Ask Slashdot: Good Ideas For Creative Gaming With Girlfriend? 337
First time accepted submitter TimBur1e6 writes "Suppose you had just moved 1000 miles away from your significant other, but you wanted to continue to create shared life experiences. You could text, or talk by voice, or even video chat. And those would all be good things to do. However, there's a difference between telling someone about your day, and actually spending time together. What are some fun and constructive ways of spending time together on the net? In particular, what are good things to do with a significant other who is less into combat, and more into collaboration, exploration, creativity, and storytelling?"
Let's see... (Score:5, Informative)
Minecraft? Portal 2 Team Mode? Draw Something?
Re:Let's see... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Let's see... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Let's see... (Score:5, Funny)
Phone sex?
This isn't 1876, Alexander. We have webcams for this shit now.
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The NSA appreciates your contribution to a satisfying day's work. };-)
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Phone sex?
This isn't 1876, Alexander. We have webcams for this shit now.
Dude - you do know that unless you teach her how to use VPN properly, any fool with five minutes and the means of popping her local wifi network can see what you see (then post the results onto some tube site), right?
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Dude. You are so last century.
There is the occulus rift and a 3d sex chat program now....I think...
Never looked into it. My life is sad and lonely enough without twisting the knife....
Re:Let's see... (Score:4, Funny)
Get her an account here.
"Oh fuck yeah, accuse me of ad hominen...that's it, mod me down...yes, oh yes, now put me on your foes list...fuck yeah, I'm a Troll -1!"
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Heh. I don't think it necessarily applies to the submitter since he is asking for a specific purpose, but I definitely don't get those people who are always trying to find a significant other who is into the same recreational activities that they are or who try desperately to convince their significant other to be into those same things.
I need a made to be someone I'm attracted to and who is attracted to me. Who I can get along with, talk with, have sex with, have mutual accountability with, and share respo
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If the only thing you do with your girlfriend is play hide the salami then you obviously have no idea what a real relationship is.
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They didn't invent video games to be played with girlfriends.
Yes they did. It's called Ms Pac-Man.
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They didn't invent video games to be played with girlfriends.
Shows how much you know - my wife and I played the unholy shit out of Mario Kart on an old N64.
(clue: I learned years later why; in addition to being fun, some women just want to know how you handle not winning a game once in awhile. I guarantee you that on that particular game she will kick. your. ass.)
Easy (Score:2, Interesting)
Fufme http://www.easylife.org/fufme/
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"But--oh, what a bastard to clean."
Terraria (Score:4, Informative)
No games are designed for this (Score:2)
synchronised movie watching (Score:4, Insightful)
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If all you're doing is watching the screen, you're doing it wrong.
This is /., where the majority aren't even sure girls exist.
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Github (Score:3, Insightful)
Start or join an opensource project and work on it together.
Nothing like some real achievements, which actually help people who use the software for real. Some game achievements don't quite compare.
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Enjoying quality time with your partner isn't (always) about "achievements"..
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Now if you could only combine phone sex with coding together...
(...you know I only wrote that to make developers go all 'splodey, right?)
RPGs (Score:2)
Really? No ones taken the low hanging fruit of, "Lots of people say they like to role play with their signifigant others," or "My brother says him and his wife do role playing, but he just looks at me funny when I ask what rule set they're using," yet?
Fapping On Skype (Score:4, Funny)
clearly (Score:5, Funny)
"... collaboration, exploration, creativity, and storytelling?"
Suggest a 3-way?
Second Life (Score:5, Informative)
Some may scoff at this, but this is exactly the sort of thing SL for.
Look around in there, you'll probably find something to your liking.
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Tons of avatar customization so you can make yourselves look like yourselves...or not, as one prefers. More places to go and things to do than you can shake a stick at, not counting making your own fun by building, scripting or hosting your own events. Built in voice chat and media playback. Available for Windows, OSX and Linux
Re:Second Life (Score:5, Interesting)
Bingo, lotsa' couples use SL exactly for this purpose. There are restaurants, live music events, parks, amusement park rides, canoe trips, shopping, golfing, bowling, book clubs, art exhibits, games within the environment, educational classes, clubs, adult erotic fare of all sorts, and zillions of people to share/socialize/befriend, many of whom are in the same boat.
