With yesterday being some "holiday" about love or something, the slew of articles about getting into a relationship were all over the place. Which also included "how to get your girlfriend into games" or "how to pick up a gamer girl." The a-typical dumb posts that seem to get millions of hits, but are rarely insightful. Even when I attempted to write one out of humor, it still ended with the note that it's okay if your significant other isn't into games. If they love you for your hobbies and find they don't like them, but still love you anyway, then cool! You keep gaming. Your SO will do their own thing. You all compromise on activities to do as a couple, and be an adult.
Most of these "how to get a gamer girl" articles do not follow that same logic. It tends to be condescending, straight up sexist click bait.
The GQ Magazine article is not one of those, and it gave me a small glimmer of hope for humanity. It's minuscule, but it's better then nothing.
Joshua Rivera writes some pretty hard truths about these silly "get your girlfriend to game" posts and YouTube videos. Particularly that there's nothing wrong if your girlfriend isn't into games. She's allow to have her own hobbies and interests that are different from yours. That's part of being an adult and working through relationships. You learn about each other, compromise, and grow together as humans. By trying to force your SO into a box that only you are comfortable with makes you a crappy human being, and perpetuates a number of the stereotypes and misogynistic attitudes that our culture is permeating.
Rivera also offers some sound advice on how to approach making games interesting to your SO. Play things that are interesting. Don't focus on the marketing tactics that publishers put out - those are almost always directed towards men. Focus on the fun things you can do in the games. But again, don't force your SO to be interested in it. They are their own person. They can decide whether or not they like games and if they don't, they don't! You two have been able to maintain a relationship for this long without having the same hobbies. If you can be an adult, you can continue that connection and find new hobbies you both like together, while keeping your old ones. You can do different things and remain a couple! It's silly that it needs to be spelled out but few, if any articles, rarely say it.
Here's hoping that with the GQ name behind it some people will take the advice to heart.
Most of these "how to get a gamer girl" articles do not follow that same logic. It tends to be condescending, straight up sexist click bait.
The GQ Magazine article is not one of those, and it gave me a small glimmer of hope for humanity. It's minuscule, but it's better then nothing.
Joshua Rivera writes some pretty hard truths about these silly "get your girlfriend to game" posts and YouTube videos. Particularly that there's nothing wrong if your girlfriend isn't into games. She's allow to have her own hobbies and interests that are different from yours. That's part of being an adult and working through relationships. You learn about each other, compromise, and grow together as humans. By trying to force your SO into a box that only you are comfortable with makes you a crappy human being, and perpetuates a number of the stereotypes and misogynistic attitudes that our culture is permeating.
Rivera also offers some sound advice on how to approach making games interesting to your SO. Play things that are interesting. Don't focus on the marketing tactics that publishers put out - those are almost always directed towards men. Focus on the fun things you can do in the games. But again, don't force your SO to be interested in it. They are their own person. They can decide whether or not they like games and if they don't, they don't! You two have been able to maintain a relationship for this long without having the same hobbies. If you can be an adult, you can continue that connection and find new hobbies you both like together, while keeping your old ones. You can do different things and remain a couple! It's silly that it needs to be spelled out but few, if any articles, rarely say it.
Here's hoping that with the GQ name behind it some people will take the advice to heart.
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