Poll: Childhood gamer moment

[AuronFtw]

Doom, Lode Runner and Exile got me into gaming, all PC titles in the 90s. When starcraft 1 came out, it taxed my computer so much I was inspired to build a new one, so my dad got me into that whole scene. It's kind of a ritual we share, even though we live far apart, sharing stories about new machines and building them never gets old.

 

[RevRaptor]

About 5 or 6 ish, got my mits on a Atari 2600 was love at first sight but I think it was the master system that really sealed the deal for me. I still play a lot of 8 bit and 16 bit era games via emulation, I have a lot of original cartridges in storage but roms are lot more convenient. I still bring my Megadrive out every now and then, them old controllers sure do feel good sitting in my hand

 

[Alex Graves]

Prior to 5 years so I chose other, I started back on the Sega Genesis or NES (my life pre-nine years old is sort of blank slate(one to many blows to the head)), and picked up the other before I was 6. As to when I said "I love video games" was around 7, I would hang out with some college age kids I knew at the time who would let me watch their games (mostly warcraft3/starcraft/diablo2 on pc's). I'd also spend a lot of my time on my Genesis and NES playing anything I could get my hands on from Mortal combat 2 to sonic, I also loved getting to go to arcades at the time I think Area 51 was my main favorite at the arcade at the time(even convinced the owner to get more like it with the help of my old college gamer pal). Of course by 9 I decided that my biggest goal in life would be to get the chance to bring my dreams to life and see people enjoy the worlds I was able to create (still working towards it, a bit slow but getting there).

 

[Innegativeion]

Played Mario 64 when I was four. Immediately wanted more. Next came Zelda OoT and... well, you know how that song and dance goes.

Not only did Mr. Miyamoto make me a gamer, he pretty much cemented my life's professional goals. I decided on the spot that I wanted to make these wonderful things called "video games". I've held to the dream so far. I still plan to. I'll be going to college for it within the year.

 

[Giyguy]

There isn't an option for 2 years old. Now i feel left out!

RECTIFY THIS SITUATION

 

[TheFinalFantasyWolf]

I started when I was 3, and I wasn't really good at first. I could barely play out any "missions" in games without needing help from my parents. However over the course of a year I became much more aware of what to do.

 

[GodzillaGuy92]

When I was about three, I went on a trip to Puerto Rico with my parents. With the exception of meeting my great-grandfather for the first and only time in my life, the only thing I remember about the trip was that the hotel we stayed at had an arcade where my dad and I fought each other in some fighting game populated by aliens that I really wish I knew the name of simply because it was my first-ever video game. I was so enraptured by it that I asked my parents to buy one for the house, and as such was quite disappointed when my dad later informed me arcade games didn't really work that way. Suitably dismayed, I resigned myself to the fact that I would just have to settle for that "Nintendo 64" thing he had told me about...

 

[VoidWanderer]

My dad's love for 'Dungeon Master' that got it for me.

 

[Idsertian]

I started at about 3 years old. It began with Disney games and shareware pinball games, but quickly graduated to the deep end with Crusader: No Remorse, Full Throttle, Dune II and MechWarrior 2.

Ah, those were the days.

 

[exxxed]

I remember seeing Quake at a lan pub(?) back in the day, first time I ever aimed with a mouse in a shooter...

 

[DanielBrown]

5-7 sounds about right. Got my first Playstation by mom when I was six years old I think. Had been playing a bit of S/NES at friends places before that and various computer mini-games at my moms work.

 

[OldDirtyCrusty]

I started on a friends c64, the games i remember are Giana Sisters, Mafia, some sidescrolling game with a jeep and a helicopter (forgot the name), Double Dragon and of course my first adventure Maniac Mansion. The age was 7 or 8, not sure it`s been a while.

 

[Samudra]

I have a very distinct memory of running home from Grade 1 to play "Asteroids" on an Atari that my dad had brought home.. pretty much sealed the deal...

 

[Not Matt]

fairly late actually. i think i was around ten or possibly eleven. my parents hated videogames, and still do. my aunt who until she herself had kids was always defying my moms rules for me and my sister gave us our very own Nintendo gameboy one magical Christmas eve. mom was not as impressed as i was

 

[thehorror2]

Watching Battlebots on tv with my dad, then seeing Robot Arena for the PC in a Circuit City. Not a perfect representation, but awesome nonetheless. The fact that there was no DRM/copy-protection at all (so my friends could install the game on their PCs, too) was icing on the cake.

 

[scorptatious]

Probably my earliest gaming memory was playing Crash Bandicoot 2 for the Playstation 1 when I was either 5 or 6. I remember never being able to get past the fifth level without help. Stupid giant snowball...

My dad told me that my very first game that I played was Duck Hunt for the NES, but I don't remember that at all.

 

[Fasckira]

When I was about 5 or 6, the NES came out. That was pretty much me hooked.

 

[Berithil]

It was 1999. I was six, and I started out on the PC playing Star Wars Rogue Squadron. Been an avid gamer ever since. I played games before that, but that was really the game that sparked my hobby.

 

[Quazimofo]

Well, I started at a young age, though I had to chose other to be more accurate? Why? Because the first recorded instance of me playing one the computer was at approximately 18 months old. Whether it was just dicking around and moving files for shits and giggles (very literally because again, I was less than 2), or actually playing some of those educational games or kid-focused point and click adventure games like Pajama Sam, I dont know. All I know is my love for time spent on computers started before I could fluently speak english, or walk consistently well. Pretty sure I was still small enough that I had to stand on the computer chair and hold myself up with my arms on the desk at that age.

Good times. Thank god my mother thought it a good idea to take down a journal of my brothers and I's childhoods, otherwise I wouldn't have known it was so early in my life.