How did you start gaming?

[Holy_Moses]

Wassup peeps.

We are all gamers, we all play Minecraft and enjoy it enough to join and have discussions with people we have never met before (or maybe know, idk.) on a forum for a single multiplayer server. And treat them as, as some people believe, like a "family". Minecraft is only going to be 4 years old sometime in May. And there has to be a reason why we have spent money to play this game instead of saying "Whoa, these Swedes made a cool looking game, point, click, BUY".

My question: What game(s) made you into a "gamer"?, or simply, what game(s) got you into gaming and why? Was it the feeling of empowerment, the ability to control players, the enjoyment of destroying friends in something that they're not good at, or the fact that it was better than being outside where all the crazy $#!7 happens?

(Bold the name of the game you've played to make life easier :3)


Here, I'll start...
I grew up watching Pokemon, you know that anime show and manga from the mid 90's that has exploded into a multi-billion dollar franchise in only 16 years... I became an instant fan after kicking my cousin's ass in "Who's that pokemon?" everyday. That was up until my mom bought me my first video game ever... Pokemon Red for the gameboy. I was so excited to play it, then i realized, I suck at choosing the right pokemon, i only picked them if they looked cool . It challenged me to do "research" and investigate how the game worked, which I found to be more fun than to go outside and play hide-n-seek with few places to hide XD. I never really got into the 2nd - 5th generations so dont bother asking about them . As I became older, i became more and more bored of Pokemon, almost got into Yugioh, then my cousin introduced me into the Grand Theft Auto series. He gave me his GTA III, and Crazy Taxi discs and his #memorycard when he got Vice City, and I fell in-love with open world genre. And here I am today, a huge GTA nerd/fanboy awaiting the release of the best game ever to come out in September

[Alpha_Lance]

Very first game I ever got my hands on was Final Fantasy 3, my brother let me play his super Nintendo one day and honestly, I was immediately hooked to the game. The music captivated me and the beginning of the story fascinated me, not only did I become a gamer, but I constantly imagined myself in their place. Exploring the world, adventuring, experiencing both the good and bad times that they endured. Just becoming better people; I fell in love with the game during the opera with Celes, cried as she attempted to suicide; could not believe Kefka actually succeeded in destroying the world. Learning about hope, never giving up and strive to build a new tomorrow.

My own words... "Hope will never die, as long as we can continue to breath and dream of a better tomorrow."

---

After that, I was hooked to RPG's, I played everything that had amazing stories or giant robots (Earth Siege 2 ftw) Just the imagination that humanity has, it still amazes me and that feeling will most likely never cease.

Minecraft... gives me a chance to create my own story, my own universe. I build my ideas or communicate them with those I have begun to trust. It's fun and I'm glad to share moments with all of you.

course messing with your heads has always been fun ^.^

[360OLLIE]

My hardcore gaming origin is hazed by gaming being all around me. I'm not sure where I totally started but there was one flash game site that really stood out to me. Addictinggame.com Years ago at the very beginning of time, I started to play on this site because everyone else did at the time. Though, I soon sought for another site for addictinggames was too..... sucky. Their games were very cheap and pathetic, a lot were actually very explicit in sexual terms also. I soon found armorgames.com Just, their games were amazing... They were very intriguing and fun to play. Many, many games I got addicted to for at least a week. This site was the one that showed me that I like games. Now, armorgames and addictinggames still run.

As I was running through addicting games and and armorgames, I began to run into these "web" games. Where I could play some amazing thing called "multiplayer!" I downloaded quite a few web games that I played for maybe 2-8 monthes before dropping them.

