Games That Changed My Gaming Life

I'm a gamer, through and through, I've always had a wild imagination and the real world seemed too limiting and plain, growing up. There are a few games, and since Ben said the magic number 5 . . . there are 5 games that I can think of that changed my gaming life. Some more then others.

1. Galaga: I'd have to say that Galaga played a pretty big role in my addiction. The need to beat the scores of all my other siblings, despite my being the youngest and the smallest drove me to many secret hours on that game. I remember my dad and sister, Heather, having some sort of competition on who had the highest score, and I wasn't even a consideration. That bothered me, a lot, and I was only 7 years old. I wanted to be feared, and I vowed that one day, I would be.

2. Earthbound: This was my first real encounter with a role playing game, and "Oh My Gosh!!" how wonderful it was. For the first time I got to name the spells, I think I even got to name my character, can't remember now. I know there were other RPG's out before this one, but I had never played them. This was everything I dreamed up as a kid, a game that would take many hours to play and complete, a game that would allow my character (me) to get stronger and get better equipment the farther into the game I got. I would spend hours leveling just so I could learn a new spell. I was able to rent this game, from the local video store, and the only problem was, you'd only get the game for 3 days at a time. This was back during the cartridge days, no memory cards, so every weekend I'd have to beg my parents to take me back to rent the same game, take the game home, only to discover my save file was not on it. Then we'd have to go back to the video store and get the only other version of the same game and hope and pray that it had not been erased by some jerk. Man how times have changed. This game gave me a taste of RPG's and I have yet to get my fill.

3. Text Based Games: These were online games that were completely text-based. When you logged in, you would see a description of the place you were in, then have to figure out where to go. I spent hours creating maps and figuring out where to go to find certain things to fight. To move, you'd have to type directions, such as north, south, sw, se . . etc. This combined my love of reading with my love of gaming. This was the first time I could actually choose my race and profession, the first time I had to level my weapon skills and the first time I got to interact with other people online playing the same game. These games made you think, you had to read the rooms description closely, sometimes, to find trap doors or hidden compartments. This type of game spoiled me, I loved the versatility and the options, but I needed more.

4. MUDD: Multi-User Dungeons: This type of game is very similar to number 3, except it added graphics. It played much like the original Zelda, which probably should have made this list. This was also a multi-player game and was the first time I experienced the idea of a Guild.

5. World of Warcraft: This game takes the best of all these other games and types and blends them beautifully. From choosing your race (night elf, gnome, orc, troll. . .), to choosing your class (hunter, warrior, shaman . . ), to even picking professions (blacksmithing, leatherworking, mining). This game filled most of my gaming needs, up until I was introduced to this game, I never played a game more then a few months. I have spent 3 years playing this game, and I am still not bored of it. I have made friends while playing this game and have even brought real life friends into the fold. It is doubtful any game after this will have as much of an impact, I have taken breaks to play other games, but have always come back.