How did you guys get into PC gaming ?

[Nuuu]

When I was around 5 I played a ton of Humongous Entertainment games (Pajama Sam, Putt Putt, SpyFox) on my Sister's Macintosh, but I later switched over to console gaming on the Gamecube and Gameboy Color/Advanced.

One day my cousin from London came over and showed me the website Albino Blacksheep, which in turn taught me that there are hilarious things on the internet. Before I got a computer of my own, my brother and I would take turns using my mother's laptop in the kitchen, on which we played some less hardcore MMOs: Toontown, Pirates of the Caribbean Online, and Runescape.
Eventually I got my own computer in my room. At first I mostly used it to watch crappy videos i thought were funny at that age on youtube (ye olde times of Naruto AMVs), but as a strayed away from them, i noticed that there were legitimately good games I could play on the PC, mainly Portal and TF2 catching my eye (I think G4TV was what really introduced me to them).
Long story short, I downloaded steam for the first time, bought the orange box, and tried Portal and TF2, which my computer couldn't handle. My dad introduced me to modifying my computer with things like better graphics cards and the rest is history.

 

[Dango]

When I was 10, a friend of my brother brought over a laptop that had Rome: Total War on it. I played the hell out of it and begged for him to bring his laptop whenever he came by. Years later I ended up up buying it and a couple easy to run games and playing them on my laptop, not long after I got a much more powerful laptop which lasted me a few years until it broke, and then I moved onto building my own computer.

I'm not. I'll get into PC gaming when rigs that preform better than consoles cost less than $1000.
Until I'm happy being able to play any game released, guaranteed.

I know you're going to get bombarded with quotes telling you this but you can build rigs for much cheaper than $1000 that are considerably better than consoles.

I built mine 2 years ago for about $700 (this includes all peripherals) and I'm still running most game maxed out at 40-60 FPS.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

Never had a console other than the Game Boy & Game Boy color.

My family used to have Macintosh computers exclusively through the 90's. I got to play a lot of great games on those macs, but the ports of PC games were usually behind a few months or years, which I consider to be a good thing in the end. It means I got to play a lot of old classics.

Got my first PC in 2001 because highschool programs at the time would only run on a PC. After that I've just been steadily upgrading.

Never really considered getting a console until this generation.

 

[Mikeybb]

Saw a friend play wolfenstien 3d and was amazed.
Then played some multiplayer tank game in a computer lab for a few hours and was very tempted.
After which, bought myself a pc while at university and, on landing a copy of wing commander, tiefighter and master of orion I found myself hooked.

Nothing overly complicated really.

Having started back with the spectrum 48k, it wasn't much of a leap even if I did spend (and still do spend) a bit of time among the console peasantry.

Whole self depreciating master race thing aside, I've always been a multi system owner, even if I do arrive late to the lifespan with some.
I guess it stems from chasing those gameplay experiences that are unique to individual systems.
PC games were always going to end up part of that collection as long as they had that unique element to temp.

The only one that took a real long time to wear down my reluctance were the handheld systems.
When more strategy games and rpgs started turning up in the lists of games, they didn't as much wear down that last resistance as they routed it and razed my wallet in triumph.

 

[pookie101]

was time for a new gaming machine and i traded up from my Amiga to a 286 pc.. i still miss the Amiga, great machine. perfect mix of plug and play console/computer that you could upgrade if you wanted to

 

[Coreless]

My father pretty much taught me from as early as I could type on the keyboard how to use and build PCs. When I was about 7-8 he bought the parts and showed me how to build one from scratch and I have been into PC gaming ever sense. I didn't even own a console until had my first job during high school, I never really cared much for console games since I already owned tons of PC games like Half Life, Starcraft and Quake. I still remember using floppy drives and MS DOS to boot up old games like Doom and Wolfenstein lol...man where did the time go?

 

[Vigormortis]

I'd grown up on the NES, SNES, and Genesis in the 80's and 90's, but at one point in the early 90's a family friend (who'd let me play on his NES for years until I was able to get one as a b-day gift) introduced me to his collection of PC games.

At first, I didn't think much of them. I had had a few games on the family PC myself but nothing that drew me away from my NES/SNES. However, I soon discovered the unending joy of games like Doom, Zork, Myst, Half-Life, Mechwarrior 2, and Lode Runner. After that, I was hooked. Visits to friend's houses became less and less about pulling out the N64 and more and more about playing another round of Worms 2, Half-Life, or Doom 2.

From then on I've been a PC gamer. I've still owned consoles over the years, with my PS4 purchase being the latest (and first time owning a Sony console), but my primary source of gaming entertainment has been PC.

I doubt that'll ever change.

 

[Meximagician]

Got a late era Windows 95 from my dad, who had upgraded to an early Windows XP machine. What sealed the deal was when I figured out you could edit the game files.

Carnivores now has a kitten meowing (although I didn't know anything about bit rates at the time, so it's more of a very large, very sick cat meowing) instead of a T-Rex roar. In Star Miner rival ships shout "D'oh!" when killed.

Somewhere in the world of Siege of Avalon is a man known only as Mr. Bad!, whose bare hands can fell any foe (though due to the wonky way in which damage works, using gloves or a weapon greatly reduces damage).