You can pick up or rent a house or apartment and decorate together to have your own shared place.
I even knew a couple who explored things they felt too silly to do in their own bedroom, from two computers in the same apartment, within the safe confines of SL.
It's also amazing how effective a virtual hug can be when someone prompts it. It does give you a sense of being in the same place, together.
best idea yet (Score:5, Informative)
Second Life (Score:4, Informative)
While not strickly a game many people find it a great way to interact with others far away., I met my partner there. She lived across the country for the first year of our relationship. Sounds strange but many of the things that can be done in real life can be done in Second Life. There are live DJ's and live musicians if you like to go dancing. There are video stores where you can purchase a video for viewing and watch it stream together from the comfort of your virtual home. There are some theaters. There is a ton to do in SL. From G rated on up. Its what you make it and its a great way to date while far away from your loved one.
http://www.second-life.com/ [second-life.com]
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Yes, SL is what one makes of it, but your link is incorrect, no dash between second and life
https://secondlife.com/ [secondlife.com]
Skype and other things. (Score:5, Informative)
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Leave skype on all evening...
My gf is into this, but she wants to do it when we're both working but in different countries. Really distracting to have Skype on the whole time when you're trying to do somethig else.
Re:Skype and other things. (Score:4, Insightful)
God damn, I remember when I was a teenager and in one of my first handful of relationships, the girl wanted to constantly be on the phone (even though we only lived like thirty fucking miles apart). It was like having a fucking anvil tied to my ankle. I mean, I can get that occasionally. LIke every couple of weeks. Especially if you're a great distance apart. But every mother fucking day? When you're practically in the same city? Good god...
I really envy kids of the last 5-10 years. More options to feign "attention/communication" without it necessarily directly interrupting things you need to be spending your time doing.
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Geek community is stupidfied... we read all the articles about PRISM and you STILL recommend *skype*? WTF. Why not jabber, jinny, linphone, anything else?!
I figure if he's asking this question, he doesn't have a geek badge. So these kind of recommendations may just go over his head... But what do I know.
Don't have a good recommendation anymore. (Score:3)
If this were last year, I'd have recommended City of Heroes for you. Creativity and flexibility out the ying-yang.
Unfortunately, those mental defectives at NCSoft put the kibosh on that.
World of Warcraft (Score:2)
What about World of Warcraft? There are lots of casual things to do besides raids or other hardcore gamer battles that involve killing things (but don't roll a toon on a pvp realm!). Of course, there's that $15/month bite. Each! Just a thought.
Get new girlfriend (Score:5, Funny)
Collaboration: Create an online dating profile. Have your old girlfriend write a recommendation on why you're worth dating.
Exploration: Ask her to rate potential new girlfriends.
Creativity: Date new girlfriend.
Storytelling: Tell the old one about the new one.
Combat: You did say she's not into combat, right? But, just in case, hide your batleth.
Final Fantasy XI (Score:2)
Break up with them (Score:2)
Long distance relationship game: L4D (Score:2)
When my girlfriend and I lived several hundred miles apart, we played Left 4 Dead a LOT together in campaign mode. We are now happily married and looking forward to L4D3 :)
Re:Long distance relationship game: L4D (Score:5, Funny)
We are now happily married and looking forward to L4D3 :)
That's a terrible name to burden a child with. At least pick something pronounceable.
Minecraft (Score:2)
My wife and I were apart for almost a year. Skype + Minecraft on a server was awesome and helped us stay connected. I highly recommend it.
Baldur's Gate (Score:2)
But perhaps not the 'enhanced edition', haven't tried it yet but heard it doesn't work on some laptops. Or, Neverwinter online.
NSAFun (Score:2)
Baseball (Score:2)
2nd Life (Score:2)
Er? (Score:3, Funny)
Suppose you had just moved 1000 miles away from your significant other, but you wanted to continue to create shared life experiences.
I'm sorry. I don't understand this sentence. Is this 'significant other' something that happens when I leave the basement? Can I get my mom to get one for me while she's out?
