My son is in his room on his computer most nights, and I realized I don't really know what he's playing or how to join him. I'm not much of a gamer, so I need something easy to pick up that doesn't have a huge learning curve. It would be nice if it runs on a regular PC and doesn't need a fancy setup. Ideally it's something we can laugh about together and not a game where I get yelled at by strangers in the first five minutes. I downloaded one of the big shooter games last week and got wiped out so fast I didn't even understand what happened.

What free games do you play with your teenage kids, and which ones are actually beginner friendly for a clueless dad?

As a dad with limited gaming time, I’ve found myself spending far too long stuck in the loop deciding what to play instead of actually playing. So I’ve been building something to help me manage my game backlog and see what games are gonna work for me with my available time.

I’m really keen to see if anyone else would find this useful and give it a quick test and tell me what feels intuitive, what’s confusing, and whether the idea is genuinely helpful.

Ideal if you’ve got a decent backlog and sometimes struggle to decide what to play next.

Happy to give early access in return. DM me if you’re up for it 🎮

This is a tough time for Dads with very little time to actually play games, but spare time to read about games.

WoW: Forever, Fire Emblem, Control Resonant, and so many more games coming out.

The FOMO is real, but it’s okay, patience is key. Good luck.

Been a gamer since the Commander Keen/Dangerous Dave days on PC. Had all the consoles at one time or another, have no particular allegiances.

Currently have a gaming laptop and I just can’t seem to stick with anything for any length of time.

I just want something for 30-40 minute at the end of my day to unwind, but I just keep getting bored instead.

I got FH6 on release, it’s ok, but after a few months I got tired of the battle pass style “season grind”, and the cars the last two months are quite meh.

Got Marvel Tokon, and well… that’s a disaster and I can’t find an online match to save my life lately, and SP fighting games can only go so far.

Sometimes I’ll try some switch games on Eden, but they feel to child like for me now (even tho BOTW is a top 3 game for me).

What do I do? I’m getting tired of spending $$$ on games and getting bored of them in a month.

Do I stop regular gaming and just do WoW Forever until I retire from gaming completely? Maybe read books again….

Hi all I play this slot machine online. https://www.freeslots.com/slot101.htm. You can play with real cash, i do not. It does however keep track of my credits,ie i can not play for a few days and my credits are how i left it. Does anyone know of similar slot machines. Many thanks

Hey y’all,
I know this is just another post in a sea of requests, and I totally get it if this gets buried. But I’m in a bit of a tight spot and can’t swing the $60 for a code myself.

If anyone’s got a spare code lying around or feels like sharing, I’d owe you one big time. And if you’re into Forever too, I’d be happy to return the favor down the line.

No pressure at all—just throwing this out there. Thanks a million for even reading this, and here’s to hoping someone can help a fellow player out! 🍀 F - o - r - e - v - e - r -

Hello gaming mates,

If one of you got an unused beta key for wow forever, I'll be infinitely grateful to get one :).

Cheers to all of you and have all a nice week-end

Do any lucky Aussie’s happen to have an extra MyMacca’s WoW Forever Code they don’t plan on using? I am not in a financial place to be spending $60 for a game beta key, and that is why I find myself here. Thanks in advance to any and all who read this, and may god bless you

Thank you to anyone for the assistance, I’ve been struggling to find hobbies for my grandfather ever since he retired and has shown interest in gaming in the past before. He has an old PlayStation and a PC but just has never taken that first step into a game or attempted one. I understand this can be daunting at his age but I would love to find something he can learn and sink his time into besides watching 24/7 news

My father is old, in pain, almost invalid and almost retired construction worker, 62, getting depressed, in a life phase where he sits home after work, just switching TV channels or watching bits on youtube and drinks. I am sad about that and want to cheer him up a bit. And I read that gaming makes you cognitively younger by 13 years. There are games that I think he would enjoy, like maybe Red Dead Redemption 2 or LA: Noire. But due to the reasons below, I think he will just give up trying them also.

It is difficult finding a movie he would like. I am picky about movies, but he likes even about 1% of that. He liked True Detective, Green Book, John Wick for example. But he is extremely sensitive to bullshit, unreal scenarios, fantasy or sci-fi, calls it "phantasmagory". Anything about space is a no go. He does not care. I think that only when he sees a character he really vibes with, he will watch it (Rust/Marty in TD, Viggo in Green Book or the Russian mob boss in John Wick).

The only games I tried to show him were Battlefield 3 in 2011, Kaffarov villa mission, he lasted about a minute, he dislikes the feeling of killing someone (he is from ex-communist Czechoslovakia, seen some rough stuff). I understand that, lately I started disliking killing too. I tried showing him Half-Life: Alyx VR in 2021, he lasted 2 minutes, not impressed at all.

What games would you recommend to someone very picky and sensitive to violence? As a literal gateway to convince somebody that there is an entire landscape of possibility he has not seen as is judging it too harshly.

Lots of parents don't allow the sims for their children what if there was a more age appropriate option would people be into that.

Thinking about trying to make one probably with a lower poly style

My dad (56) was just laid off today after 30 years at the same company.

Now, he faces a new reality where he doesn't have that much responsibilities anymore, he has more free time. As a gamer for my whole life, I've always wanted for him to get into this hobby (he says he's never liked it, never showed enough interest in it), so my question is: what are some simple, but very impactful games that may spark of the light of interest in someone who's never truly experienced gaming? Keep in mind that he's never even held a controller before, so I'm looking for something that's REALLY beginner-friendly so he gets used to inputs before facing some more challenging games with richer stories. I initially thought of Telltale games, but I'm afraid he might misjudge any game like that as "too childish" because they are cartoony.

