What Made you a Gamer?

[Gizmo1990]

Final Fantasy VII.

I was always a fan of books and stories as a kid, and I owned and played my NES and Genesis, but when I was uh... 13, I think? That sounds right. When I was 13 I borrowed a friend's Playstation and his copy of Final Fantasy VII and for the first time I got a taste of what it was like to merge interactivity with story-telling and I was hooked on the idea.

Admittedly, Final Fantasy VII is hardly the best example of story-telling even in the videogame industry, but it was my first meaningful experience with the medium and I was hooked from there.

I have to go with FF7 as well along with Timesplitters 2 (odd combo I know but here me out). I did not have a games console when I was a young kid but my best friend did. He had a PS1 and then a PS2. It was always fun to play on round his house but I could live without one quite easly. I am an only child so I spent most of my time reading books. Then I saw my friends older brother playing FF 7. It was the third Sephiroth fight and One Winged Angel was playing and I just wanted to play that game. Then a few days after that my friend got Timesplitters 2 which was just so much fun I desided to save up my money and buy a PS2. I have been gameing ever since.

 

[revjor]

It all stemmed from my highly competative nature being mocked by that damn Duck Hunt dog.

 

[burn e]

When i was about 5, (i'm 16 now), my dad showed me a Star wars game called Pitdroids.
And the moment i understood how to navigate the small droids on the screen, i was spellbound!
And that day forward i just wanted to try and win ALL games.

 

[Thatguyky]

I was trained at a young age to enjoy video games. My dad tells used to set me in his lap when I was a baby, and play Sonic The Hedgehog for the Genesis. He said I'd follow Sonic whenever he'd jump, or almost go offscreen until I fell asleep
(I just realized my Dad ALWAYS played video games, even now, he's a huge Forza and Halo fan, that probably had a lot to do with it).


Also, it was probably because of the elementary school days. Everybody wanted to hang out with you if you had a Gameboy, or they would want to come over to play a Nintendo 64 if you had one. I just learned to enjoy them. Now I use them more as a social thing now. It's a lot of fun having friends over and playing Halo, Left 4 Dead, ect.

 

[karloss01]

My Dad got me into it, watching him play the Megadrive since i was born. when my mum went into labour with me he was playing Chakan: the forever man and when my mum went into labour again with my sister he was playing kid chameleon.

both times he said "can't you hold it in?" followed by a "you have bad timing, you know that?" to my mum's "NO!"

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

These little chappies:

I don't know whether it was the heart thumping tension, or the retina-scarring light or simply the apparent ease of three buttons, but every time I went to Alton Towers or the like, you'd find me in an Arcade for most of it. I would literally sit and watch the title sequence for Space Invaders, Pac Man, Defender, Galaxian, Asteroids or Scramble for half an hour at a time.

Then came Gorf. And it spoke.

Then Rolling Thunder, Dig-Dug, Mr. Do, Ghosts and Goblins, Gauntlet...

I actually skived off college once to get a bus to Leicester to play Gauntlet with three of my friends.

And when I got home, the tape-drive was flipped open and in went Starship Command, or Green Beret or The Last V8.

*sighs happily*

 

[bullet_sandw1ch]

my uncles were losers that have never been laid. i played undying, a clive barker game, was hooked by the immersiveness. they pirated games, supplying me. i developed an addiction, then kicked it about 6 months ago. heres the link for that game:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Barker%27s_Undying
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db7fBg7tmHM

 

[Sizzle Montyjing]

When my mum bought me a PS1 when I was six. I've been hooked ever since

LIFE THIEF! LIFE THIEF!
...
Sorry

Just that's exactly how i got into gaming, well, my dad was involved too.
Then again, all i did for the first year i had it was watch other people play.


Probably explain why i'm so bad at gaming...
Other than being a master of killing Deathclaws and Cazadors, i seem to leave everyone in the dust on that front...

 

[Piorn]

I used to be a HUGE coward, I was literally afraid of everything in Super Mario 64, to the point that my best friend's big brother played the game for me. But then, my best friend made me overcome my fears in Banjo-Kazooie, and that is when I really started playing.

 

[John Pepperell]

I grew up with a good PC and an NES pretty much right across the hall from were I slept Warcraft and Super Mario bros were some of the first games I played and by the time I was five I was better at Mario than my dad was.

 

[John Pepperell]

I grew up with a good PC and an NES pretty much right across the hall from were I slept Warcraft and Super Mario bros were some of the first games I played and by the time I was five I was better at Mario than my dad was.

 

[Scarim Coral]

It was pretty much my brother that lead me to become a gamer.
He owned a Gameboy which of course had Tetris so I sometime play on it (I wasn't as addicted to it like some people). Also when he own a SNES he did had some games with player 2 option (Street Fighter 2 Turbo and Contra 2 etc) so I became his player 2.

 

[GodofDisaster]

I lived in a village where all the kids where either to young for me to play with and the ones that where in my age group, were complete dick heads. So with nothing else to do I turned to games. My fate as gamer was sealed on Christmas day 1999, when I got a Gameboy colour and a copy of Pokemon Blue. It was snowing that day, but rather than go outside and play with my brothers and cousins, who came down to visit for Christmas. I stayed inside to experience the very first game of the series that I so adore.

 

[tjcross]

my dad bought me a nintendo 64 when i was 6 i became a casual gamer
i was bullied horribly when i was 12 i became a hardcore gamer
i have a girlfriend now i'm a casual gamer again (and before you joke about it no she didn't make me give up games)

 

[snagli]

Red Alert 2, the first game I ever played. That got me a little into gaming, but sheer peer pressure from my mates at school caused me to become part of the community, made be buy a better computer, and created a giant monthly hole in my savings called Steam. Being a geek who enjoyed a good bit of cartoons and supplying me with an infinite amount of free Spongebob also helped me get into the whole internet business.

 

[Fenris Frost]

For me, it was definitely escapism. At the risk of inviting being flamed to death, I had a pretty rough childhood and so retreated into fantasy of what ever type I could find. I never left, and I am now doing a writing MA. Things turned out better than expected.

 

[Randomhitter]

Video games have always been just fun for me. I enjoyed playing Mario and Duck Hunt on the SNES with my sister and just continued to have them be involved in many aspects of my life growing up. Some of my family members thought it was either addiction or escapism after some family deaths, but I had just continued my level of gaming as entertainment and education. Having become an adult now (still hard to believe they hand out that membership to anyone) I play mainly with friends and appreciate it as an art form. Hopefully I will be able to add becoming a game maker to that within the year.

 

[ZodiacMaster101]

I got really into games in about 1999 when I was around 7 years old and I got a Gameboy color and Pokemon Yellow for Christmas.

 

[geK0]

When I was 3 (1993) my father brought home (I think we were in a hotel at the time actually) an NES from a yard sale and I played Mario Brothers on it....... I still vividly remember crying after I walked into that first goomba!

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