How did you get started in gaming?

I mean what really got you hooked

I mean he had a serious addiction and in my mind he needed . On occasion I would stand behind him and watch him over his shoulder as he played Alien vs Predator online. I would think to myself theres no way I could play I mean it was just a blur !

Then one day we were talking and the subject came up and I said to him that all these games were just for kids, and that he needed to grow up a bit. He vehemently denied this and said how can you make that statement when you have never actually played a game before. Well, I said after watching you on the computer and my son on his Nintendo. I said there's just no way! I mean, I don't have the manual dexterity or the co-ordination (plus the ole eyesight and reflexes just aren't what they used to be) to play those games. Ah he said, but there are games that I could play that didn't require all that stuff. He said all I needed was just my mind to play and to prove it he said he had a game just for me.

Well, the year was 2000 and the game was Myst!

By the time I finished Myst I was hooked I mean it was beautiful, it was challenging and it required me to think in ways I never dreamed of before. I went on to play a few more games .

Now it's my wife's turn to say to me. "When are you going to stop acting like a kid and grow up."

That's My Story and I'm Stickin to it!!!

My sister got me hooked on the adventure games. She kept talking about how much she loved to play them--they sounded too difficult for me--so she offered to play one 'with' me--So we played Amerzone 'together' via the phone and email--we live several states apart--and that was it, I was hooked

I started playing with my kids when they were young and my husband won an Intellivision console (My personal favs are Night Stalker & Pitfall). Years later I got a used computer from one of my daughters for Christmas and she started me on Myst. The rest is history.

My dad, my brother and I picked up this game called Riddle of the Sphynx at a store over 3 years ago just to see what the game was all about. We loaded it up and started to play. We couldn't stop playing it because it was so good. We have been playing adventure games together ever since.

My sister in law brought over a Nancy Drew game. We played it together, and I have been hooked every since!!! Thanks JK!!!

Your very welcome, Sis!

I got started after I had surgery and was off work for six weeks. I was bored to tears, started surfing the net for games, ran into a demo for Pandora's Box and enjoyed the game so much, I purchased the full version at Media Play. After I ran out of puzzle games (Contraptions, and Even More Contraptions), the store clerk recommended adventure games. My first was Riddle of the Sphinx.

Introducing SS to adventure games has made it even more enjoyable. Always more fun to game with her! So many laughs and so much discussion! This past weekend we played Echo together (though she had already played through it once solo). I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much if I played it on my own. She even forgave me for the expletive I blurted out in front of my nephew after getting eaten by the bear the first time!

LOL!!!!
How many times in the Nancy Drew games did we injure or kill ourselves??!!!! LOL! So, what's a bear attack??!!! Right?! :kiss:

I don't know if my favorite Nancy demise was when she fell off the balcony or when we electrocuted her!

Both of them were hilariously unexpected...and the sound effects priceless!

Thank God for the Second Chance!!
That was so much fun, how could anyone NOT get hooked?!

My first computer was a Commodore 64. At that time I really wasn't into any type of computer gaming at all. I was however a big Douglas Adams fan (go figure )and when I came across the text adventure "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" based on the books I had to buy it. I enjoyed reading so it really wasn't difficult for me to become "immersed" in the game even though it was just text. That was really the last time I played anything like that. Then a couple years later I upgraded to a 386 (woo hoo! can't you just feel the power! ) and picked up MYST. I played it for a very short period of time, but was way too busy with work and school to really get into it. Maybe a year later, after building my first 486 (we're getting better ) I picked up MYST again and it was an instant hook. Then of course came Riven and then the 7th Guest and so on, and so on...been hooked ever since. Problem is that darn thing called a career keeps getting in the way of my gaming now!

When we bought our laptop, it was going to be used strictly for work. I didn't have time for frivolous games. I would take the computer with me to do paperwork at my school, and my husband would use it on evenings and weekends if I wasn't tying reports.

That worked out very well for over a year until he read me a blurb in one of the gaming magazines about a game concerning a wayward spaceship and a crazy parrot that was written by Douglas Adams. He wondered if I might like to try it. Being a great fan of Adams and lover of parrots, I said yes.

