IAmA Gamer Who Is Tutoring the Elderly

What made them want to get into gaming? And are they planning on trying other games/genres? Also, have you ever seen this video? I thought it was an interesting look into the things we don’t even notice about games when we play them

They gave me a brief answer so I'll try to dive deeper but they mentioned they just want to try something new at their point in life.

They also purchased Destroy All Humans, Detroit Become Human, and one more that I'm drawing a complete blank on for some reason. So they have a great selection.

Time to introduce them to dark souls

This is evil but take my upvote

Lol I bet bruce is gonna have fun with destroy all humans.

I completely agree! They loaded it up but haven't played it yet. I think they are hesitant of learning different mechanics at the same time so they have their attention on one game at a time.

Do you know you made my night?

Needed something wholesome and adorable, thank you for helping them. Hope you make lots of fun memories :)

I feel connected with everyone hear by sharing this story and I'm glad it made your night.

The experience has honestly helped bring me out of a bad rut and it's easing my depression. I would say this is helping me as much as it is helping them.

Thank you for your kind words. I'm looking forward to sharing more stories.

What would you say was the most wholesome or sweetest moment when you were teaching them how to play?

Bruce and Karen (especially her) put themselves down occasionally. I had to lift up their spirits by reminding them of their progress and being honest about how many times I've messed up on a level and it's completely normal for the process.

So the moment when they were actually able to achieve something they thought they couldn't do on their own, we all cheered like someone just made a touchdown and we laughed and screamed.

Have you considered steering them in the direction of, say, simple motion based minigame or rudimentary forgiving 2D platformer in case this doesn't work out?

or 3D atmospheric non action game

I really tried explaining that learning to play video games is like learning a bicycle and, with this game, they're driving a motorcycle.

However they already purchased this game along with a few others and are dead set on this one in particular.

I do highly agree that a small platformer would immensely easier but I am impressed with their dedication to learn (with much success!).

How do you deal with the feeling of frustration over little things that feel like second nature to us?

This is so sweet. I don’t have the patience for it but I’m so so glad people like you are out there.

Please teach my mother how to copy and paste and save photos in the right place and how to upload them to anything. Please.

This is a great question because I would be lying if I said there weren't times I wanted to cringe or laugh.

I've been able to have patience because I remind myself how I would like someone to be patient with me whenever I learn something new. Having empathy and understanding is key.

Additionally, it helps to set time limits so we don't go in circles all night.

I've also learned to have resilience after I taught my six year old cousin how to play (and beat) Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Sony's Spiderman on his own.

Do they like the game so far? Particularly story wise.

They love it! They are so impressed by the graphics and the detail and they really have an overall appreciation for the game as an art.

They like Ellie but they don't really see the plot yet and they keep asking me about details that I have to explain are from the first game.

They said this whole experience has been really fun for them and they feel like children again.

What is the biggest misconception people have with what you do?

This is still relatively new for me so it's early on with misconceptions. With that said, I have a very very small circle of people in my life, but they all think it's awesome and don't really have any misconceptions.

Good on you, i saw the original post and was hoping to see you follow up, update.

Will you be recommending them any games they should try? Do you want Reddit to create a list? 😁

I love coming to Reddit for the answers so if anyone has recommendations or a list, I would be more than happy to read about them and pass them on.

I will definitely recommend the Tomb Raider games but that's entirely based on my own personal agenda of converting everyone to that franchise.

So far I'm winning as I got my dad's girlfriend into Tomb Raider, I got my best friend's step mom into gaming because of Rise of the Tomb Raider, and I converted my little cousin.

Why are they playing a sequel without playing the first one?

Manager at GameStop told them they should skip the first one. I really really tried emphasizing how important it is to the story to visit the first one but they had the game in their hands and didn't want to bother going back out for the first one.

Have you told them they can use youtube if they get stuck on something or are you worried that will put you out of a job? :)

Haha funny enough you say this because yesterday they were stuck at a point in the game and I wasn't there because of my main job so I asked that they send me a current photo of their gameplay and I timestamped the exact spot for them on a YouTube walkthrough to help get them through it.

They are currently using the walkthrough and I'm nothing more than glad that they are getting help while I'm not there.

OP, next time ask them if it's okay if you take pictures or even a small video?

I would love to see those guys playing and having fun!

I will definitely ask!

Personally, it's just a matter of timing for me. I want to have more sessions with them so the question doesn't seem weird. I'm also curious to know how they would react to hearing about their popularity on Reddit.

How could they not have nausea? I'm only 30 and still have nausea if I play first person games.

Luckily the game isn't first person because I'm sure that would have definitely been an issue.

Karen does get disoriented as far as her surroundings and doesn't seem to recall layouts or her character's positioning in the space of the game compared to Bruce.