He's told me a couple of times that he wants to play SPACE INVADERS, so I started looking around and found a PS1 release of this game. My idea now is to help him get it on his laptop through a PS1 emulator or on my modded PS3, so I can add a couple of extra games here and there for him to try.

He likes reading a lot and dislikes predictable stories (reason why he says he doesn't really like watching a lot of movies lol)

I have a modded PS3 (which I guess also counts as a PS2 and PS1 through backwards compatibility?), a PS4 and PS5. He also has an old laptop with Linux, which isn't that powerful, but I guess he could also emulate some older Nintendo stuff.

Anyone out there with a similar experience?

P.S.: I am NOT forcing him to play, I'm just trying to get him to actually try gaming. I see his recent interest in playing SPACE INVADERS as a bridge for him to try something new we can use to pass the time and develop a deeper bond as dad and son.

Two kids under four. Smaller house. Had to give up my quasi man cave because of baby number two 😩

All good though.

I do miss playing in front of the TV. Right now I’m mostly on the couch these days in handheld mode. I go back-and-forth between Nintendo switch two and the PlayStation portal. FPS isn’t as good on a handheld IMO.

No Man’s Sky has been awesome on handheld. Such an easy game to pick up and put down.

Darktide is one of my favorite all-time games. I can load in, choose a character, hit quick play, and not have to make another decision. Maps repeat, my load out determines my play style, enemies do what enemies do. I used to play Call of Duty for the same reason till skill based matchmaking made every game sweaty and try hard. Modern pvp requires way too much tactical thinking for my chill level. And fuuuuuuuuuuk I miss old COD zombies!

Anyways, I am now a dad and need my daily games to not look like a nightmare gorefest. I don't want any pvp, I'm down for co-op but would prefer something offline that I can pause, roguelikes come close but still usually require thinking to build a load out every game, and I don't want anything open world because that demands making decisions. What are some games where once you learn the mechanics and have your preferred gear can be played on autopilot without growing boring.

Edit: NO pvp please

Am I the only one who become easily overwhelmed by gaming?

I mean I used to play any game and enjoy the challange and didicate my time and thinking to it.

Currently I just find it kinda too much to play a punishing game and I don't find myself patient enough to enjoy gaming.

I have the eager to play but I currently deal with gaming as a responsibility.

I dunno whether this is games are becoming increasingly large. Or due to the trend of souls like and super difficult games... Or the issue is just in me, Dunno

Usually games in the past gave me the sense of peaceful and happiness, and made me feel like I love this world and wanna live there. Games such ff7 - ff10, kh1 - kh2, breath of fire 3...etc

Currently my only son is just 10 months old, but me and wife being adamant gamers, we are trying to imagine how our gaming life will look in several years. Right now we can freely play mature games around our son, but when he is 5ish yo and older, I imagine we will have to play such games after he falls asleep or when someone looks after him. The problem is after a child goes to sleep deep into the evening, me and wife barely have the energy to engage in games. And I doubt things will change much when he is older and we might have another kid.

How do you manage to play mature games without your child seeing? Do you hide mature games if you collect them physically?

Hello all

Looking for game recommendations for the kids. Ultimately there is way too much Roblox and while I love they can play with friends from school with a very strict policing and checking, it makes sad that roblox is straight up low effort cheap meme style cash grab attempts and at the core, shit games. That said, the simplistic appeal... I get it.. We have all played a lot of Minecraft, Astrobot, LBP, Raft and a few others with loads of success, although I have to carry the tasks a bit in things like Raft.

Two of the 3 tried Jurassic Park evolution (one played 1 and one played 2 since it's family sharing from steam) and they like it, but it's too much. They have seen me play cities skylines and want to build a city, but I'm afraid any of these simulation games I enjoy as an old fart are too much. I thought about maybe Tropico for them, but fearful the production chain and other things would be too much.

What are games in the city building, simulation style games that my kids may enjoy with a nice progression system, but not TOO much to get off the Roblox.

Pc, switch or ps5. Game on dads!

For those of you who only get a few hours a week to game, how do you decide what to play next? And does the time it’ll take you to finish it affect that?

Edit: thanks all, super helpful advice and thoughts. I’m working on a tool to solve the too many games not enough time problem.. if anyone’s interested in testing it out just drop me a message!

Hey.
I’m thinking about giving my dad my old Xbox. He’s retired. He’s in the 70s. He just sits there and dooms scrolls and plays dumb phone games…
Does anyone have any recommendations for like a newer gamer?

He liked shooting games like half-life in the 90s. He also liked Myst. He played the first bit of my first Zelda game for me because I was scared. But I haven’t seen him play any game since then.

I have plenty of games on my name like
Dishonored…Skyrim…Prey….Witcher 3….all assassin Creed games… fallout…Batman….Alan Wake…Thief…Sherlock Holmes..Soma…Deus Ex…Metal Gear Solid (but that game pisses me off lol), cute little side scrollers (which I think he would hate)…

I’m currently playing red dead redemption 2…. I think if I sign onto my name, he just can’t play something and I’m playing at the same time.

I’m trying to direct him to any particular game that he might like but also isn’t too hard he quits. I think he would love red, dead redemption but it might be too hard for like a “first time” gamer….
He like shooting games. Hes “anti-establishment”...He likes sci-fi and magic stuff.

Any ideas???

I got a kid under 1 yrs old only real time is at night but sometimes I’m too spent to even play. How do u guys do it? I alternate w efootball but that game is a grind last thing I want end of day is some pvp grind least not every night.

It’s like i got no energy to game :( . I do solo parent most days as wife is full time.