Soon after, we bought another computer for him.

I did my 'first' gaming while I was teaching in 1987 in an alternative school that had computers hooked to a system that was then called "Plato". A very difficult student refused to do any work (these were dropouts and the 'rejects' from regular schools). Not all bad kids, just different needs than the regular school setting. So as an incentive I said he could game on the computer the same amount of time as he did real school work for me. That was a total success UNTIL he upped the ante to "I'll only do my school work if YOU learn this game I'm playing". Ugh...I was totally computer illiterate but he became the 'teacher'. In no time I was hooked on an interactive game called "Avatar". No graphics, just invisible mazes and little icons that you moved around and killed monsters, got goodies, upped your health points. Sort of like dungeons and dragons, but on a local scale, and you could 'chat' in real time at the bottom of the screen with others who were playing. Actually you had to to be successful, since you had to 'join' your character to theirs to kill the really big monsters. It was so addictive. I got one of my fellow teachers hoooked too. And the happy ending...the kid who started it all did his school work, gained valuable social skills from all the chatting with others and GRADUATED! And of course I've 'graduated' to full color graphic Adventure Games. Wow...I'm still hooked, thanks to that kid who said, "Aw, you can do it, I'll teach you". Role reversal? Yeah.

This is going to give my age away.I started adventure gaming with the Level 9 series.Can't even remember the name of the game now but it was sited on a space ship.It was in the days of text adventures only.There was very little in the way of clues and input was e.g. pick up screwdriver or go north.But it got me hooked and then I found the text Zork games.Love at first sight !Here I am however many years later and I still get stuck on a regular basis.
minibramble.

Vely Intelesting !

I used to notice all these computer games whenever I'd go to Best Buy or Comp USA. The boxes and pictures always grabbed my interest. When I bought my first computer, a small Compaq laptop, I decided to try one of those games and I bought Beyond Atlantis. That was "it"! Nough said.

joe

The pre-release articles discussing the first Myst game were so inviting that I even bought my first home computer just to play it. There weren't any wt's back then so it took 3 months of my spare time to happily wallow through it. It gave me such a wonderful respite from a demanding job that my second career called "baags" was launched.

Now THAT'S got to be the earliest case of acute BAAGS syndrome I've ever heard!

I'm one of the ones who was hooked by Myst--there are a lot of us, it seems...

I had no idea these games existed. I thought the only games were Nintendo and such. One day while watching Oprah, believe it or not, a lady mentioned she had been playing a Nancy Drew game for 3 months. I had to find out what this was so I bought my first game. Secrets Can Kill.
Well now I've played them all and can't wait for the next.
Now Playing Lights Out.

Sorta Blonde, what a wonderful story! Heartwarming to hear you made a difference in this young man's life. And through gaming yet!

I knew about nearly ten years ago that when I visited my 60 year old mother she had just replaced her Sega Mega consul with a Play Station! (it was my sister's fault she got hooked!) My mother insisted on showing me what she was playing - it was Caspar - I went home after the weekend,ordered a portable TV and a Playstation from a catalogue (monthly payments - I didn't have the money otherwise)and found Caspar! (I was hooked!)After that I came across Broken Sword and that was it! I've now found most point & clicks that were made. Bought a PS2 but was disillusioned with the lack of adventure games and moved onto PC. I don't know what anyone else thinks but I prefered playing a game on consol - you can make yourself more comfortable and you don't have all the installation problems etc!

I found all the extras in Caspar without any need to cheat if anyone is interested.

My husband was into Myst and Tex Murphy and a few other games but I never really got interested until one day I decided I'd try a game, so I bought Syberia and played it and enjoyed it so much I've got a couple of boxes of games that I've completed and two shelves full of games to play plus what's on two computers. And I still wait for the new games, so I guess you might say I'm hooked!!!!

