The first instance was with the SNES. With a few exceptions, I just got tired of the shallow style of gaming that was the norm during that period. So many platformers, so many beat 'em ups. There was so little imagination involved that most games failed to hold my interest. Characters were cardboard and narratives were copy-pasted from one game to the next. Instead, reading became my primary hobby.
I was pretty much done with gaming until I found a used copy of Final Fantasy VI. I remembered loving the original on the NES and bought it. It became my favorite game instantly and showed me the potential gaming had for meaningful storytelling and interesting characters. Still, I couldn't find anything else even remotely close and stayed at a distance from gaming until Final Fantasy VII released and compelled me to buy a Playstation.
The second time I strayed from gaming came well into the life of the PS2. It was a period where I was doing other things. I was partying and going to clubs a lot, or just hanging out, and when I wasn't doing that, I was going into chat-rooms and talking to people online.
Eventually I got burned out with partying, which is when one of my online friends introduced me to MMOs. I spent a lot of time doing that before the reveal of The Last Guardian and Uncharted 2 convinced me to buy a PS3. Yeah, I know.