Some time passed. I went to my cousins house to celebrate and Christmas Eve. When I walked into his bedroom, I found him sitting at his desk playing this game calling "Minecraft." He showed me survival and I got very interested in that. While he was coaching as I was playing in survival, i still didn't have any knowledge of how there was still a whole other gamemode at the time! (I was playing the game at this house in the 1.0.0 version. Later, I asked my dad to buy minecraft but he said no. But I still started to play classic singleplayer just for the sake of it. On one day, January 16, when I was playing classic in the moring, my dad stares at the screen from behind me and asks, "So, this is like the lite version or something?" It was something like that lol. He saw that I was very intrigued by the game and, finally, that day, he payed the $26.95 for a game called "minecraft." More than a year has passed since that day and I have grown to achieve total knowledge of pretty much every single game aspect and mechanism. I only have the "complicated ways of redstone" to learn left. I now spend most time playing multiplayer and I mostly play multiplayer on Opticraft. Minecraft has that kind of bold statement saying: "I can do anything thing I want. Can you?" 

[theone7142]

My gaming experience started when I was a wee 3 years old. My mom was making dinner, and I was downstairs. I saw this thing called a GameCube, asked my mom what it was. She said it was a video game. What's a video game I asked, and she explained. So I got on, played some top gun, and was immediately fell in love with gaming.

3 years later, i then got on the computer and watched YouTube videos. Random ones like Elmo kills Barney and stuff. Then I found flash games. I thought that would be it.

Fast forward 6 years. I hear my friend talk about minecraft. What's that? He told it was the best game ever. I bought it, and the rest is history.

[daniblue182]

It all started with my sony vegas and ps1, playing sonic. spyro and a game called flying birds, and the addiction led to other games and making friends, finally got a ps2, then a ps3 and it grew from consoles into online games on my laptop, then i got introduced to minecraft in 2010/2011, a world where i could build anything i put my mind to, i played offline building a huge world for just under two years, with all different builds until i built up the courage to join a server in may 2012 in which i could share my own builds and creations and i've been on opti ever since ^_^

[RuthlessTomato]

1 day, i see my cousin on a GB color.
"mommy, i want one. can i get it for my birthday?"

...a few weeks later...

ooh, the new GB advance!!! thank you mommy!!

at this point, i only played it about once or twice a week, or on long car rides.

***one christmas***

"thank you thank you thank you!!!! This new GameCube looks REALLY FUN!!!! and you got me SUPER MARIO SUNSHINE!! :O


hey, im going to go on that website my friend told me about, gamesloth. it sounds fun!


*wild flash games appeared*

:O mom, thanks, you got the WII for the whole family!
*we all play wii as a family for a few weeks, then i inherit it*

*wii becomes not-so-good anymore*

hey mom, if everyone coming to my B-Day pooled together some money, could I maybe get a laptop for my birthday?


sure honey.

and here we are.

*summer 2011*

"hey bro look at this cool game" says my friend.

:O ima do an underground house on the "server" thing you are making.

"why is this sand stuff falling in my house?"

[Holy_Moses]

course messing with your heads has always been fun ^.^

I can hear your laughter right now xD.

[Wyboth]

The History of Wyboth's Gaming Career

Although it wasn't the first game I ever played, the game that sparked the gamer in me was Pokemon. Flashback to May 2005. I received a Gamecube and Pokemon Colosseum for my eight birthday. At the time, I was only eight, and wasn't an adept gamer. I only finished 1/8^th of the game before giving up because I got stuck. I didn't understand any of the game mechanics, but I had managed to get reasonably far into the game. Fast-forward two years. I was becoming bored of internet flash games, and decided to browse my old game library. I picked out Pokemon Colosseum and began playing it. Instantly, I was entranced in it. I now understood the game mechanics, and played it all the way through, enjoying every moment of it. When I had finished, I wanted more. I talked to my mother, and she agreed to buy me Pokemon Pearl. I was enthused by the amazing amount of content in the game, and quickly learned that some Pokemon are better than others. When I beat the game, I would constantly train new Pokemon, trying to create the ultimate team.

It was about this time that I was on serebii.net researching Pokemon statistics when I came across their IRC chat rooms. I learned that there were several others like me, and I learned about Wifi Battle. I was amazed and relieved that the challenge of Pokemon did not end with the mediocre in-game trainers. At first, I did terribly. But eventually, I learned the art of competitive battle, and discovered the holy grail of Pokemon: Shoddy Battle.