I started after buying my first computer. I bought it for school and just used for that. Then one day I decided to stop at best Buy. Normally I just looked at music but one day I wondered down a game aisle. Saw some games and was curious. Then I went to Office Depot just to pick up ink pens. Again I was drawn to the few games they had. I purchased Myst. I t was hard and I didn't get too far but I loved being able to use logic. I had always enjoyed logic problems. Then I found Grim Fandango at Best Buy. I haven't looked back sense.

One of my son-in-laws gave me a "Kings Quest" after I bought my first computer in the early 90s. The rest is history. I have pretty much bought everything adventure since then and enjoyed every minute of the gaming. Have two closets full and thinking of buying a lot of shelving so I can organize and find some of the older ones to replay in all the stacks.

My first was Riddle of the Sphinx... got stuck in the tent and some kind soul at the R.O.T.S. forum told me to use a walkthrough and gave me the link for gameboomers. Well that was many games ago and lots and lots of printed walkthroughs later and I can tell you, the thrill ain't gone yet.
I used to hear how I was cheating with a w/t until said persons started using them too... you still gotta do everything by yourself, you just have someone telling you where to go.
I followed R.O.T.S. with the Cameron Files and Amerzone and there was no turnin' back.

I got started like Looney did. My older sister sent me Dungeon Siege and from then on I was hooked. I prefer and normally only play point and click games, and I just love most adventure games. Right now I am playing Dungeon Siege 2, and it is great. That was about three years ago and I have been a happy gamer ever since.

Maggie

Guess it really started with the two Atari game systems that first came out. Then Atari released their first computer, then we bought a 486 machine and I was introduced to Doom and Myst. Loved Doom, but kept getting wipped. Bought Myst when it came out and it was love at first sight. The CD drive I had at the time made the game run a bit slow, especially in the light house, but I loved it. I've not played many, I'm rather selective, but I've played Riven, Exile, started M4 but haven't finished it yet, ROTS, Crystal Key, and a few others.

SAME FOR ME!

I had played adventure games for a while but as far as getting hooked is concened I guess Under A Killing Moon did it for me. I played Myst and others that were enjoyable but UAKM caused loss of sleep and a few strands of hair, laser puzzle, but after finishing that game I was hooked for life and as the saying goes, "the rest is history".

My sister Carolyn was playing Adventure Games and talked me into trying them. I was reluctant at first but I am sooo glad she encouraged me!

I love Adventure Games and I have even branched out and tried Tomb Raider Games and Broken Sword and am having fun with action games.

My first game was Riddle of the Sphinx and boy was that hard! Then I played Myst and that got me hooked!

If it wasn't for my sister I never would have know about GameBoomers either! I love this site and feel very safe and happy to visit! Thanks to Kaki, my dear sister!!

Hi all,

Well we have had a computer in our home since the Commodore 64.

I use to type my own games from magazines which went something like this.

0001000021000 and so on.....boring but I got to play a game when I was done with all of that.

I don't remember which game was my first or which one got me started but I do have many many games since I started and don't think I will ever stop.

Gee I forgot about all that typing. After the intelevision we got the Atari computer with the external disk drive. I spent many an evening typing away to get those games done so the kids could have something new to play.

I got hooked about 3 years ago. My sister-inlaw was always on the computer. She liked the 3-d landscape and house building type cds. I watched her use that and tried it myself. I thought it was neat but I didn't dream about it. Then she got my daughter a Barbie Detective game. It was so much fun! Then I bought my first game ever. ND the Royal Tower. I thought it was so neat! The music, the puzzles, the sound effects and atmosphere! I was hooked then and there. At the beginning I even had dreams about the tunnels and mazes but never solved them in my sleep. I guess there's no turning back now.

My first computer was a Texas Instruments TI99-4/A, which my parents bought me after TI got out of the home computer business (the only reason we could afford it). Given the nature of the beast (it, not me), one of the first games I played on it was a pirate adventure game, which had to load into the computer from a tape cassette player...oy...

Let's see...then I got a Commodore 128 and found HHGG available for it. Woo hoo! Then...then the epiphany happened. I bought a CD-ROM drive for my 386 (or was it a 486? Hmm, don't remember) for the express purpose of playing...

haven't you guessed?

