Will an elderly, Canadian, non-gamer appreciate TLD ?

[peteloud]

In a few days I shall have an elderly Canadian friend coming to visit me in UK, from Singapore where he has spent the past 30 years, or more, of his life.   He spent many years in Saskatoon and later a shorter spell in Alaska.   He is a bit of an outdoors person, but at over 80 years old, he's not much into computers or computer gaming.  I am looking forward to seing his response to TLD.  I am worried that the the difficulties at the start might turn him off.  I hope that I can make him appreciate the game, as it has given me so much enjoyment that I want to share.

[Dogelsagod]

I think so. Its a great survival game.

[Leeanda]

I hope he enjoys it as much as we all do! And that you'll let us know how he gets on with it!

[Sito]

Absolutely! Start him off on pilgrim in ML. It is the atmosphere of the game he will love. No zombie wolves.

Signed
Elderly Canadian

[Admin]

We have some excellent streamers in our community, which could be a good way to introduce the idea of the game to him. Otherwise, Pilgrim is a fantastic place to start. We sincerely hope he enjoys his experience, whether as a player or observer. 

Thank you for posting, and please keep us updated as to how it goes! 

[odizzido]

I think the biggest struggle will be the controls. I have introduced games with FPS control styles to a few people and they always struggle hard to even move/look around. Does TLD have the option to turn left and right with the keyboard?

[UpUpAway95]

Dependa... 80-year-old Canadians are as individual as any other demographic group. 😀

I agree with odizzido, it's most likely that he's going to struggle with manipulating the controls.  He may even have arthritis issues that could prevent him from using the normal control settings.  He may have vision issues that might make TLD's blizzards more than "normally" challenging.  He may love the idea of dealing with the hostile wildlife rather than the weather... so a custom game with blizzards off and leaving the wildlife hostile MIGHT be more to his liking. 

TLD has a great advantage in that the game can be customized in a lot of different ways, so don't necessarily feel that you have to introduce him to the game using a "standard" difficulty.  However,  understanding how those custom options work can be challenging and a person who is not generally interested in computers will probably find fiddling with such things frustrating... so, knowing how to manipulate those options to give him the best start for him is going to fall on you. 

Also, you may want to consider starting him off in Wintermute rather than survival... if he's the sort of person who might be more into a game that tells a bit of a story.   It has the advantage of allowing the player to manually save progress rather than being permadeath.  (Being forced to start over from the beginning after each death can be especially frustrating for some beginners.)

Be patient with him and take the time to listen to him is the best advice I can give.

Edited April 7, 2022 by UpUpAway95

[UpUpAway95]

I also wanted to add - Being from Saskatoon, don't be surprised if he starts comparing Blackrock Mountain to a place near there known as Blackstrap Mountain. 😀 

PS:  In my experience, people from Saskatoon (and Saskatchewan in general) are absolutely the salt of the earth... but my ancestors homesteaded there so I may be just a teeny bit biased.

Adding a link:  https://globalnews.ca/news/2481786/blast-from-the-past-early-winters-in-saskatoon/

Edited April 7, 2022 by UpUpAway95

[Leeanda]

Any update  on this?

[florpman]

Just a bit of advice, if he’s already here, you don’t need to have everything with you all the time, use condition as a resource, not a healthbar, it’s okay to sacrifice a bit of condition to make it to the next building if you’re freezing, avoid wildlife struggles, and kill them from a distance, and remember, spring’s never coming

[stratvox]

"There is no spring, only Zuul...."

[peteloud]

Sadly my old friend could not be interested in trying the game.  He was totally into writing something political about USA, (he was born in USA, did his military service than got out of the country to do a Ph.D.).

I was very disappointed that I could not tear him away from his writing.

[Leeanda]

Thanks for the update . Sorry he didn't try the game though. Maybe on his next visit?