What made gaming special to you?

[ThisGuyInTheSuit]

(Completely switched threads, Meh :D)
In light of The Completionist's "Why We Love Games," I was wondering if they was anyone who had a magical story about what made gaming special to them.

Mine probably started about when I was 3 or 4, and I had just gotten to play my first Game, Wind Waker. At the time, I wasn't really interested in it. Now, I basically grew up during an gaming era where graphics started to really jump (pop?). But I had always been into the games like NES, SNES, the Sega Genesis, and a bit of the Nintendo 64. My parents had bought N64 when I was little, so I started my games off without "killer graphics." I really didn't play too much games past the 64, or games for that matter. One day I had found an old gaming... thing (can't remember exactly what it was) and seen how cool The Legend of Zelda looked. My older brother, even just a few years older than me, thought that the way it looked was "nasty." I was really interested, and asked my mom for that game, but she thought that since my older brother thought it looked bad, that she shouldn't bring it out of the box. She told me something like "I can't. They don't make that game anymore." I was too young to know about anything like GameStop, so I just couldn't play it. Eventually, after a long time of forgetting about it, we were moving. I was around 5 at the time, so I was just going through boxes, looking for toys. While my parents had been unpacking a bit, I found a box of old games; Atari 2600, NES, and Genesis. I looked through them for a game that looked like Zelda, but couldn't find one. My parents had seen that I went through the old box and tossed aside most of the games inside. My mom then showed me the right game, and found a box with the system, and hooked it up. I remember the first time seeing the Character Screen; 3 slots, each with 16 hearts. My mom deleted one, and made me a person. I stumbled around with the first screen, not understanding why the buttons didn't do anything. She showed me to the first cave, got my sword, and then sent me off. I probably swung the sword into the air for a long time. I wasn't really good at the time, (heck, I still suck) and would die constantly, but it didn't matter to me, since I got farther each time. From then on I tried to beat the game, although I don't think I've ever gotten to Ganon (still haven't :D). I then realized that "Legend of Zelda" had more games, and that Wind Waker was apart of the games, so I decided to give it another chance. It's now my favorite game ever. Without the old games, I probably wouldn't have gotten into the newer games, or the Zelda Series (would've been missing out on so much) and wouldn't have stacks of cartridges in my room now.

Hope you guys share stories of how you got into games, or just a time of when gaming helped you get through some tough times.

[VNRob]

I'd always been something of a gamer since I was a little kid but honestly, for years I didn't view it as anything really special. I played games a lot and it was as natural playing with an action figure or something. One of my favorite games was Majora's Mask, which if you don't know is a very dark, story-driven game. A little kid doesn't really think about the story so I missed out on a lot there. I later revisited the game much older and realized just how deep and touching the story actually was, even though the impact was lessened since I literally knew everything by childhood memory. So I began to pursue more story-driven games and I ultimately came to view games as art and began to enjoy it as such. Basically an elevation from a base enjoyment of gaming to a deeper one.

[gamemaster1991]

To me, it was my parents that got me into gaming. They got the first NES as a wedding gift and play SNES with us at an early age. We had a Mario Party night for at lest 2-3 years after my Dad came home from work. My mom played Ocarina of Time and got up to Volvagea (the dragon dude, can't spell his name) before leaving it. Most of my N64 and SNES games were theirs before I took them for myself. Even after my parents stopped playing sometime before they got divorced, me, my brother and my sister played them and had fun. Kirby Super Star with my brother as 2P is the best time I've ever had. Me and my sister would even have death matches on Golden Eye. Slowly, my sister stopped playing games and started taking care of a family of her own, and me and my brother stopped playing games together for some reason. Now a days, I really only play single player games, as I really don't have anyone to play with, but every now and again, my brother-in-law does come over to hang out and makes me play FPS games he has someone to play with. This has made me understand FPS game a little bit more and has made Borderlands one of my favorite games to play. I play games cause they are fun but I also play the old games to remember the old days. I study games so I can make the best game for people to play with family, or a best friend. I want other families to recreate the time where Dad was Yoshi, Mom was Peach, Sis was Luigi, and I was Mario and we were fighting over the star on the other side of the board.

Family is what made gaming special to me, and it is what is guiding my dream to develop my own game.

[Artwark]

I started gaming when I got a computer. I played games like Pitfall!, Sonic 3d blast and so many of these games. Then one day I was playing this mario pc game that I was playing on the pc and even though it was the demo version, It was still a lot of fun. In my place we never owned anything original so I got this unlicensed NES console where I could play up to fifty games like that. Super Mario Bros was the game I played mostly and I reminds me of the pc one. It was from this moment on that I became a huge mario fan. I then started getting GBA, GCN, DS ,Wii and 3ds and I played a lot of Nintendo games.

I will always remember that it was my whole family that got me into gaming because my parents will always get me what I want and that's what I love about them.

[Psychospacecow]

I grew up with it and being autistic got a little clingy.

[Arjahn]

I used to play Super Mario World with my dad, and it was a lot of fun. Then I'd come home from school and play Sim City. It was also a lot of fun.

Riveting story, I know. I'm gonna sell the movie rights to Fox later, I'm picturing Lightmatt in the role of a young Arjahn without pants.

[JiraiyaSennin]

When I was a kid I was always sick (still am) because of my asthma, so videogames were one of things I could always have fun with whenever I was sick.

[citylight]

I could escape; not have to talk to anyone. not have to deal with my parents.
that was when I was younger.
Now, that I'm older and have a different worldview, Games don't affect me like they used to.
it's the story or the character that stands out now.

[Mass Distraction]

I dunno, I just got caught up with this new, cool form of entertainment. Most of my friends have dropped gaming over the years but to me it just felt... right, I guess.

[PixelXenoKing]

I started playing video games in a casual way and not much. I would play when i was not attending school or i had friends over. After it became a thing i started playing more and more and by the time i got ps2 i loved video games. It became a lifestyle most people count video games as a hobby but as i grew older and enjoyed video games way more i count it has a lifestyle most people i know and enjoy being around with are die hard gamers and it was more playing it and having lots of good times with friends when i would play it

[Sohakmet]

It has always been special for me, honestly. I didn't use to play much with anyone and would need to deal a lot with broken controllers. But everything was so magical! I just... I don't know, maybe I couldn't understand what was really happening on my TV screen.