before moving on to a more in-depth story like Final Fantasy XII for PlayStation 2 or Final Fantasy III on Nintendo DS. Most people can’t go from board book to trilogy overnight, so be patient with your growing non-gamer as you explore your own interests.

It may take a few months or even a few years before you convince a non-gamer that playing video games isn’t just “wasting time.” Rejoice in small victories and be happy when you see them pick up a Nintendo DS or console joystick by themselves to play a few minutes of their favorite game.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *