Funny how it works out : )

I just got through playing the Devil May Cry collection, and DMC 1/3 were nowhere near as hard as I remembered.....still difficult though. It doesn't help that the DMC series was my introduction to action gaming back then, so I was pretty awful.

Eight years old on an old mega drive. My parents did restrict my gaming time to a minimum.

I don't consider myself a lifelong gamer. I haven't played any game for a while and still have three in the wrapper.

It seems these days I am far more interested in the gaming industry than in gaming itself.
Even if I never play another game I would always be interested in the industry, posting on this and similar sites, discussing and seeing how the gaming industry evolves.

I was about five years old when my brother and I got our granddad's NES system along with lots of games! First game I played was probably Super Mario Bros., but it really could have been any of them.

As for your hypothesis, yeah sure.  Early exposure is probably common among gamers. I wouldn't say there are no lifelong gamers who were exposed to video games later in their lifetimes though, because there evidently are a few of those.

I has hard at it on Super Mario Land and Tetris on my Gameboy, aged 4.

I disagree with the hypothesis, I used to put in a good 35 hours a week playing games until aged 15-16.

Aged 27 now, hardly play any.

* Proof I was a real gamer, was that I scratched my Gameboy with a pen-knife aged 4 after losing too many lives on Super Mario Land against that damn "cloud" second last boss. How's that for rage quit. You would also find various bite marks all over the Gameboy.

I must have finished Super Mario Land over a hundred times. I only got games for Xmas and Birthday.

I had a SNES when I was 6 years old, but I honestly didn't played it that much, I only had like 3-4 games. It wasn't until the N64 that I became a "gamer" and that was at the age of 8.

I'm 23 now and when I was born there was already a NES in the house. I started playing at around age 2 and my first game was Super Mario Bros. Been playing ever since.

I think when I was a kid I first played with Atari with single stick and button.

My two kids who are 4 years old have already played enjoyed the following:

• Touch screen games on iOS, Kindle Fire, and 3DS
• Motion control games on Wii such as Wii Sports Resort and Dora Explorer games (they are girls and like Dora - good games for small kids like mine)
• Playstation Move game like Sports Champions and I think High Velocity Bowling
• Kinect games like Fruit Ninja and Kinect Sports
• Now they are happily playing games like Scribblenauts Unlimited and NSMBU and Nintendo Land on Wii U (they play with the WiiMotionPlus controller)
• They want to play other games too but X360 and PS3 and Wii U Gamepad controller still too large for their tiny hands

If that wont breed well rounded gamers with diverse taste, I don't know what will.

You are right that unless they get hooked early they probably wont take to gaming. I think adults are too lazy to learn new skills while gamers need something that require new skills to be learned and use all the time. At least those of us gamers that crave variety and don't just play essentially the same shooter or sports game all year long until next version comes out (Online shooter, MMO, FIFA, Madden, etc type dedicated gamers).

Where's the option for
I have quite a few home videos of me playing games, it's all I used to do when I was younger. The oldest one I found was of me playing Sonic 3 when I was 2 (almost 3). I was on Hydrocity Zone, so I'm guessing I wasn't that bad either.

man you are my clone! i started exactly the same way and i'm also 23 now, how often do you see such a coincidence?

*Universe implodes in 3... 2...