Actually, if I was introducing someone to gaming, particularly if they are older (20+), I would have them play Pong then move up through the generations. Seriously. Something like Grand Theft Auto or God of War would utterly intimidate them if they played it right off of the bat. Watch this for reference:
I had such a viscerally negative reaction to this video... not entirely sure what it was. Maybe it was the 100 times he said "the lady I live with", maybe it's just the faux insight. Yeah, good job bro, nobody has ever thought about idiot-proofing games for noobs. Or maybe how it's some great fucking mystery how he learned the secret language of gaming, lmao. Oh I don't know, you played some games? Asked questions and got tips from others? Failing that looked at the instructions? Failing that switched to another fucking game? Had just the slightest bit of initiative and persistence because you were enjoying yourself?
Oh no shit your wife didn't get very far in Dark Souls while you whacked off to her failures in the background! And Christ, the YouTube sidebar suggestions while watching that turd of a video being slowly squeezed out over the course of 20 minutes are a bunch of "What X game looks like to non-gamer derpdaderp" Here's another video idea you fucking hack... hand her a guitar, the tab to Through the Fire and Flames, Eruption or whatever the fuck guitar god song you feel like, tell her good fucking luck then make a video about how guitar just isn't accessible enough, and pontificate on the absurdity of anyone ever having learned to play the god damn instrument.
Only redeeming aspect of that video is that even the dude's wife could see how lame Uncharted climbing sections are.
As for starting at Pong, I doubt that's necessary. Plenty of people skipped the 2D era completely and play the modern video game just fine. Plenty of simple games out there that can be played with very little guidance. But ultimately I don't give a fuck about the lady he lives with's experience with games. She didn't seem to have much interest to begin with, she can enjoy whatever fucking hobbies she's into and I won't whine about how they're not immediately interesting or accessible to me personally.