This works best (Score:2)
Leather.
One word... (Score:3)
Teledildonics.
GF? (Score:2)
Girlfriend? Yeah right. We need proofs of that.
Read aloud (Score:4, Informative)
Pick a book you'll both enjoy, and take turns reading aloud to each other.
Write a story together (Score:5, Interesting)
Start by developing an idea, tone, and theme for a story that you can collaborate on and write. There's a lot of fun details to flesh out to make the world feel alive (especially if the story isn't just set in modern times) like establishing kingdoms or galactic alliances and whatnot. If you one you likes to draw or doodle, you can get some fun map-making in. You can setup short term goals like "this week, we should each try and write up a character profile for someone in the world" and then share the ideas you've come up with when you're together online again.
I know it's not a straight-up game in the way you were asking, but it could easily become one that's shared between just the two of you. Most rewarding is the actual progress you make on something that will last longer than the next WoW patch cycle. And who knows, maybe you guys end up releasing the next big book series as a result, or pioneer a new pen-and-paper RPG setting. As long as you did it together, you've created unique memories with each other, despite the distance.
Real Life not Second Life (Score:3, Insightful)
The only game you're going to enjoy is called "unpleasant few months splitting up with my girlfriend despite good internet access because moving 1000 miles away from her means the relationship is over".
You will learn a great deal in the process, mostly concerning the fact that the most important part of a relationship is lots of time spent together sharing real life experiences and, yes, good 'ol fashoined sex.
Sorry dude, but time will teach you that this just wasn't going to end well, no matter how much in denial you were when you made the decision to make this move : I've made the same mistake myself in the past when bandwidth and communiction possibilities were less advanced than they are now but the bottom line is you put a career opportunity first and this is the price you will almost certainly have to pay.
Poker (Score:2)
Try a mud (Score:2)
what are good things to do with a significant other who is less into combat, and more into collaboration, exploration, creativity, and storytelling?
There are several muds that fit that bill nicely. Text based. No explosions. Solve puzzles. Act out a character. Contribute to a story.
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Answer (Score:4, Insightful)
find a new girlfriend (Score:2)
Preferably a real life carbon based life form version.
Sexploration (Score:2)
is that a word? now it is.
Left 4 Dead (Score:2)
Left 4 Dead is a great co-op game which guys and gals play.
2 Games (Score:2)
Minecraft.
Portal 2.
Better: a question for you: what do you guys like to play? Why are you asking us about games to play, when you should know what you like and what she likes - since you're both obviously gamers, right? Right? So, do you both actually play games? If so, find something that's online, that you both enjoy, and play it. There's lots of free games, free-to-try games, and games you might only have to shell out a couple bucks each to get (Humble Bundle, anyone?). But, if one of you isn't a gamer,
My experience (Score:3)
I had a similar situation, except it was just with friends, rather than a significant other. We knew we liked gaming, but gaming together only gets you so far, just as talking only gets you so far. You need to have a shared experience that isn't as distracting as multiplayer gaming can be.
For us, what we did was start recording Let's Play videos and uploading them to YouTube. Basically, set up some video streaming (e.g. we use TeamViewer, but Twitch.tv works for others), chat on Skype, have one of you play a single-player game, and then record everything that happens. You can talk about the game or anything else. For me, it perfectly captures the same feeling I used to have when playing a single-player game with a friend, either as the player or the viewer. We just shoot the breeze, comment on the game, look up stuff related to it, and generally just have a fun time. It facilitates conversation and ensures that you don't have awkward silences, since the game is constantly happening.
For you, uploading the videos to YouTube doesn't make much sense, since we now have 1000 subscribers with really trying, and that sort of thing is the last thing you need when having conversations with your significant other. Even so, the idea may be applicable. Don't constrain yourself to multiplayer games. Single player can work great too.
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I dunno. I would have thought he or she was fishing for Illusion games.
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Have to second the recommendation. I play minecraft with my kid when I am out of town. We either meet on public servers, or have family time on our own world.
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Yeah, having a girlfriend is turning your back on the geek brotherhood man. Bros before hos right?
