I'm a very introverted person who thrives in imagination and needs to be constantly doing something, as in actively engaged in something - not like watching TV. Gaming suits me too well to even consider stopping. For anything. It's certainly not the only hobby I have, though.

Reading is a good alternative, though, and I don't do enough of that. It's been a few months since I read a book.

I've gone in and out plenty of times, depending on what was happening in my life. Starting a new business, periods where I was hanging out pretty much every night, being really into reading for awhile, which was my first hobby, things like that.

Probably the most extensive absence, though, was after the SNES came out. I loved the NES but, other than a few games, like Zelda or FF VI, I didn't really care for a lot of what the SNES offered. There was a lot of duplication on that system, with pretty much everything I played being a variation of a platformer or a beat 'em up. FF VI was a revelation for me but I couldn't find anything else like it. I really became bored with gaming for quite awhile.

A few years later I started playing a few PC games but that was kind of a mild diversion. I only had a couple (though I spent many hours on Daggerfall). My PC was a mammoth Pac Bell that ran Mech Warrior at like 2 frames per second.

FF VI was one of the last console games I played, as I wasn't even into gaming when I spotted it on sale while with a friend, so it's kind of funny that FF VII is probably what brought me back. That commercial switched me from Nintendo to Sony and games like Final Fantasy Tactics, Gran Turismo, and Suikoden kept me from looking back. That's my the PS1 is my favorite all-time gaming system. It won me over in ways that none of my previous systems ever did, outside a few classics, and really got me more invested in gaming as a hobby rather than just something I did to kill time.

I stopped when I was 19 until I was 22. Had too much going on to game.

There are times I won't play games at all, just do netflix streaming and what not when no new games come out.
But generally even at my worst years I got about 10 games, even more when you consider humble bundles now.

Yes. After 32X/SegaCD/3DO I swore off gaming until my roommate came home one day with a PSone and Twisted Metal 2/Symphony of the Night. And damn, what a time to get back into gaming. A few months later I moved out and got my own PSone, a Saturn, and an N64.

I should clarify, by "swore off gaming" I meant swore off buying any more games or consoles. I still played Killer Instinct on my SNES and NBA Jam on my Genesis all the time.

To be honest I am thinking of taking a break later this year until Titanfall is out then buying an Xbone and jumping back in.

Not completely quit but i think about cutting down. I don't even have to try to do that in the coming years. It will just happen as other things in life take more precedence. I'd like to keep on playing on the side though.

I am going to seriously cut down on moronic doom and graphics/specs comparison threads. If possible just avoid them altogether. 

I don't think I've ever thought about quitting gaming outright, no. I'll always like video games, at least the older ones.

But during the GC/PS2 era, I did fall out of gaming much more than I had before or since. I just wasn't into it as much. I didn't buy a (used) PS2 for myself until no earlier than 2004, and I ultimately didn't get a GC, instead just buying GC games I wanted once I got my Wii.

I played games like the first Jak & Daxter, Serious Sam, Soul Calibur II, Smash Bros. Melee, Eternal Darkness, Metroid Prime, Pikmin, Shadow of the Colossus, etc. at friend's houses. But I just kind of fell out of being into new games that gen as much. The Wii really got me back into gaming, to be honest.

I almost did quit gaming when I was 15-17; I kinda lost interest cos Nintendo seemed to have lost their spark.
The Wii brought me back in a big way.

I've never consciously thought about quitting, but my game time has been steadily decreasing. There are just a bunch of other things I could be doing.

lol, girlfriends aren't the most important thing people lost playing mmo's. Jobs, friends, social contacts, family contacts.