When and or how did you become a gamer

[JourrnoRush]

I started with Sega Genesis, I remember Star Wars, Sonic, Road Rash.

 

Convinced my parents to get me an N64 and play Goldeneye, Rogue Squadron, Perfect Dark. I remember the Star Wars Naboo game too.

 

Then got a PS1 and played Episode I so many times on that thing. Was a lot of fun!

 

PS2, then I got my first mmo SWG and loved it until I enlisted.

 

Heard of SWTOR coming out and here I am

[chuixupu]

I grew up with an Atari 2600 until the NES came out.

 

I loved the old coin-op games in arcades, of course. I miss those.

Edited July 5, 2015 by chuixupu

[mynxvablid]

I started gaming regularly in the late 90s with Diablo and Dark Forces 2: Jedi Knight. I also played Mortal kombat trilogy, golden eye, starcraft, and red alert while in college. used to game with a group of friends over the network.

 

The game that got me into gaming was Dark forces 2: jedi knight. I was able to download and play the demo on the school's computers, but not install the full game. I had saved up cash and ultimately built my first system just so I could play dark forces 2: jedi knight. Once I did that, I was hooked on gaming for life.

 

in the dorm lounge, we would hold Mortal kombat trilogy tournaments ... one on one sort of thing. I was pretty good at it, one of the better ones in the dorms. I had mastered all the ninja class characters and their moves, and even shang tsung's morphing codes into the ninjas. I had a combo routine that worked for all the ninja characters, which made me very quick to defeat nearly anyone. A couple of my rivals discovered my routine and used it against me. lol

 

in starcraft, I was almost always either terran or zerg when everyone else was protoss. Usually they would ignore me, thinking that I was an easy kill cause they were all under the impression that protoss was best. After the third game like this, they started taking me seriously when I sent 400 cracklings to wipe out their main bases in one massive map wide rush. it was a 4 way free for all, and I wiped them all out in one attack. After that, they stopped underestimating zergs and terrans.

 

Another game we played a lot over the network was diablo, the original version. I played the mage all the time. a friend of mine played the rogue. between the two of us, we could blast through the game rather quickly. We would run the game over and over, collecting the unique items.

 

Anyways, those are the games that got me into gaming.

[Caladhir]

My dad had a game called "Eagle" or something similar on the old computer back around 1990. It was a top-down anti-nazi shooter of sorts. It wasn't any good, and I sucked at it, but it inspired me to take a look at those other floppies (and later CDs) he had lying around from magazines and such to see if there were any cool shareware games on them. And that was the start of it I guess. The rest is gaming history

[Lichtfaengerin]

On my fourth birthday my father bought me Frogman. It went downhill from there.

[CheaterLL]

One of the first games I remember playing was Age of Empires 1 on my mothers old laptop. The first game that I was really obsessed with was the original Need for Speed Most Wanted (2005). Either that or The Settlers Heritage of Kings, I can't remember which one I got first. First game that I was really looking forward to was Need for Speed Most Wanted (2012). Even bought a 600€ gaming PC from my pocket money when I realised my old dualcore couldn't run the game. Was also the first game that disappointed me.

Been playing SWTOR for 3 years now, with breaks only for Assassins Creed IV and GTA V.

I have never sold a single game, except giving the original The Sims to my cousin.

 

I'm only 17, so no 'vintage' games.

[CaptV]

I first became a gamer playing on the Amiga back in my infantile years, playing asteroids, but as far as I know I first played "games" with a sega mastersystem (then snes, never had a nes) I played sonic, then super mario.

 

I was a pc gamer after I got into starcraft, and unreal tournament and quake 2 which were the big things in my childhood days.

 

My Internet gaming life began at Batltefield 1942.

 

And finally my roleplaying life began on Jedi knights jedi academy RPG world.

 

MMOs were introduced to me via guild wars though offically I began playing wow.

 

Annnnd sometime later, im here clear enough ?

[Jeweledleah]

I'm totally giving away my age right now..... but it was when I was in highschool. transferred to this.. I guess you could call it a Yeshiva, except it wasn't religion mandatory - secular jewish school is the best description I can come up with. but... because while being essentially public (aka - no tuition fees) school, we still had private donors - we ended up getting one of the first school computer labs in a city - and that was .... a bit before pentium chips. someone brought in some floppies with a bunch of games on them, I started playing indiana Jones and fate of atlantis on every lunch break, graduated to original Wolfenstein and the rest is history.

 

P.S. when I saw GoG sell Fate of Atlantis, you bet your *** I bought that thing immediately, didn't even wait for a sale

Edited July 5, 2015 by Jeweledleah

[XiamaraSimi]

One of my parents friends gave us a computer with lots of games.