...Myst! And after years of platform games, I finally found my niche.

I was vaguely interested in platform games as a result of supervising and then having to help problem solve for my own and friends' kids on the Sinclair Spectrum. Then I got myself a Gameboy and discovered Prince of Persia: then I heard about PoP 3D and played it... (took about three months)

Then I moved on to HalfLife...

Slowed the pace a little with Amerzone and Syberia 1 & 2...

Now I have a stack of games I have not played yet, and a tolerant wife!

I had an Atari that I loved to play. Then I got a Commodore 64 and played many of the text adventures, like "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and "King Tut's Tomb." I didn't play for like 15 years after that. My husband likes to play FPS and adventure games, so I asked him if they still made games similar to the old text adventures. We went to WalMart and got "Mystery of the Mummy." I swore I wasn't going to become one of "those people" who do nothing but play their games. Oops.

Hello Dashia, and welcome to GameBoomers!

Welcome ,Dashia,
You are among friends here.
There is nothing you can say,do,mess up,talk about,
ask,or flub up that we can't help you with.
Because [we have done it to]....

i totally blame george stobbart broken sword1. he had me hooked and looking for more. played a fair few now and always need a walkthrough. its the story i like, not the puzzle bits.
LOVED syberia 1 and 2

The first one I played was Sherlock Holmes, The Case of the Rose Tattoo. Loved how Sherlock would walk through the corner of the desk, LOL.
Previous to that it was Repton on the BBC computer, the whole family was hooked on that game.

Thanks for the warm welcome! I'm excited to be here gaming among people who know sooooo much about this stuff. I've actually been lurking around this site for a while.

Hi Dashia, to Gameboomers! You're right, there are a LOT of knowledgeable & friendly folks here; it's a great place to hang out, chat about games - and learn!

I've already said that it was Myst that introduced me to adventure gaming, but that wasn't until I got a "real" computer. My first computer was a Tandy 1000 that my father gave me when his macular degeneration reached the point that he could no longer use it. Of course that was DOS based, and had no internal hard drive, and I frankly didn't get much use out of it. When I got a computer with Windows and a hard drive, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven!!!

And Dashia,

Hi, Jenny:
I've scanned all the forums, but I've spent most of my time on the adventure discussion and adventure hints forums. I haven't spent any time on the RPG forum because I don't really know the difference between adventure games and RPG games.

Our first computer was a Mac and, not knowing too much about computers, Mac, PC or otherwise, we began to read magazines for Mac users. It was around Christmas one year when I was sort of leafing through one of these magazines and happened on an article naming the games they most recommended for that year. A couple of them especially impressed me but, alas! you had to have a CD player to run them. Anyway, that year I asked "Santa" (my husband) for Myst, Gadget and a CD. He not only gave me those two games, but installed my first CD (about a 2x, I think!) and from the moment the screen darkened and the games came on - I felt I had entered a new and exciting world - like being on vacation without leaving my desk. Obviously, I was hooked and have remained so - even through several different computers, CDs, DVDs - and more and more games.

BTW - I think you may even be a bit newer here than I am, Dashia, so welcome from another newbie

Sondi and Dashia--this is a great place to hang out and there are many knowledgeable folks here to help out--

Probably the easiest way to characterise the RPG is that your character learns skills which you can constantly upgrade through quests--also it is necessary to keep a close eye on your health, because if you let it get too low, you'll die.

One of the most popular RPG with GameBoomers was Divine Divinity which came out several years ago. (There is another now that I think is a sequel, but don't take that for gospel--I don't do much with RPG). If you want to get an idea of how an RPG works, check out the review of Divine Divinity that's here on our website...

Don't forget Dashia, it is not just an RPG forum. It is for any kind of game other than adventure games.

Rusty

I started way back "in the day" --- 1983 ---
my first was a little text adventure known as "The Adventure of The Collasal Caves" from there followed some of the Infocom Games such as ZORK and Wishbringer --- but then 2 active sons - work - and running an art studio began to take preference and gameing was all but forgotten for a very long time.

