Topic: How long have you been playing games..

My first machine was a Spectrum 48k (shows you how old I am) and I have pratically owned every console since then incl the complete disasters, all the handhelds, all the novelty gadgets and several desktop PCs and I used to spend all my spare cash down at the Arcade when they were a thing. As you can probably tell I like gaming, I used to work 3 after school jobs back in the day just so I could afford my hobby.
And it hasn't subsided over the years I am still happily ploughing through tons of games on my Switch 2, Pro and Desktop.
My latest quandry is whether to buy a PS6 when it releases or just wait until I can afford a new Desktop, I think I'll be leaving Microsoft alone for the time being.
Is there anyone else out there like me, who feels like they've just been playing games 'forever'

My very first gaming experience was with bootleg console that was playing NES bootleg cartridges with NES roms. That is because in post communistic Bulgaria, we did not have access to legit consoles.

That was in the early 90s. Probably in 1994 it started for me. When I was 6 years old.

Magical times

@Miserydhala I've also been playing games forever, started at the age of 3 when my brother got a Commodore 64 for his birthday. It's a tired old cliché but I was instantly hooked, when I saw "Wizball" in action for the first time something within me stirred and I've been addicted ever since. I was extremely fortunate to have parents who never derided gaming as a pointless pursuit, and I have core memories of receiving my Game Gear, SNES and PS1 for birthdays or christmases. Thanks mum and dad!

Present day, I have a 16 year old who is working through my list of favourite/important games, currently plodding his way through Fallout 3. And my wife is super cool about my hobby, she doesn't see it as a waste of time like most of my exes did. She even got me a Steam Deck for my 40th, although I think there was an ulterior motive so that she could try to wrest back control of the TV...

@Miserydhala I used to work 3 after school jobs back in the day just so I could afford my hobby

• How expensive were games back then compared to now? It's a hard comparison given you are an adult now and of course prices and value would have also changed drastically. I was quite taken aback by what you said, I was under the impression that gaming was a far cheaper hobby back then and that it's only risen in price over the years. For example if you had a Sega MegaDrive how much would Sonic have been? Or if you had a Playstation how much would Tomb Rider or Resident Evil been? If it's possible to remember.

PS4, I didn't know what gaming was and I was maybe fourteen years old. I was given a console and maybe ten or fifteen games to keep me out of trouble, it wasn't Santa or anything like that and I did find trouble on there too, but that distraction turned into quite the rewarding hobby. I tend to go backwards in gaming, I've bought every Sony console, Xbox and most of the Nintendos and Sega machines. There's something deeply interesting about discovering those older titles, I like reading the various encyclopedias/reference books for each platform, learning the history and appreciating the early work of artists and developers. I also like video-game preservation in general, it's an important part of the hobby for me. Like Zuljaras I played a lot of bootlegs, mainly Russian, when I moved to London I replaced them with their Western counterparts. I did have access to both, I just preferred the bootlegs. Most were printed in Moscow and distributed outwards, the language and so on was more of a catered experience.

There was a sense of the familiar, now everything seems too I don't know the word, singular perhaps, it makes one feel like an outsider which increases my ability to avoid modern/Triple A titles, bootlegs made me feel more included. Another reason why I prefer collecting older titles is that there's a sense of another time. I can't say a simpler time as that might be insulting to others who experienced that hay-day of what I'd call quality of quality and it's a something I don't feel from modern titles. I imagine back then it was more about the games and less about the drama or rabble that surrounds so many newer games.

My Partner doesn't see it as a waste of time like Slidey said about their Ex as I tend to play a lot of constructive games/simulators and managements games. It's also about learning new skills and exercising my brain. He has zero interest in the hobby, maybe it's an age thing, either way it's singular there too but again very rewarding. If I could do neither I'd quit the hobby tomorrow, I don't like destructive games/Call of Duty etc, but more power to those who do. I also game every now and then on PC, mainly for certain simulators and management games that haven't made their way to console, or for Mods. I can't say I'm losing any sleep about PS6, I bounce between console generation frequently and pay very little attention to what people say about modern performance/graphics, it makes very little difference to me and a lot of the drama gets lost in translation. I'm more interested in the game-play mechanics, learning something, and efficient use of time spent. I have many other hobbies and as much as I enjoy gaming I don't allow it to overshadow the others.

My first real experience with computer games was seeing Elite, running on my friend’s’ BBC Microcomputer. I was at secondary school. About 12 years old.

Which is exactly 40 years ago, so 1986.

The very first computer my family owned was the Amstrad CPC. It had 128KB of memory, and had a disc drive. The other models had half the memory, and operated with cassette tape, not floppy discs.

When the original Sony PlayStation was released, it was the first console I ever bought for myself. With my own money. The shop I bought it from was primarily a video rental store.

This was technically the PlayStation, and not the PSOne, as naturally the PS2 had not even been thought of.

Started with the NES in the early 90s as a small child. Basically haven't stopped since.

@GirlVersusGame Tomb Raider and Resident Evil are great examples to convey how much games cost back in the mid 90s. Back then new games of that calibre were around £40 so if you account for inflation it's probably cheaper now. Gaming was relatively niche back then, and it was seen as a nerdy hobby, so games stayed at the same price point for a lot longer to claw back development costs and make up for the shortfall in sales. It wasn't until Sony started the Platinum range (certain bestselling games for ~£20) that more competitive pricing came in, but this also probably correlates with the PS1 gaining more of a foothold in the UK gaming market. I also had the benefit of having a few friends at school who would lend and swap games with each other, so I got to play a lot of great games for free.