This was it, everything I valued in Pokemon, realized in one gaming community. The very heart of the game was put into the simulator, and made open to the world. I couldn't get enough. This was my first ever online strategy game, and I was in love with it.

Buy my love was to be star-crossed. It was the summer of 2010. I had gotten into a bit of trouble, and my Pokemon privileges were temporarily removed. The trouble kept adding up, however, and after a long talk, my parents banned Pokemon for life. I now look back on this summer as the most depressing time of my life, and the closest I had ever come to suicide. My parents had slain my friend. My dream, my quest, my destiny - was gone. I was depressed for the entire summer, trying but failing to replace Pokemon with another game. It is only one year now before I am emancipated. I shall return.

It was now the fall of 2010. I was active in my school's chess club, and it was working reasonably well as a substitute for Pokemon. I overheard a couple of boys talking about Starcraft. I joined them, and grew increasingly interested, until it was mentioned that it cost $20. I was disheartened, my parents wouldn't buy another video game for me, especially after our recent ordeal.

"Well, if you can't try Starcraft, you may be interested in Minecraft," the boy told me.

"No way, dude. That game is pointless," the other replied. Seeing nothing else to do, I decided to try it. I created a singleplayer Classic world. It was moderately amusing, but boring after a while. I decided then to join multiplayer. I scanned over the list of servers and selected the one with the most players, Team9000 at the time. My jaw dropped open. Surrounding me were massive buildings and beautiful landscapes. I was amazed at the intricacy of everything and the time and dedication it took to build it. I explored the spawn and other worlds, but never returned.

It was now 2:00 A.M., April 24^th, 2011. My father, previously dedicated to make me finish my essay with no goofing off, lie asleep on the couch across from me. I was bored, and for some reason remembered Minecraft. I signed in and looked at a different list of multiplayer servers. As before, I selected the one with the most players. "Welcome to the Official Opticraft Dev Server!" the welcome message read. I joined the guest world, and proceeded to laboriously build a gold pyramid. Thinking I had done pretty well, I asked an operator to be ranked.

"Sorry, but this isn't even close to enough to get recruit," he or she replied. "Type /join recruit to see what we're looking for." All that I remember of this recruit world is a giant detailed tree with staircases and rooms in it to the right of the recruit spawn. I quickly learned that getting ranks would not be easy. However, in a repeat of events, I didn't come back.

Fast forward approximately ten months. I don't remember the occasion, but I was back on Opticraft, this time to stay. I made friends with two recruits, DJAlphaWolf and ShuffleBot10, and a builder, Starry11. I went on almost daily to talk to them. I was surprised and happy when, one day, Starry11 became an Operator. I ever remember attending her wedding.

It was about this time that I discovered sprite art. Still clinging to the spirit of my past community, I googled an 8-bit Pokeball sprite and made it. Thinking it was pretty good, I signed up for the forums and posted it. I soon realized that this was a minor feat, and challenged myself to do better. I took on what would have been the largest sprite I had ever made: Celebi. Sadly, the world height was smaller than the sprite was, and so it could not be finished. I did not let this deter me, however, and I soon found a new objective. It was the night before the Hunger Games movie was to be released. I decided to make the Mockingjay pin. My goal was to finish before midnight, when the movie would show. I barely made it. I finished at 11:59 PM (no joke) and posted it on the forums. The next day, I was a recruit.

The rest of my history on Opticraft is known by most, so I will not bother to type what is already known.

[Nightsorrow]

I've been playing games since gameboy and playstation 1 came out. But I did not get 'into' gaming until warcraft III where I became semipro(going to local events/ participating in MLG etc). Ever since then I play pretty much any genre and still dominate.

[Chipaton]

2001-I had just turned 2 years old. I had gotten a new Gameboy with the original Super Mario Bros and Bob the Builder. While this didnt get me into gaming, it was still my first experience with gaming.

