I first played Skyrim for about two months, after the review came out by PC Gamer (I wouldn't buy it until then). It took all my "extra" time and then a lot more. Despite that, my wife kept hearing about it from her coworkers and friends, and one day she told me she would like to try it. I invited her to share it on my computer, but she rejected that suggestion, said she would have to play it on hers if she played it. Before this, she was just a "casual" gamer, playing solitaire and browser-based games; she never experienced moving through a computer-generated 3D world.

So about $1K and a couple of weeks later (I also had to troubleshoot other technical failure issues W/her rig, see "Eve" in my sig below), I had Steam and her copy of Skyrim going. She was almost instantly hooked too. Now it takes all of her time (and more) too. She has played 4 characters now (I have also played 3). We were never much for watching each other play, but I did watch her play through Blackreach (and Helgen) the first time. The key to comfort there is to say as little as possible (or as little as needed) when watching, some ppl just can't do that.


I'm really glad I didn't spend all that money on computer upgrades for nothing, and am proud to have her as my wife. She now talks like a gamer, she really got into all the intricacies of Skyrim, reading hundreds of wiki pages as I did. I occasionally point out to here that she is talking like a gamer now, a.k.a. she is a gamer! So she in now trying some other games too, she is curious about whether or not she will find more games she loves half as much a Skyrim.

I was just thinking, this wouldn't have happened if Skyrim didn't achieve such great popularity among so many ppl. So it has achieved a "critical mass" that other games has not achieved, meaning it may draw even more ppl into (3D worlds) gaming that otherwise would never try it - like my wife did. Skyrim will become a legend in the future, the first game with such "critical mass" to interest a great deal more ppl, and greatly boost game sales in the future. This larger revenue means the possibility of making more epic games, that may even be less buggy, as the budgets for said games may soar too. In other words, I think the proverbial ball is rolling, and the ball will "snowball," leading to even more epic great games in the future, from many different developers.

I'll have to say, you're lucky to have a woman like your wife. I've had no success introducing gaming to my girlfriend or uncle (though he has tried to play Left 4 Dead before). Still, good for you and your wife.

I convinced my wife to play Fable 2 because of the dog companion, I think playing fetch was the biggest interest. She lasted about 3 hours or so? She is fine with my love of Skyrim , but Angry Birds and Peggle type games will always suit her tastes better. There is definitely a mass appeal to Skyrim, it's awesome. But I'm not sure it will convert the majority of gamers who don't already enjoy RPG type games.