Story time: what game changed your life, and how? Tell us for $8!

Metal Gear Solid on the original PlayStation. This is the game that changed my life.

I honestly dont know where to start with this game but im going to try! First off I remember getting this game as a kid, when your impressionable and games up to that point i had played were platformers like sonic and arcade type games, maybe not with a ton of depth, but a heck of a lot of fun. The along came Metal Gear Solid. It was the first game I ever got that came in a chunky big double CD jewel case so I thought "oh this must mean business!"

Metal Gear Solid comes from the mind of the genius that is Hideo Kojima, and WOW, i hadnt ever seen or played anything like it at the time. Metal Gear Solid (MGS) is an action stealth adventure game, something i really dont think even existed until its arrival. So I popped the disc into my grey box of magic, aka The PlayStation, and right off the bad the introduction of Snake underwater diving onto what seemed like an oil rig or a military base had me interested. Then the gameplay kicked off and for someone like me who usually loves just going in all guns blazing Rambo style in my games i was shocked when MGS sucked me into its immersive snowy cold world and hooked me right through to the end. And it really did hook me in as this was the first, if not one of the first games I ever completed (the other was the classic Resident Evil 2 on PlayStation)!

The game was groundbreaking in so many ways as stealth was carried out in the game fantastically where you could knock on a wall so the gaurds defending the base would wander over then you could take them out from behind and drag them away... incredible. The on screen radar really helps build the tension as you try to avoid the enemies field of view and then if they spot you the legendary alert sound plays and your need to run and hide or take them all out until things quiet down again, this game is such a masterpiece it deserves a genuine remake or remaster (preferably with Kojima back at the helm... heck maybe Sony or someone will buy Konami and give Kojima back the MGS IP so he can work his magic once again.... hey I can dream!)

The story also was incredible at drawing you in as this was one of the first games i remember really utilising in engine cut-scenes to help build the story and draw out the drama unfolding around solid snake... especially when you would encounter some of the incredible bosses who you would need to battle. And who could forget all the conversation cut-scenes which are fully voiced over with Snake talking to another character on his communicator! It also sticks with me as being one of the first games I was consious of my inventory as I was always watching my ammo and heck I even remember using cigarettes and diazepam for calming snake down to pull of some tough sniper rifle shots! What a game!

Now I wont discuss all the bosses as I dont want to spoil the game in case you haven't played it but this was another aspect where MGS was light-years ahead of the competition, I remember playing against Psycho Mantis i think it was, where he was actually reading stuff from your memory card!? A genuine WTF moment haha then to defeat him you have to switch your controller port to the other port, really amazing and creative moments that were just WOW back in 1998!

Oh and did i mention you can creep about the levels inside a cardboard box? It doesn't get much better than this!

After completing the game, I genuinely didnt think it could get any better than this, which left a huge impression on me, this game really showed me what the medium of video games was all about, which is something incredibly special when its done right. So much so that it was probably one of the key moments in my life which made me decide "I love this" and "I will be a gamer the rest of my life", and here I am still playing games, after multiple consoles, after a ton of games played and then making it my career being a gaming content creator!

So thank you Metal Gear Solid and thank you Hideo Kojima for being one of the big reasons that my life has went the trajectory it has and why im doing what I am doing right here right now! (PS I've got MGS on my PlayStation classic mini but I am too scared to play it again as I just dont want to ruin any amazing memories... hence my long wait for a Remake/Remaster)

EVE Online

I started playing EVE in 2004, and am one of the rare breed of players who has never been away from game, have never let my subscription lapse, and have always played.

EVE itself has fundamentally changed my life for the better. I have become more confident, and decisive - not just in game, but in real life. It has helped me weigh up risks in RL with greater ease, and has given me so many real life skills.

Aside from that, I have met so many people and learnt so many things (it is spreadsheets online after all, so I have transferred much of that learning into my real life work) - I have presented at FanFest twice now, been interviewed live on Twitch TV on the CCP stream in from of thousands of people twice, have run two player gatherings where we have now raised £2.5K for charity.

I am nearly in my 20th year in game, and have played EVE for 45% of my life now. EVE has given me so much - but the good news is... I have so much more to give :)

Final Fantasy VII

There were quite a few games which had a huge impact on me, but if I had to name a life-changing one it would be Final Fantasy VII. (Screenshots from FF7 Remake as that's all I currently have on my laptop, and let's be honest, they look a lot cooler)

What I was going though:

My dad died when I was 7 years old and my mother's second husband was anything but kind. I was always yelled at and criticized for everything, nothing what I said or did was good for him. Didn't help that my school got shut down and my parents decided to take me to a different school than my friends transferred to, so I was left alone and been constantly bullied by my new classmates since I was the new kid. Reasons for my social anxiety and low self-esteem still to this day... As I was growing up and understood more about what was going on around me it just got worse and I was reading fantasy books to get away from reality.

How I met the game:

I was 12 when FFVII came out and my friend's brother had a PS and was playing the game one day when I was over. I never played RPGs before, didn't even have a console or a PC which would run anything else apart from Tetris and such, so when I found out this game had a story, it completely blew my mind. I ended up staying past my bedtime to play it and got grounded for it later, but it was worth it. Seeing such a game opened up my eyes and gave me a much needed escape from things going on at home. I kept going over to my friend after school to "study" together but we were just playing Final Fantasy and writing alternative endings to the game.

