So many answers are like mine. Mid/late 70's with Pong, Atari, Coleco, Commadore Vic 20/64/128. I had every console ever made.
Back in my day, we also had an Arcade on every other corner and convenient stores were a "hang out" (to play video games). We could leave the house with $1 worth of quarters and be gone for 6 hours.
I played a few misc games on Windows, but it was 1999 and EverQuest that trapped me in the house for 6 years. I started out playing on a 64K modem (i think it was 64k) but EQ made me stop playing all console games as well as any other game.
I have tried every single MMO game out there. played wow, EQ2, etc. none of them had the magic of EQ1. Pantheon is the last hope.
I really hope Pantheon will be as good as EQ.
I started with Avalon hill and SPI board games such as Waterloo and Gettysburg in the mid 70s. Believe Waterloo was my first board game but have dozens of those games still. In 1981 picked up my first miniature war game called Knights and Magic. Was hooked on miniature wargaming which i still do regularly. In 1987 picked up Warhammer fantasy Battles and have been hooked up until Age of Sigmar. However still play Warhammer 40k to this day. Napoleon's Battles came out in 1989 and thats when i really started historicaly miniature wargaming which i still do today.
I did not get into computer gaming till i bought my first computer in 1995 after saving up the cash after my first year in private practice as a Veterinarian. 1999 was my first experience with an mmo with everquest and in september of 2000 was invited into the pre alpha of DAOC. Their are only 3 mmos to date that have kept my attention for over a year or more. Everquest 1.5 years, DAOC 3 years and DDO around 3 years. While i have enjoyed other mmo titles none have kept my attention as long as the three titles mentioned.
I believe my first pc game for ms dos was castles II siege and conquest but it could of been Dune 2 which got me hooked on rts games. Both games were outstanding for their time. I still play turn based and real time strategy games today.
Kilsin said:How long have you been gaming for? #MMORPG #communitymatters
Since Pong, played on a TV just like this one below where you had to use a screwdriver to connect the UHF output to the antenna leads and manually tune it to Channel 3. And if you played it too long the plastic on the Pong unit would start to melt. Oh, and that phone in the picture? Ours was a rotary...push button was too expensive.
I think I played Intelevision prior to atari as far as the first "gaming at home" on a console. Must have been the early 80's maybe? Computer gaming started with a commodore 64 after the consoles but it was also in the early 80's. I remember when the modem on that C64 was upgraded from 300 baud to 600 baud...lightning fast. It's funny to think back on that. No one else has mentioned early online games. Maybe having a modem early on wasn't very common?...I guess until bulletin boards started to get more popular in the late 80's.
I'm really surprised to see how varied some of the responses are. I expected most answers to be at least the 8 bit consoles or earlier but that isn't the case.
Good question Kils. This one makes for an interesting read.
Played a little on Atari system not even sure what it was called and an old Apple II computer with a green screen. But I did not really start playing games until we got a NES with Final Fantasy. I played on consoles until the PlayStation 1 but at some point after the NES I got a 386 computer that introduced PC gaming and I really never looked at consoles the same again.
Kilsin said:How long have you been gaming for? #MMORPG #communitymatters
Not counting card games , Monopoly and such .
My very first board game was SSI "Drive on Stalingrad" around 1980 . Huge map at least 1.5 m x 1.5 m that I glued on plywood and used to play with my father in law (a RL army colonel) . I was always winning :) I still remember quite well the geography of southern Russia between broadly Voronezh , the Don loop and the Caucasus . Good old days ...
My first computer game was Ultima II somewhere in 1982 . It blew me away and I still consider Ultima 7 the best RPG ever .
My first MMO was Ultima OL somewhere 1997 . Spring 99 most of my friends switched to EQ and I followed . I started in parallel to play World War II OL and dabbled a bit in Asheron's call , Anarchy OL and DAoC but none excepted EQ and WWIIOL held me long .
Became disappointed with EQ (understatement) at Planes of Power and stopped EQ . Then followed a 5 years desert where I would try most new MMOs for 1 month or 2 and leave them bored .