[Karkais]

My first console/computer was apple micro-professor that my father bought me and I programmed some text-based games on it with Basic

 

I also had C64 and Amiga 500 (I still have the Amiga) but in the 90s I pestered my father long enough to buy me a 25 MHz 386 PC so I could play

and 2. (Roland LAPC-1 for music and soundblaster for synth voices. Top of the line!) That was the sole purpose of the computer So I got me space-operas started back in 1991. Edited July 6, 2015 by Karkais

[xordevoreaux]

Let's see.... in the 70's, my sister and I played PONG on a black and white TV. You had these two little dials on a small console. Offline only. The adapters for the tv and the console fit into the car battery sockets in our van, so we took the pong system camping with us.

 

A few years later, I got this red plastic thing that looked kind of like a brick called a Merlin. It could handle Tic Tac Toe and some sort of memory game, I forget what.

 

We got an Atari 2700 when I was in high school. Got sick of playing Tank.

In 1984 I got an Apple //c for Christmas. Not a lot of games on it, and they were all 2D.

 

My first year of college, bought a Macintosh. More single-player games, but there was this company called Simutronics by then that had a game called Gemstone III. I actually paid good money to sit there and watch text scroll on a screen. My character was named Noblesage Goldenhoof, a sorcerer or warlock. Think it was called a warlock. At least it was multi-player. The platform beneath it at the time was something called TADS (text adventure development system). Decades later, Simutronics licensed the Hero engine to Bioware for SWTOR.

 

In 1999, I started playing Everquest I, and then in 2004, Everquest II. I managed to avoid ever playing WOW and apparently I didn't miss much.

 

My only online game now is SWTOR.

Edited July 5, 2015 by xordevoreaux

[annabethchase]

I'm not a "gamer". I play this because it's star wars. Could care less if it's a "gamer" game or not.

[ImmortalLowlife]

My first console was an Atari 2600... I've owned every gaming console (except neo geo) that's come out. I STILL own almost every one of em. As a teen, I spent waaaaaaay to much time and money in arcades. I'm a console gamer at heart tho, and this is the only MMO I play. Edited July 5, 2015 by ImmortalLowlife

[Bachannal]

Back in the 80's I would almost primarily play games on my Atari 2600 - lots of Blue Max, Zork, Spyhunter and a few others I'm forgetting offhand.

 

Had a Nintendo when they 1st came out - and yes, I have blown into more cartridges than I care to recall, lol.

 

After that I spent quite a few years being involved in playing music, primarily punk and hardcore bands. It wasn't until after I was done attempting to play rock star that I got back into gaming again, and got a PS2 - I was more or less obsessed with Need For Speed "Most Wanted" and all of the Tomb Raider games.

 

Took another couple years off of gaming, and when I got back into it again, I finally switched to PC gaming...had a roommate that worked at LucasArts when this game was in development. He was a PA on the game, so I played a lot of Warhammer Online as well as did BETA testing of this game. I also went "STEAM crazy" and bought a ton of games on STEAM...my two favorite franchises being the Left4Dead games and Borderlands. I still play both of those when I feel the need to co-op.

 

This is probably my main game though, and of all the games I have ever played, I have probably logged more hours with this than anything else, including the myriad times I ran through Metroid back in the day, lol.

[Lunafox]

Hmm, as a kid, I played Pong on Atari...and I liked to play Pac-man and Galaxian at the arcade. Then I got into consoles, and played Final Fantasy, Zelda, F-Zero, Tetris and many others. Then I had my son, and he liked to play things on the computer, and I'd play with him. He got into Gameboy and I played on that with him too. We'd take turns. I got pretty hooked on Pokémon for a while.

 

He got me into Pristontale when he was about 8 years old...his dad played too. That's about when we started playing a lot more things. After Pristontale, we played Rising Force Online, which we played for years over different servers, and still do to this day. Also played Age of Conan...came to SWTOR after AoC.

 

I've played a few things alongside SWTOR, but this is the one I'm married to for now.

[kingshaneo]

wow, that was a long time ago. we had an intellivision, the atari and a commodore 64

 

so right around 1979, 1980. i remember the intranet for the 64, and all the file sharing parties.

[Shaz]

When every time I would close my eyes I would instantly see tetriminos falling. Prior to that severe Tetris issue that I developed on my little brother's Nintendo, I had been hooked on Super Breakout on his Atari. Thankfully he never minded sharing his games or playing them with his big sis! But as much fun as I had on those games, I always felt they were just silly fun time-consuming little things, and wouldn't have ever called myself a 'gamer' playing them.

 

Then in the 80s my family got our first computer. Leisure Suit Larry, King's Quest, and Space Quest are the early games I remember the most... and then I discovered BBSes. There were other people through the computer and that just blew my mind with how amazing it was. I wasted a lot of time on those games and on BBSes and on games on them, but I really can't quantify those as being my 'I'm a gamer' moment, either.

 

To answer 'when was the moment I knew I was a gamer', my answer has nothing to do with computers. I knew and gladly called myself a gamer when I was introduced to AD&D in 1988, and would stay up for nearly entire weekends playing through a scenario with my group. I was a gamer, and I loved (and still love) those kinds of games.