How did it change my life:

I was sitting there playing with a dictionary to translate the English texts. It taught me more than the language classes at school.

Writing all that fan fiction improved my writing and story-telling skills which helped me a lot with graduating.

Aerith was my favorite character as I could relate to her in many things. Her story gave me strength to face my own demons and find my way in the world.

I wanted to be an actress and film director but my mother and her husband didn't let me. We watched Final Fantasy - The spirit within with my friend and I was blown away by the CGI and had decided I want to be a game developer and make game trailers and ingame cutscenes like that movie. I went to learn video editing, animation and Japanese at uni and dreamed about working at Square Enix one day.

Been rudely awakened from that dream by the lack of understand and support from my mother and her husband (but honestly what did I even expect?) and when I had enough one day I packed my life into 2 bags and bought a one-way ticket to London.

Final Fantasy VII thought me a lot about the world and people, and helped me see things for what they really were. Taught me to stand up for myself and gave me hopes and dreams during the darkest time of my life. Having to fight against my family's lack of support, moving countries and build a new life from nothing threw me back a good 15 years, but next week I'm starting my first job in the games industry. And who knows what the future will bring? The next step might be Square Enix :D

And now you know why I love Final Fantasy so much.

Need for Speed Underground.

When I was younger, the only games I had on our old family Windows 98 PC were stuff like Space Cadet Pinball, Deluxe Ski Jump, or some free games that came bundled with yoghurt packs at from the supermarket. Then at the age of 5 we moved to England, and to make the transition somewhat tolerable for me, that year for Christmas I got a PS2, and with it, Need for Speed Underground. To go from simple 2D games, to such a stunning 3D one was mind-blowing for me. It wasn't only my first AAA game I ever played, but it must have been my first 3D game in general. It made me fall in love in not only the Need for Speed franchise, but also gaming in general, and showed me what gaming can be and how amazing games can be. To this day this game does so many thing better than most modern racing games, which is kind of sad if you think about it.

This one might be a little different, and a little more personal to some. Hopefully relatable to a few as well.

Clash of Clans

I know, I know, this little gem developed by Supercell is quite different to other people's submissions, especially considering it's a mobile game. But this game's community holds a special place in my heart... starting from Day 1.

I'm sure we all have either seen or played Clash of Clans before

Develop that base! Attack those goblins! Join a clan, and wreak havoc on your enemies! And then lord over your friends for their entire life about how you're a "townhall" higher than them. 8 year old me instantaneously fell in love with the concept of being the "chief" of my little village, having total control over all aspects... and maybe placing buildings on top of the villagers and watching them run like crazy... (I do hope I wasn't the only one)

For me? That was my little paradise on my mother's Motorola. Eventually, though, she saw that someone was actively promoting "Free gems!"(An in-game premium currency) in the World Chat (Now removed) for free if someone simply inputted all their details into a website. Instantaneous removal of the game. Womp womp.

As you can imagine, little me was devastated that I no longer had my mini village paradise, and I never touched the game until I was old enough to gain an interest in the game again. Logging back into it gave me a sudden wash of nostalgia, back to my paradise village and having control once more. This time, I had gained a bit more knowledge and common sense. I searched for a clan to reinforce my base, and came across clan after clans, joining them and immediately getting kicked, primarily because of my low town hall level. But one, and just one clan stood out to me. "Splatoon Gamer"

Sometimes, we find a home in a community online

And this one spoke Spanish.

Hell, I did not know a single word in Spanish. I was probably the worst player in there. I never did a coordinated attack. I was always too low-level. I always fumbled the game.

But one person, who I still remember to this day, Engels, became my mentor and guide throughout it all. Primarily because he was the only bilingual person there, but still.

I was going through a rough time then

and I'm not afraid to say that it wasn't pretty. I never openly admit these sorts of things, but domestic violence was commonplace in my home, and I pretty much felt alone throughout all of this. I refused to reach out for help anywhere because it was always a "What say if they tell someone else?" factor in it all. But having someone on the other side of the world, who also understood my problems, also knew what I was going through then, just made everything so much better.

We became great friends. Online friends, yes, but the bond was the greatest I've ever had. He was the first to wish me a happy birthday every time. Hell, even before my friends that I talked to, every day. He guided me through the game, every step of the way. God, I feel bad for him, thinking how bad I must've been, but he persisted, and so did I.

Eventually, a major event happened in my life, that shook things up for me

Everyone I talked to, simply had no idea what it was like. Engels? Tried his best to understand. And that changed my life for the better. He was like a brother on the other side of the entire world, and that meant a lot to me. He even started to teach me Spanish so I could understand the clan, and now I can hold a conversation in Latin Spanish!

Eventually, the clan died due to inactivity, and Engels told me that I exceeded the clan, and I had to move on. With a fully maxed TH 12 (the best at the time) I had to find another clan as a home (This time, I made sure they spoke English, which is always a great start)

I'll seriously TL;DR this part

Being an adult ain't as fun.

But hell, do some people just make it so much better. It's literally the first part, but redone all over again, thanks to a new person in my life now. This guy, a 6'7 giant, with a 10.7 inch handspan (who had to get a 12.9" iPad because a phone was too small for him to play) showed me what it truly was like to be an adult, and guided me through another phase of my life. Relationship, life goals... he became a second father in my life and always tried to get me to aim for the best.

This has been quite the long submission... but this game, more so the community, has absolutely changed my life, to get me to the success I have today.

TL;DR cool game community helps me through life and mentors me.