2003- I asked for a GameCube for my 4th birthday. I had actually wanted a PS2 but I didnt know what it was called and assumed it was the GameCube since it was the only console I had ever heard of. This is where it began, as I had many games that I invested many hours in. I still use my GameCube at least once a month to this day. Some notable games were the Pikmin series, Tak 2, Sonic Heroes, Sonic XD, Sonic Battle 2, and Super Smash Bros Melee.

2004-This is when I got my DS for my birthday. I used this DS in many situations up until I got the DS Lite in 2007 and DSi in 2010. Notable games include New Super Mario Bros, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, Pokemon Pearl, and Club Penguin.

2005- I learned to ride my bike this year. I had spent the past 4 years learning to ride my bike, so my dad eventually made a reward for learning to do so. I currently have more games on the PS2 than any other console, and have an extreme amount of hours on this machine. This is where I got Kingdom Hearts, which is still one of my favorite series to this date.Notable games include Kingdom Hearts I,II, and Re:CoM.

2008 I got the Wii this year. This was my intro into the current gen of console gaming. It was fun while it lasted and the new technology exited me and my family at the time. Notable games include Pokemon Ranch, Mario Kart, Super Mario Galaxy, and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

2009- After saving from 2 Christmases and a birthday, I was able to purchase the base model of the Xbox 360. The  first console I had ended being broken when I bought it, and had to return it. After that sad moment, I was able to purchase my first M rated game at the age of 10. This game was Halo 3. I played Halo 3 until Halo: Reach and have always had a knack for it because it introduced me to First Person Shooters. Notable games include the Halo series, Gears of War series, Portal 2, and The Orange Box.

2010 This is when I began my slow change to PC gaming. I had just gotten a new computer with a decent GPU at the time. I bought my first PC game, Minecraft. Eventually this would lead me to other games that I play today. Notable games include Minecraft, Thrillville, and various flash games.

2013- This is when I got my gaming PC. This is where I currently stand as a gamer. I love this more than any console and have had the chance to play some unique and different games. Notable games include Team Fortress 2, Bioshock: Infinite, Garrys Mod, Battlefield 3, and Left 4 Dead 2.

Well that is my story of gaming. Hope you enjoyed it.

[RuthlessTomato]

I just realized my gamecube, its games and controllers were destroyed when my basement flooded in hurricane sandy. All that remains is my memory card D:

[Holy_Moses]

I just realized my gamecube, its games and controllers were destroyed when my basement flooded in hurricane sandy. All that remains is my memory card D:

Memory cards all you need . Lol I have my old dreamcast and ps1 in my basement. both are broken though

[Sugna]

Angus William Rose is born December 15th 2000.

2000: Go away i'm sleeping

2001: What is a video game?

2002: Baby bro is born

2003: Nothing.

2004:  *Christmas morning*.  "Mommy what the hell is this?"  "Well your brothers all got a little Game Boy Advance just like you"  "Ok this looks pretty cool "

2005: Angus's face is stuck to his GB.

2006: *Christmas morning* "Gee wiz a GameCube!"  "cool!"

2007: *Christmas morning* "Wow a DS Lite!"  "Thank you so much!"

2008: *Christmas morning* "Holy **** **** ****ing *** ****"  "A Wii and a DSi XL!"  "Best Christmas ever!"

2009: *Flying over to England!"

2010:  "Muhaha while dads gone lets try out this PC thing"  "Wow..." "This is amazing"

2011:  "Hey Angus (friend speaking btw)  try this new game Minecraft"  "No Runescape is better, Minecraft is that stupid block stupid game" "Please try it!" "No"

"Minecraft huh?"  "lets try this stupid game then"  "Damn god Jesus lord I was wrong... This is amazing!!

2012:  Older Bro:  "Angus try this new server "Opticraft"  OK I guess i'l give it a try"  "AWESOME"

*Christmas of 2012*  "Thanks for the iPod Touch dad!"  "Thanks for the PS3"

2013: Wow and topic on How did you start gaming cool"

Thank you for reading so much

-Wooden

[Kurseddragon]

Probably with a controller.

[Holy_Moses]

Probably with a controller.

Very touching, brought a tear to my eye.