 

I'm also an avid PC gamer, and even though for years now I have always subconsciously appended 'PC' (or 'console') whenever I see the word 'gamer' on its own, my own defining 'I'm a gamer' moment will always be rooted in tabletop RPGs.

 

Yes this really shows my age, but I don't care. I've been enjoying gaming of all sorts for decades, and I will continue to enjoy it for decades to come.

Edited July 6, 2015 by Shaz

[Psychopyro]

When I was a kid... Couldn't even tell you how old I was, but I had an Atari 2600. I really got into it though when I got my first computer (Apple IIe) and started writing basic. After that, I started getting into the how and why they work the way they do.

[melodylane]

It was 1980 something and my dad came home from work one day with a NES! It was probably the best day of my young life to date Our first game was The Legend of Zelda my dad and I used to sit up all night taking turns trying to beat a level. I remember calling the NES help line to get tips and hints if we got stuck cause ... no internet. Our NES also came with the robot if anybody remembers that piece of s***. I remember being sooo excited about it only to find out it only moved back and forth verrry slowlyyy and almost never managed to pick up the damn block!

 

Then there came the Sega Game Gear I got it for my birthday. I loved it like I loved air! I used to gently put it away every night in my top drawer so that nothing would happen to it while I slept (what I thought might happen? I don't know I was like 9 ok!). Then came the SNES OMG I was wide open after that.... the graphics were mind blowing to me! All the neighbor hood kids used to come to my house after school for a chance to try and beat me at Street Fighter! I was bad a** with Chun Li no one could beat me!

 

Then came the PS and it was like w**... a disc for a game what is this new magical being? And again my house was the spot to be at after school! By the time PS2 and PS3 came out I was an adult with my own kids and starting them well on their way to being gamers. I did not get my first real gaming computer till I was about 21 and ever since then I have been a PC gamer I just like them better than consoles. My kids though are console gamers to the heart they have PS3 and PS4 and wii u.

 

So yeah there goes my Gaming history for ya

[ChazDoit]

I wasn't into video games too much as a kid, I did have my Star Wars action figures!

 

It wasnt till high school that i met people who had a computer that interested me and later on got into consoles too.

the funny thing we played D&D ( pen n paper) mostly then the computers

 

My first RPG on the computer was the Ultima series, then Baulders Gate 1 and 2 and KOTOR and Never Winter Nights

 

at the time i got a new laptop to play NWN 2 but was upset that the game wasnt working 100%

 

a co workers told me about SWG and said nyah i dont play to play. Well he bought me SWG and 2 months game time!

played MANY MMO's since then

 

Grrr its all his fault im here lol

 

I've heard that Gamer as an Identity is dead, according to some games journalists.

 

In my case I got a Famicom around 89 or 90 then I got my first PC on 94 (a 486 I think) and I've been sticking with PC ever since, however the first true gaming PC that I was able to purchase and build on my own was on 2008.

[Sangetorix]

I have two memories of when I still used to wear diapers:

 

-Walking around the store with my dad

-Playing F-15 strike eagle on our IBM Clone with my Dad. He obviously did most of the playing. I could understand English, that I remember, but I'm not sure how much of it I could speak.

 

I've been a gamer my entire life. And the time period I'm talking about is like late 80s early 90s. Haha I've been a gamer so long there used to be this computer game called Trade Wars which was completely text-based. We would actually play with other people, not through any multiplayer service but by setting up a direct connection on a private forum we all shared (it was something like that. At the time our computer had AOL 3.0 but I know this wasn't that)

 

Desktop computers and computer internetworks have been a part of my entire life, as well as playing games on them. Star Trek and Star Wars just as long. And I love it

[Derfburger]

1st console was a pong console with a dial on either side and a selector switch to switch between 3 different games that my dad got me at a yard sale, moved on to an Atari 2600. Followed by an Atari 5200, Nintendo, Super Nintendo, PS1, PS2, PS3, Wii, WiiU. I am sure eventually I will get a PS4 but right now see no need to shell out the money.

 

1st computer was an Apple IIc. Wizardy was all it took to hook me for good on computer gaming and many many computer games and years later here I am.

[Themanthatisi]

My first video game system that worked on a TV was Stunt Cycle, back in the late 70ties....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stunt_Cycle

 

I had an Atari 2600 after that a few year later, than the Commodore 64 and that was when I really got excited about gaming.

 

The rest is history and I was always mainly a gamer on computer more than console because of the C64...

[Uvirith]

1987, got my first Atari XT Video Game System there, completely with joystick and lightgun.

Games: Duck Hunt and some 1vs1-basketballgame. It was legendary

[Loomi]

Oregon Trail

 

Thats right, I went there. Damn snake killed my mother, and my father and sister died fording the river....

 

Well, all the Apple II games too, I suppose, but that was the one I remember the most. From then on, it was my lifes mission to avenge my fictional family by destroying all other game characters that dared stand in my way.

Edited July 6, 2015 by Loomi