Why Did We Fall in Love With Games?

If you're on this site, chances are you probably like videogames. Maybe you love videogames, even ... but why? Maybe if we take a trip back to how it all began, we can find out why we fell in love with games in the first place.

Despite those nagging responsibilities that life throws at us as we grow older like work, bills, and a family, Graeme Virtue is still a gamer - and he certainly still likes games. But one day, he comes to a startling realization: Yes, he likes games, but didn't he used to love them when he was younger? Have the games just changed and gotten worse over the years, or is it him - has he grown out of touch with the spirit of gaming he once had? And so begins a look back at his life, where Graeme tries to find out why exactly he'd fallen in love with gaming so long ago:

I like to go out and hit the bars and clubs with Miss Lucky Strike. See and be seen, be an ace face on campus. But I also like to schedule the odd night in with Miss Tight Shorts, the better to figure out how the hell to get through the Sanctuary Of The Scion level. It's weird - I never thought I'd be weighing the advantages of a real-life girlfriend against a videogame. What would my 9-year-old geek self think? I guess he'd be too busy playing games on that busted-up old Spectrum with the rubber keys, waiting for those goddamn tapes to load. My dorm-mate's PlayStation is fast and smooth. And it plays CDs, too.

Do you go back five years? Do you look back a decade? Or do you look back even further to where everything began? What - and when - is the key to falling in love with the games we play? To read the full story, check out "The Curious Case of Me Jaminn' Buttons" in Issue 216 of The Escapist.