Actually the demographic of Slashdot seems to be a little older. By this stage women have worked out that they are better off with us than the jocks.
Re:my how far... (Score:5, Insightful)
This.
It really makes me sad how many geeks, who spend much of their adolescence and young adult lives complaining (quite justifiably) about our toxic jock-centered culture, still manage to absorb a lot of the lessons of that culture and carry them into adulthood. I understand how it happens--it's much the same reason so many children of abusive parents grow up to be abusers themselves--but that doesn't make it okay. A big part of becoming an adult is learning to move past that, to be a better person than you were conditioned to be.
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But not old enough to get past promoting the silly stereotype of nerds vs. jocks.
Re: my how far... (Score:2)
It didn't start very far uphill to begin with.
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You never know. A few years back, I moved to Minneapolis for a couple of years while my now-fiancee stayed in Denver. We kept things going with lots and lots of phone calls and e-mails and the occasional visit until I came back. Obviously that worked out okay.
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This depends to some degree on your age and how long you have been together, but unless you've been married or similarly commited for a significant length of time, or you expect them to join you in a definite period of time, it's not worth trying to hold together. There are other fish in the sea.
I get the impression, given the time of year, that you may have just gone to college, in which case, generally speaking, it's already over. The only real question is how long it takes you two to realize it.
Dating advice from slashdot. Really?
Long Distance Relationships work. I was in one for over a year, and am now happily married. They are hard, but the poster isn't asking for our advice on the relationship.
All I can say is that my wife and I played lots of online games together, from Battleship to Gin. We kept it varied, and played mostly casual games, though we did rock the Diablo II for a while.
The best person to talk to about this, really, is your girlfriend.
Best of luck.
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The statistics show that only about half of long distances work
The statistics show that half of all marriages (allegedly) end in divorce too. So that's about right.
citys in motion 2 is better then simcity 5 (Score:2)
citys in motion 2 is better then simcity 5
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Everything you said is moot if she's into it as well. And, you're making some titanic deductive leaps about their relationship.
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So your argument is that if she is ALSO a child they have a chance? Possibly. But somehow I doubt she's "into" trading her boyfriend moving 1000 miles away for some online video games unless she's just not that into him. Regardless of what she says, this will not be a substitute for the real thing.
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Where are mod points when I actually need them?
Well said.
Re:Get busy living or get busy dying. (Score:5, Interesting)
You are assuming a lot about the OP's relationship, and none of it is warranted or remotely appropriate. The only thing that's been expressed so far is that OP wants to find ways to interact with his girlfriend despite their distance. He didn't say why he was moving, for how long, when he's going to see her again, how long they've been dating, what they've liked to do together in the past, etc. etc. etc. So how about instead of being a presumptuous asshole and deriding OP for no reason, you make yourself useful and recommend some games or mod up good replies.
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Maybe you didn't read what you posted then, because the assumptions you've made aren't exactly subtle.
You're living in a fantasy world.
This isn't going to work
(and not even really that fun)
Talking about what games you're going to play together online is what children do
your relationship is therefore doomed.
the mere fact that you're moving 1000 miles away from her speaks VOLUMES to her
If you are serious about maintaining this relationship, don't spend your time playing video games with her
his will not only show her you are *serious* about your relationship, but that you're a good provider.
She's looking for a committed man.
What you're showing her right now is an uncommitted child
I'm sure I've missed a few, but practically nothing you've said amount to anything more than needlessly demeaning garbage.
For the record, my last relationship was a 6 year long long-distance relationship. She moved away because she had no choice, and I certainly didn't view that as an act of abandonment. The most important thing that made it last for as long as it did was contact whenever possible. If OP ge
Amen (Score:2)
Glad to see at least one other man reads Slashdot. ;)
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Is it temporary 1000 miles from home or permanently? That makes a difference.
I would just write real letters in an envelope. she (in my case, in yours: you are very unspecific about the gender of your significant other, that information would help also not?), has to unpack it and probably will read it with care.
My penny...
His handle is Timothy and the subject line says "Girlfriend?" You can figure this out.
