Throughout the years, I have been able to connect with so many people about video games who didn’t play when I had first met them. Video games would come up in conversation and I would mention I was an avid player of this game or that, depending on my interest at the time. From there, I would usually get a response of “I’m interested in playing, but I can’t afford a gaming PC right now” or “I’m curious about video games, but they seem so intimidating”. Sadly, these are not unheard of issues. I’ve always had the mentality that gaming can and should be for everyone, but I can’t deny that limitations like video game anxiety and financial restrictions exist. Common limitations I would hear from people who wanted to start playing but felt like they couldn’t are as follows:
- “Gaming is expensive, both in technology needed or the games themselves”
- “Games are so intimidating! I don’t want to be attacked or get overwhelmed”
- “Video Game controls are too complex for me to understand in order to play”
- “Aren’t video games for boys?” (Ugh! Don’t make me vomit!)
Some of these points are valid concerns. Most AAA games these days are $70 (USD). That’s two tanks of gas for my daily commuting car or a dinner for my spouse and I! Not a small chunk of change. That’s not including the system being used, namely Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo systems, mobile or PC. None of these items are cheap, especially in a growing digital age. Then, factor in time and accessibility of the games with systems themselves and it’s not hard to see why these limitations exist. As the digital age has grown, however, the ability to navigate these hardships has changed as well.
Way Back When…
When I was growing up from the 1990s to the early 2000s, being able to play video games was limited. My parents didn’t have room in the budget for console systems. The first PC we had could only handle the bare minimum. It was intended mostly for work or school. That old Gateway was how I learned to play Solitaire, Yahtzee, and some kids phonetics games to help with spelling. As school demands increased, my parents would upgrade the desktop to cover the bare needs for myself and my brother.
Eventually, we gained some small disk video games like The Incredibles, or some Scooby-doo games. My gaming journey really began at my best friend’s house with the Nintendo GameCube. Whenever we got together, which was often, we would do our best to clear as many rooms in Luigi’s Mansion as we could! They always had the newest Nintendo system, trading the GameCube out for the Wii. As our experience grew, her father would introduce us to PC games like World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online.
It was the passion of playing these games together that showed my parents what gaming could be like at home. Soon after, my own Wii and video games started becoming Christmas presents. I was able to truly begin my own journey with my best friend, connecting online. I adapted as much as I could with the tools available to me and learned tricks along the way to allow me to continue gaming when it wasn’t available.
Gaming Doesn’t Have To Be Expensive
Free Games
There are a wide variety of platforms and websites that offer free video games. As a long time user of Steam for my gaming experiences, I have explored a wide variety of free games that were friendly to my empty college wallet. As I would study I would take breaks to mentality check out with clicker games or coloring games. I could even run them in the background of my laptop as I read textbooks or wrote my essays for the morning’s class. After a couple minutes of micromanagement for breaks, it was back to the grind.
The two games I enjoyed the most were Time Clickers and AdVenture Capitalist. Both of these games are as simple as clicking a button to earn points toward progress. With enough points, the game can even run idly to reach new heights with managers or passive point generation. The games nearly play themselves. Now, why would I want a game that plays itself? For me, gaming this way helped me take mental breaks without getting sucked into lore or complex mechanics. I had things to do! It was just engaging enough to feel like I was playing a game without derailing my plans for the night. A perfect balance of stress relief and focus without needing to worry about how much I was spending. Of course, clicker games aren’t the only free games available. There’s plenty to explore and try from puzzle games and simulators to deep lore driven narrative experiences.
Sales and Deals
When shopping on a budget, sales and deals are the name of the game. Steam is very frequent with sales and discounts throughout the year on many larger name games too. If you add games to your wishlist that you’re interested in, Steam notifies you when they go on sale too. No need to stalk the store in fear of missing your chance. Taking advantage of Steam’s franchise bundles have saved me hundreds of dollars on franchises I have come to love.