Then in 1999 -- with the boys grown and the move here to TEXAS --- I was left with an incredibile amount of free time on my hands --- I hated just sitting in front of the TV by myself night after night (Braveheart worked very long hours) One of my sons had sent me his computer and the software which went with it (as he entered the Navy)
Anywho -- the first game was "Riven" --- took about a month or so without a walkthrough (didn't know what those were at the time, heeheee) The beauty and stillnes is what hooked me, then Amber came next and I was hooked ...line and sinker!
The rest is history.

Inferno

Thanks, Jenny and Friedmonky for your insights. I may try one of those games just to see the difference. I know my husband has Neverwinter Nights and has played Hitman and Deus Ex, which is his favorite, but I've never tried them. I've never really tried to play any other game besides adventure games, although I just bought Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine, so I'll see if I also like playing action games. Maybe I'll be posting on the RPG/action game forum soon!

Go for it Dashia!

Rusty

Oh, I'm in for it now! My husband just pulled out one of his thousands of past PC Gamers magazines and is reading to me the top 50 best games of all times, stressing Baldur's Gate and Half-Life. The can of worms is officially open!

Sondi & Dashia to the both of you!

I'm sure your gonna love it here!

I confess - it was Myst that started this addiction. My brother and I worked through the entire game in about two months on our lunch hour. It helped to have two heads working on the puzzle. The rest as they say is history. And Gameboomers is one of my favorite sites on the web.

I only started early this summer. I've been under a lot of stress and the lack of good TV made me look for an avenue of relief. I started with Nancy Drew and have moved on to other stuff. I admit I use walkthroughs a lot but am getting better about doing some stuff on my own. I love the challenge, solving the puzzles and, yes, thank goodness for second (3rd, 4th, 5th,etc) chances.

Hello annette and welcome to GameBoomers!

I never played a computer game until after I retired from nursing. My teenage son gave me Stupid Invaders and it was fun. Then he gave me Myst. After that I played every adventure game I could get my hands on. After a year or so I decided to try some different things. I did American McGee's Alice, The Undying and Divine
Divinity and found I loved these too. Now I have a full case of Baags and am loving it.

It was Myst!
And it was on my 1st computer:) One of my sons, then in high school wanted to build a computer out of spare parts - he, his brothers and my husband were always building and upgrading theirs so there were parts around. He wanted to see if he could put a system together for under $100 dollars and I was the only one in the family without a computer. So, I got a working computer, for $97 and spare parts, then needed something to do with it. I went through everybodys programs and found Myst (a birthday gift that the kid had never liked so never played through it
All the games since Myst have been such fun. The really good ones have been like books.

My parents gave my first computer about 8 years ago, for school work. But, as long as I did my homework first, I could use it to play or whatever I wanted. I bought Indiana Jones and Fate of Atlantis, then got Myst free as a gift with my printer about the same time.
Played both, didn't understand a thing (English isn't my first language). Walkthroughs and a thick dictionary was needed to finish. But, the language became easier for each game I played and I finished high school with 5+ in english. I always say, that the games helped me pass
Good excuse, maybe, but I don't care, I know I wouldn't have passed otherwise.

Caroline.

And as new games come out, you'll find yourself upgrading and upgrading, C'ris--after all, not being able to play a game because your computer is too old is a major downer!!!

BTW, I see this is a "cake" day for you...

Thanks Jenny!
That was awhile ago - the high school son who built my 1st computer was 15 then and he just turned 27!
(I am getting old. )
I've since upgraded to a new computer and that has been upgraded too. My husband suddenly realized the other day that mine has got more bells and whistles than his.

I personally think it's the gaming that has caused me to up grade computers, more than the need for space and graphics, for all the things I do with them. I bought the computer so I could put about 60 plus years of personal pictures on disks, so that the children and grandchildren, and greats would have and idea, who all those people were. My daughter bought me Riddle of Sphinx, when I came back from Egypt in Oct.2001. As some of it is very much like the things I saw there I was hooked. So I'm still looking for great graphics and stories.
Thinking of buying a gaming only computer, that's scary.
Charllotte