And I have more custom player icons for DemonStar than I care to admit. Probably still have them, despite not having DemonStar installed on this computer.

 

[Wubba]

Had an office computer that couldn't run anything newer than DOOM because it had shitty on-board graphics. I found a classmates stolen bike and returned it to him, turns out his whole family was into computers so he gave me a used GPU that could at least run CS and stuff. Bioshock came out a few years later and was completely unplayable, but I still had that thing for a few more years.

edit: oh yeah, we did have a computer before. I don't have any recollection what model, but I'm pretty sure it was running DOS. In-between computers I had some consoles too, but since Xbox 360 I've sworn to stick to PC.

 

[mysecondlife]

I got sick of PS4's absence of backward compatibility, subscription for online multiplayer and the endless remasters without acknowledging the PS3 games I bought.

Also, Witcher 3.

 

[Drakmorg]

Back somewhere in High School I picked up on Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Civilization IV, and Warcraft 3 and installed them on our family's computer because my parents were good sports about it. And I had a heckin' fun time with 'em.

Then as I was graduating and about to leave for University, I managed to talk my Mom into buying me an Alienware laptop, because neither of us had the experience or spending sense to know any better. Then I discovered Steam and found out I could buy rad games for way cheaper than going to a store to pick up the latest Xbox 360 games.

Somehow that piece of shit laptop lasted me nearly three and a half years before dying, and now I have a semi-respectable rig and it's all I play games on aside from handheld systems to kill time while I'm at work.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Then played some multiplayer tank game in a computer lab for a few hours and was very tempted.

Just a question but was it Battlezone 2? Where you get ejected out of your tank if it goes 'splodey and can snipe other players out of the tank after you get sploded?

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I'm not. I'll get into PC gaming when rigs that preform better than consoles cost less than $1000.
Until I'm happy being able to play any game released, guaranteed.

They already exist. Most of the package cost is tied up by the monitor. Modern HDTVs work fine for it (resolution is limited to 1920x1080, but a lot of console games can't manage that apparently).

OT; First PC was a Commodore 64, a few years later we upgraded to a 486 (dx2 66, we were fancy). So yeah, a very long time. I dabbled with consoles, but the games didn't have the same level of depth and complexity that the PC titles did.

 

[Maximum Bert]

I'm not. I'll get into PC gaming when rigs that preform better than consoles cost less than $1000.
Until I'm happy being able to play any game released, guaranteed.

I think you are grossly exaggerating but still correct in premise. I have been PC gaming on and off since the C64 and it has held wonders and disappointments. I got into it back then simply because it was cheaper but really consoles took over by offering an ease of access and curated service PCs could not (even if a lot were still garbage).

I am still into PC gaming but I also play console as well and really the difference now is minimal a 2K PC will perform better than a PS4 for sure but minimally so. Diminishing returns has been in strong effect for a while. Most PC games I play are indie games the freedom the PC platform offers is its greatest strength and weakness.

 

[BoogieManFL]

I'm not. I'll get into PC gaming when rigs that preform better than consoles cost less than $1000.
Until I'm happy being able to play any game released, guaranteed.

Done. A few years ago, actually.

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Systems/PC-vs-PS4-vs-Xbox-One-Hardware-Comparison-Building-Competing-Gaming-PC/Why-Go-PC

You can also nearly buy a second one for a buddy. I just built a new one for not much more that will still be a high end PC even two years from now.

And you'll be happy being able to play any game, released, ever, even ones from decades ago (IE, nearly unlimited backwards compatibility), guaranteed.. Including many other things.


Back on topic, I gamed on 286es and even a TRS-80 that didn't even have a hard drive. Wolfenstein was a good start, but I think the day I went more towards PCs than consoles (always used both though) was probably the day I played the demo for Doom, it blew my mind.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

I saw the opening cinematic to Mechwarrior 2 - after that I was a convert for life aside from some dalliances with the N64 - though to be fair, GoldenEye mother fuckers - and the PS2. But PC was where I was born, and I half expect my autopsy report to have a note reading "Keyboard indents on face".

 

[Leg End]

Playing the Dawn of War demo back in 08 and then buying older PC games for my supreme toaster.

Though, I usually(or used to) play on consoles far more.

 

[1981]

My parents bought a PC when I was around 13. I think the first game I played was Hugo [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_%28video_game%29]. When I was old enough to, erm... buy games one of the first ones was Worms. I tried to make everyone play it with me, but most of the time I just played against myself. Fast forward 15 years and my ex talks me into installing the Steam client. I told him I'd never buy games. Uh, that use DRM. But it turned out pretty great because I used to play mostly AAA games, but now I play a lot more indie games.

 

[EXos]

I Don't remember when I started. My father always had a PC for work and he got us a lot of games along with it.
First memory was of Blockout on an orange monochrome screen. (I have no idea what the resolution was but it was TINY!)

Thought about getting a PS3 because of the JRPGs but during that time I was too poor. And as I look at the current gen I'll stick with my PC.

 

[kasperbbs]

Counter-Strike, Red alert 2 and Star Craft got me into it, everything else convinced me to stay.