Stores have tried to cut down on prices by offering second hand copies or trade in values. This is especially helpful for console games and systems. My first Playstation 4 (PS4) was many years into the console cycle. Not only was the price lower, but it was sold with three games bundled in! If you’re not in a rush to get started, it’s definitely worth waiting for some prices to drop on systems. Save a few hundred dollars when the quality of the system hasn’t changed since its release.
Don’t Forget Mobile!
PC and consoles are not the only platforms for gaming either. Over the years, more and more people have been talking and exploring video games for the first time. They probably don’t even realize it’s a video game. Yes, all those games on your phone are also video games! Some games that can be played on PC are also available in the app store, like AdVenture Capitalist mentioned earlier. The app store also has a large inventory of free games to explore. Narratives can be just as deep as console games and look just as good as PC. Mobile games offer me short burst experiences to kill time while on the go. This is not to say they can’t be larger experiences. I especially love playing Midnight Castle on my tablet but there’s still hundreds of hours to go for that narrative!
Use What Is Available To You
If you have a basic laptop, even if it’s just for school, it can handle more than you would think. I was fortunate as a kid that my parents were able to get both myself and my brother really cheap refurbished laptops for school when teachers began requiring more typed assignments. The household desktop didn’t have enough free-time to accommodate the new workload between my brother’s assignments, my mom’s email management, and my own assignments. Now, these laptops could really only handle the barebones, but that did not stop me from installing and playing World of Warcraft on it in my free time. Sure, the graphics were on the lowest setting and definitely less than great, but it ran! I got to continue to explore Azeroth while my brother finished his assignments. I encourage people to explore what they have readily available to them when they are first seeing what video games appeal to them. The last thing people want to do is drop thousands of dollars on an expensive gaming setup to find video games aren’t for them (which is totally fine too!). After all, how will you know if you don’t try?
But I Don’t Know Enough About Technology To Find Out What I Can Play.
Players don’t need to be technologically savvy to figure out what games their systems can handle. Video games do have graphical requirements but as long as your system meets the minimum requirements, you can play. There are programs that can determine if and on what settings players can play the games they are interested in. I use the website Can You RUN It to help me figure out my system’s capabilities. A quick download and run of the program will tell me whether I can play the game or if there will be difficulties with my experience. It can give a lot of details for someone who has experience with PC parts and upgrading to meet the requirements. It also gives simple, easy to follow color coding for beginners or those who just want to see if they can play without all the tech jargon (green means go!). Tools like these programs make it easy to see just how far you can go without getting any new equipment.
Find Games That Meet You Where You Are At
Accommodations and respecting your mental health is vital in every part of life and that shouldn’t exclude starting your video game journey. When I first started gaming, accessibility and accommodations in video games were very rare. Everyone had the “get good” mentality or just out-right excluded people. This is unacceptable and is a mentality I have never been tolerant of, players or developers alike. There is still a lot of work to be done on this front for many games out there. With the abundance of choice and availability, however, there are games out there for you.
On Steam, I use the curator’s galleries and reviews to know more specific features of different games I find interesting. I absolutely love the Nonbinary Haven Curator on Steam. They leave short and easy to understand reviews of many different games on Steam, making sure to note the use of pronouns or if different characters are representative of nonbinary people! There are also organizations that do a ton of work just to make games accessible for any players’ needs, such as Takethis.org and Ablegamers.org. Both of these organizations have made it their mission to help gamers find the resources they need to enjoy gaming with mental health and accessibility needs.
That Sounds Nice, But How Do I Know What I Want?
To investigate what games are for you, explore what you want to get out of your experience with a video game. I play a wide variety of games but that doesn’t mean I have the same mindset behind each gaming session. I’m not going to look for cozy, peaceful vibes from Elden Ring. If I want to get lost in lore or hear a great story, I look for narrative based games. Maybe, I’ve had a long day in the office and want to play but don’t want to fight with what buttons to push when. Cozier games, like Stardew Valley, might be more my speed that night! I go into this concept more in my post, Coloring Pixels, Color Anxiety Away One Pixel At A Time. If your an introvert, make sure to honor that! I have whole franchises that I play when I just want to explore a game by myself. Other games I keep as experiences I play with my friends.
