thats why he asked me
asking a gamer wouldn't give him the same gamer experience. he needs to get some experience in gaming if he's going to really understand what you want in a game.
this is derived straight from a lesson in a game design class that I took, do not quote me on this for it is not my material: go make him play or watch someone play the Atari 2600 game E.T. (if he watches a video, make sure the video either has no commentary or no sound if there is commentary). After he watches/plays part of it, ask him what's
missing from the game and what makes it such a terrible game. Then have him play through or watch a video on a different, better game (can be of your choice, although it should generally be a 'good' game rated by the general community if he wants to get a sense of the type of games people like; again, without commentary) and ask him what's good about it. This should give him a good idea of what a good, engaging game is (go watch a minute clip of ET and you'll either be laughing hysterically about how stupid it is or be very bored).
As for me, in a game I would want some different type of new, non-ripoff or part of a series medieval game that has new types of gameplay not seen in different games. Something just.. different.