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Honestly, unless you're over 50, sustaining a relationship with someone over a prolonged and indefinite period of time from a great distance is probably a terrible idea all around. Obviously, this might not always be true if you're just moving away for part of a year for work or one of you has to move before the other . . . but otherwise, it probably makes more sense to call it and find someone local that you can actually have a relationship with.
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Re:You've fucked up. (Score:5, Interesting)
Baloney. Long distance relationships are, for certain, difficult as hell. But they can work, and things as asked by TimBur1e6 are legit ways to feel together. My fiance and I watched movies together (both of us having downloaded the same file, starting it at the same time) while on Skype, and it really did engender a feeling of closeness.
Re: You've fucked up. (Score:2, Funny)
Game? Hide the salami in her best friend.
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This is simply not true. Long distance relationships can be stressful and straining on the relationship but there is no guarantee it will result in failure. I had the long distance thing going on for over 6 years and there was no fire and brimstone at the end of the tunnel.
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No, but what a shitty way to spend 10% or more of your adult life. It isn't like people are so hard to come by that it'll be the end of the world if people part ways amicably due to long distances.
Also, anecdotal exceptions always exist. I'm sure the OP is speaking in generalities because . . . well, that's all you can speak to if you don't know someone very closely.
Re: You've fucked up. (Score:5, Insightful)
If they really are spectacular together, I wouldn't suggest them being apart for any reason. The pain is just too much.
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Why would you even do that?
Bingo.
What's the end-game here? Are you moving where she is? Is she moving back? When? If you don't have concrete plans as to how you're going to be back in the same place (e.g. "She's gone home for the summer, she'll be back in September") then just end it, cause it's doomed anyway.
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No, man! You don't understand! Our love is SPECIAL and we are UNIQUE! We'll be together forever and ever and ever and that guy who is always in the background at her house when I call her is totally just her platonic friend!
Advice: Go ask a handful of deployed/formerly-deployed marines about long-distance relationships.
Re:You've fucked up. (Score:5, Funny)
Bingo.
B-6
You sank my Battleship!
Re:You've fucked up. (Score:5, Interesting)
I can tell quite a few of you pussies have never been in the military.
...or had an s/o travel on business a lot. While I don't do it long-term, I do know folks who work on remote assignment for months at a shot, or spend at least half the year cumulatively away from family, girlfriends, etc.
On occasion, I usually go off for a week or so to some remote big city on business, but the missus and I keep in daily touch by phone, online via chat, and usually even by (*gasp*) facebook just to share some weird shit we stumbled across that day (me while walking about town, her by pointing me to weird shit back home).
The big trick is communication. Talk about everything and anything, at least once a day. Watch a show together while chatting or on the phone. Do something romantic. Oh, for instance? I'd draw a heart on the beach with our initials, take a photo, and email it to her. In San Francisco there's a zillion heart sculptures - snap a photo of a different one each day and send it along with a little poem. Take a photo of yourself watching a sunset, email that, and then call her telling her about stuff on your mind while she opens that photo. The point is to let her know you still think of her, and how much you love her. She'll appreciate that a whole lot more than tchotskes or souvenirs.
Most important of all - If you're gone a long time, and if you can swing it, find a way to get back there on a periodic basis to be with her, or find a way to get her out to you.
Now this go 'round, I saved a few extra pennies and brought her along (it's our anniversary, and she'd never seen this city before) - but that gets pricey after awhile... So we adapt, and enjoy the times when we are together. No end-game involved. Maybe TFA dude is doing something similar. Maybe he expects to be reunited shortly. No business of mine, but I'm happy to help when I can.
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Beat me to it. A different perspective but growing up brat I saw a lot of separations, from TDY to duty station, from a week to a year. Most made it, one fashion or another. Never easy, takes work, no guarantees; given the alternative, one tries very hard to make it work.
Re:You've fucked up. (Score:4, Insightful)
I can tell quite a few of you pussies have never been in the military.
If you end up in the military you have nobody to blame but yourself.
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I think FreeRealms would be a better MMO choice than WoW since it's more "casual" and family oriented. Lots of avatar customization, built-in minigames of all sorts, pets, rides and women/girls are welcome.
Built in voice chat too.
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A wife.