Video gaming has become very popular over the last 10 or 15 years some people have become gamers when they were children some young adults and others in there late life.  I wanted to know if you remember when you truly became a gamer, but first one must know what a real gamer is before they can consider themselves one.  i believe a real gamer is one that looks forward to games releases each and every year and being hyped for a game's release, someone that does research for upcoming games, and most importantly someone who plays them on a regular basis or could consider gaming a lifestyle.

i can remember my gaming history and when i truly became a gamer, i first started playing games in the mid 80s on a atari 2600 it was real casual gaming of course as i was younger and video gaming was new to me so i didnt take it to seriously.  shortly after the atari like many i acquired a NES, again very casual cant really remember being hyped or excited while playing.  i do remember the game experience growing on my once the snes arrived  with games like donkey kong, super mario world, tnmnt turtles in time, SF2, SMK, and a few others i beleive this happened b/c i was getting a little bit older and my imagination was growing with my age as well as the games becoming more bigger and complex.  once the 5th gen came along things where getting more serious with the 3D world, great storytelling was now more part of the game it was almost like reading a book or watching tv, you literally could experience alot of things through the video games anything from being a bad guy to playing almost any sport.  even with the 5th gen i still couldn't consider myself a gamer i dont remember being hyped for game releases i wouldnt really care to look for future game releases or play video games for more than an hr. or two at a time, the video game console was not superior enough for me. 

it was when the 6th gen came did things change i wanted more i remember looking at sites like GS and IGN for the first time for future game releases and walkthroughs i would get excited when the game i was interested in was about to release even small things like going to the store and picking it up, i can remember playing games for hours on end i also remember the obsession of being a gamer.  i had to play a game a certain way for example the gta's that released in the 6th gen i wanted my stats to have no deaths or arrests i would have to restart the mission if i were to die or get arrested another example would be with MGS3 i wanted to earn the stealth camo so i could pretend i was the predator from the movie in kojima's jungle.  i believe these types of behaviors ive developed during that gen is when i became a real gamer b/c to this day they still continue almost like i reached a peak 

recently besides having slight interest in gaming sales and achievement and trophy hunting i havent noticed any more passion for gaming, if anything you could say that i have lost some do to getting older and not having the imagination i once did, awell as video game storytelling hasnt really evolved as much as i would liked

I've played videos games for as long as I can remember, but I didn't "truly become a gamer" until 1998 when OoT released.

Back then I was 7.

I've been playing video games for as long as I can remember, the first being tetris and pokemon yellow on the original GB, then playing games like resident evil, tomb raider, speed freaks + loads more on PS1. Played many on ps2 aswell, at one point I was buying at least 3 games for it a month (they were super cheap).

But I was never really into gaming until around 2007, when I got a PS3, before then I wasn't really interested in the industry and knew jackshit about it because I was too young.

Now gaming is my passion, I love reading about them, talking about them, writing about them, arguing about them, and ofcourse, playing them.

I think I was around 5... Wow! I was really young! My first game was Pokemon Sapphire and then Mario. That was all I played when I was a kid. Mario and Pokemon. I'm still a Nintendo Zombie but I no longer buy their handhelds just for Pokemon. XD

I was about 6 (1995) my dad found a sega megadrive that someone had thrown away and we managed to get it going. It also came with a heap of games like earthworm jim and Mortal Kombat.

1st time a put a coin inside "Space Invader".

I actually do not. It was in the 80's and i was 4 or 5 i think

Thanks to my dear, old Gamecube.
Spent hours in Luigi's Mansion, Mario Kart: Double Dash, Pikmin, Paper Mario, Sonic Heroes and many others, simply a incredible console.

I was born, that is all.

Mid-late 80's, first console was the NES.