In 2007 a second active phase with Lord of the Rings OL . Everything was good about this game - the community , the lore , the crafting , the epic quest , the gameplay the atmosphere and zone design . For me the best MMORPG ever with EQ close second . I stayed 5 years and left when the quality of the expansions and the player numbers started to drop .
Since 2012 again a kind of desert . I'd only mention Elder Scrolls OL which provides an incredibly rich universe , mind blowing graphics , very good story line . However it is mostly a solo game with dungeons belonging to the hated category "autojoin a group , rush through dungeon AOEing everything , kill the boss , say nothing , leave group" . Social interaction = 0 for all practical purposes . So left it after 1 year too .
Today in 2019 I play no MMO and just wonder whether it is possible that an MMORPG will be released one day and could captivate me as much as LotRO or EQ did .
You had to ask that? Ok. Let's power up the Wayback Machine to.... 1979. I had access to a copmputer at school and played Holcott's Race Simulator on the schools TRS-80. Mr. Holcott was my Math teacher and one REALLY smart guy. That's all electronic gaming. I have loved ALL forms of gaming since I can remember. Humans have been doing it in one form or another for thousands of years. One of my favorite books is by Ian Banks - The Player of Games, which I STRONGLY suggest.
As for the GREATEST Player of Games of our time? I can't imagine a better person than Michael Legg - the cofounder of Petroglyph games. If you are ever lucky enough to play ANYTHING with him - even if it is a single roll of the dice, DO it. He has mastered the art of gaming. It isn't just about tactics, or intuition, or anything like that. He has a complete grasp on the entire gaming method. This includes atmosphere - your surroundings while playing whatever it is you are playing - , the persons you are playing with, just everything. I think the one thing I learned from him that has the most value is this: Winning is anti-climatic. It means the game is over. It is a far greater thing to PLAY the game than to end it with a win. Being able to say "I rolled the bones with Michael Legg" is something akin to being able to say "I played catch with Nolan Ryan".
I wrote many years ago that the day I create a game that my customers couldn't beat me soundly at, was the day I never play again. This would be done as an admission of failure, not a goal.
Started EQ I wanna say in 2000 played for like 6 years I honeslty dont recall when I stopped it was whenever they merged the Zek servers which was around 2006
I can recall playing weekends where I got home from work sat in front of the computer and never moved and never slept except to order a pizza and 2 liter and to make a batroom break
I think i did that 3 times
up on friday at 5:30 am to go to work out of work and back at 5:30 at night pizza called in and logged in. online gaming all night all next day all night all next day logged off at 11pm at night and took a shower and went to bed up at 5:30 am for work for monday..
ugh that was bad
Computer gaming in general - ZORK on a TRS 80 Played ZORK 1,2 & 3, so only a single player. One of my Techs gave me the discs and thought I might like it.
Tried a few MUDs in the '80s, probably on my IBM XT, don't really remember ( 4 MHz processor, man that thing could fly!!!) , surely on a telephone modem. "Massive Multiplayer" no, I think not - maybe 2 dozen players. Don't laugh, the XT was a big step up from the Sinclair ZX 80 I built.
To answer the ?? I think the OP was asking - EQ in 1999
Since the 70's. First arcade system I played was Pong, computer was Apple IIE and later I picked up a Tandy 1000TL which was basically a TRS 80 with a nice sound chip. I predominately was focused on PC games from then on, but dabbled on and off in the consoles before I gave them up all together around the first Playstation when I disliked where they were heading in game design.
Vandraad said:Kilsin said:How long have you been gaming for? #MMORPG #communitymatters
Since Pong, played on a TV just like this one below where you had to use a screwdriver to connect the UHF output to the antenna leads and manually tune it to Channel 3. And if you played it too long the plastic on the Pong unit would start to melt. Oh, and that phone in the picture? Ours was a rotary...push button was too expensive.
And if you left the TV on with the game running too long, the picture started to burn into the tube. Good times!
25 + years ? Since BBS and Circlemuds/Stickmud
Thanks for making me feel old :p