Involving Others In My Gaming Journey
The people you play or discuss games with can really make or break a gaming session. Even if you’re playing single player games, make sure your community meets you where you are. Set boundaries and expectations because this time is for you. You should be able to get what you want out of your time with a game. When playing with my friends on Elder Scrolls Online, we like to check in with each other throughout the night to know if anyone needs to adjust what role they are playing or if they need a different task altogether.
I have played many games with friends that are just starting out. Most times, they are really nervous to look bad or feel like they are holding me back. I remind them that I’m there for them and shower them with encouragement, patience, and open dialogue so they can find what they like as well. Of course, not everyone thinks this way or treats their fellow players this way. Don’t let the trolls and weak links stop you from reaching out to your community, online or offline. With every game, there are bound to be people wanting to help or talk about it just as much as you do.
Video Games Are For Everyone
Statistics
The statistics of gamers in the world today is unreal. The Entertainment Software Association, or ESA for short, is a trade association that has made its mission to “help expand and protect the help expand and protect the innovative and creative marketplace for the video game industry here in the United States”.1 The ESA is an excellent resource for information on the gaming industry as a whole, but also rating information on video games and statistical analysis on the gaming industry. According to the ESA’s analysis of the gaming industry for 2024, at least 61% of people in the United States play video games for at least 1 hour per week.2 Of the 160.6 million gamers in the United States, 11% of them self-identify as LGBTQ+.2
Sadly, all gendered statistics are limited to male or female. There are no posted statistics on the gender diversity within the pool of American gamers. I do think it is important to note that both male and female representations, however, are present in equal amounts. The data clearly shows the growth in the community as the industry grows in popularity. They believe, as I do, and show that video games truly are for everyone. Check out the statistics for yourself here!
Why Fall Victim To Misconceptions?
There are too many video games in the world to not be able to find something that suits an individual. To think they are only for one select group is not being truthful to the potential they are already showing throughout the world. Games are made for all ages, races, genders, and personalities. It’s up to the player to open the ever changing doors available to them. I hope this post helps break down some of the barriers holding the “wannabe” gamers to embrace their true self and join in. It’s my hope that, together, we can build a fun loving community that can build each other up and explore new experiences through video games.
Cited Sources:
- The Entertainment Software Association. (2025, February 6). Our story – the ESA. The ESA. https://www.theesa.com/about-esa/
- The Entertainment Software Association. (2024, May 16). 2024 Essential facts about the U.S. Video game Industry – the ESA. The ESA. https://www.theesa.com/resources/essential-facts-about-the-us-video-game-industry/2024-data/
Mentioned Links or Games
- Time Clickers: https://store.steampowered.com/app/385770/Time_Clickers/
- AdVenture Capitalist: https://store.steampowered.com/app/346900/AdVenture_Capitalist/
- Midnight Castle by Big Fish Games: https://www.bigfishgames.com/us/en/company/midnight-castle.html
- Can You RUN It?: https://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri
- Takethis.org: https://www.takethis.org/
- Able Gamers: https://ablegamers.org/
- Coloring Pixels, Coloring Anxiety Away One Pixel At A Time: https://queerggconnect.com/coloring-pixels-color-anxiety-away/
- Elden Ring: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1245620/ELDEN_RING/
- Stardew Valley: https://store.steampowered.com/app/413150/Stardew_Valley/
- Elders Scrolls Online: https://store.steampowered.com/app/306130/The_Elder_Scrolls_Online/
- The ESA: https://www.theesa.com/
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This post is not sponsored. All thoughts and opinions have been made independently through experience and time spent with the game.
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