Having experienced life both before and after the internet age, I would say that it was a simpler time. No online guides if you got stuck on a game, no day one patches, it's hard to convey how different it was. Nostalgia is a powerful thing!

Now I look at my son and think about how "easy" he has it. If he wants to play a certain game he can get it immediately, when I was his age I had to travel for miles to go to a dedicated game store in the vain hope that they might have a copy in stock. If they didn't then you went home empty handed and disappointed. It makes me sound like a grumpy old man, but kids these days don't know how good they have it!

Ah, the good old days. My first gaming experience came with the introduction of Nintendo and Super Mario Bros back in 1986-87. I played it at a friends house. I also remembering trying out the Game and Watch thinghy early on, but when is uncertain. Maybe 1983-84 but i will never forget the game as it was Donkey Kong.

My first owned computer was the Commodore 64 and later on the Amiga 500. Cassette and discs (the small one). It was much easier to get games since you only had to have 2 cassette players to copy games. Ahh, those were the days. Ghosts and Goblins, Rygar, Sensible Soccer, Impossible Mission and Eye of the Beholder to name a few. My first playstation was the 3 and after that i got them all.

I think that somewhere along the way my passion for gaming has worn off. It is not the same as before, when i really looked foreward to new games or were really excited to play new games. I guess the overload of games and gaming culture is just too much for a old man. When i grew up gaming was something Nerds did and now its just everywhere. It sometimes feels like my childhood hobbies are being sold to the highest bidder and everything is about bleeding it dry and moving on to the next one. Not to mention the overly aggressive people that has to mean something about everything. So, iam not feeling it anymore. When did it all get so serious? Gaming is supposed to be fun!

Started with the Spectrum 48K, then to the C64, the Amiga 600/1200 and then onto the Playstation, PS2, PS3 (fat & slim), PS4 (base & Pro) so I've been gaming for quite some time!

Thing is the PS5 era has turned out to be very dull and even though I have one, I tend to find myself booting up the PS4 Pro more often.
Don't ask me why, though the UI and DS4 controllers may have something to do with it. Perhaps I should just flog the PS5 and concentrate on my PS4 backlog?

Still got the Amiga 1200, PS3 Slim, PS4 Pro and a PS5 fatty that looks like it's eaten too many pies.

ZX Spectrum games typically ranged from about £4.99 to £6.99 while more expensive games coming in fancy cardboard boxes could cost £9.99 games with exeptional content which usally incl stuff like free books and multi tapes could cost up to £12.99.
I don't think that the price of most modern AAA games has risen recently with inflation, there might be the odd exception here and there: Super Mario Kart World on Switch 2 costing £80 and the supposed launch of GTA IV at £90 but for the most part the games are comparable in price.

You must be a very similar age to me as we've had almost an identical gaming upbringing!

Spectrum 48K > C64 > Spectrum 128K > Atari ST > PS > PS2 > PS3 > PS4 >PS4 Pro > PS5

Some fond memories over the years from all those systems but none as magic as the rubber keyed wonder of the Speccy and all the games at the time that were so new.

A multipack of TDK90's were a relatively cheap way to game back in the day

@Miserydhala Did you keep many/any of your original Spectrum games, and if not have you been tempted to re-buy some to start a small collection? or are the prices unrealistic?

@Slidey_Moments I didn't realize the Platinum Collection was priced differently but it makes sense, from a collecting point of view I tend to avoid that range but I do have some. No wonder there has been none for PS5, they'd have to price them lower by default. What you said about the internet makes me wonder what you'd do with the box/code for Metal Gear Solid. I still think that's one of the best gimmicks I've seen hardly any game do. I did play it on Playstation and I kept trying to figure out why the cardboard box was missing a code, then I thought of the other words for a box and a light went off, game box/case. There it was on the back of the case.

Now I look at my son and think about how "easy" he has it. If he wants to play a certain game he can get it immediately, when I was his age I had to travel for miles to go to a dedicated game store in the vain hope that they might have a copy in stock.

• I think there's a trade-off there. I try to collect everything physical and completely avoid digital whenever possible. Not just to own the product (I won't go there, people get spicy over what they think ownership means) but because a digital library feels sterile to me. If I cycle through Plus+ and Gamepass, Steam too, I see all my collections on there and maybe I'll try one but the feeling of any real investment isn't there. It decreases my want to play those games, it's a personal thing I'm sure, digital doesn't feel as 'real' as holding the game in my hand, looking at the box-art, the manual. It feels like losing something before really experiencing it. And yes it might be easier in-terms of access but drip-feeding a lab mouse is access to them too.

Some days I feel like more of a consumer than a gamer. When you couple that with a lot of the negativity, job losses, shuttered studios, well that's why I often take breaks, weeks or sometimes months. I think the industry has gotten away from what it was, 'niche back then, and it was seen as a nerdy hobby' basically this. It's a lot more focused on the spectacle now, which often becomes an illusion when games are pushed that appeal more to an algorithm and not an actual person. I think you were viewed as a customer and as a gamer, not a consumer or a heavy user as some investment circles call it now. Convenience in my opinion isn't worth what's happened to the industry, but I've never had to travel miles in the snow to a games store either so it's all a matter of opinion and perhaps some Folks enjoy it the way it is now. It's hard to tell and we'll never know when gaming groups/communities themselves are the minority now.

Since I was 4, my first video game was Wild Gunmen on the NES.