It's preposterous to not think of video games as a respectable form of storytelling and entertainment in this day and age.
With millions of dollars, and quite possibly millions of hours, put into modern gaming, they come out more and more like gigantic cinematic experiences as opposed to the simple side-scrollers we started with.
This isn't to wax lyrical about how games have evolved, but can you really blame people for dropping thousands of hours of their lives into a game that makes you feel like you're a legendary hero from long ago?
We all have that one game we can't give up.
These are some peoples' stories.
Reddit user, LinksOtherUncle, wanted to know what world you lost yourself to when they asked:
"Which videogame consumed your entire life upon first play-through?"
You don't know exactly what it is, not at first, that gets you hooked to a game.
It's more of a feeling than anything, but before you know it you're sucked into the world the game has generated for you.
Welcome To Rapture
"Bioshock. Many hours playing long into the night and getting completely creeped out."
FunEconomy6147
"My good friend had a surround sound system in his apartment and we would sit and get high and watch him play it and let me tell you there’s nothing better than having a splash of paranoia from the weed and then having a splicer whisper behind your head before he jumps out on the screen"
Blunderbutters
GiphyIt Feels Good To Be Bad
"Bully, I couldn’t believe a game with a kid in school with missions existed lol."
ImaginationBasic97
"Still holding out hope Rockstar will make a new one... In my mind Bully was the last eclectic title from the PS2 era of gaming. It had a lot going on, bikes, skateboards, go-carts, so many mini-games, it was thoroughly robust. A lot of plot, memorable characters."
"It is unfortunate that the IP feels abandoned at this point."
Normal_Radio
D'oh!
"Simpsons Hit and Run. I started playing and didn’t realize 7 hours pass by."
odagled86
"Man, I miss when I used to have seven continuous hours of free time."
SeaworthinessEarly40
GiphyMaybe it's not the allure of playing an amazing game that keeps you hooked, rushing to reach the end.
Perhaps the point of the game is that it never ends, as you go further and deeper into a never-ending experience.
I Can Control An Entire Civilization?
"I was alive when Civilization I came out."
"That is all."
lessmiserables
"This answer is incorrect. Civ continues to consume all our lives after the first playthrough."
"Hell I've got 1.5k hours in civ 6, and I have yet to play all the leaders."
Cupid-Valintino
Welcome To The World...Of Warcraft
"Vanilla WoW. I think I’d put in 18 hours a day minimum. Glad to not be there anymore."
BatmansQueefBreath
"This is the answer. Lost relationships over that game, it was a real addiction. That’s the only video game I’ve ever get compelled to play like it was a drug."
mokasoldier
GiphyJust One. More. Turn...
"Stardew Valley"
Middlerun
"I blame the save mechanic. Saving when you sleep puts you so close to the next day it's impossible not to just pop out and check the mail, see if anything needs harvested... Aaand now it's 2pm and I better finish out the day so I don't lose progress"
snorch
"Huh, I never thought about it that way. Guess it's similar to how Civ is so addictive...just one more turn."
coltaaan
Whatever the reason, you're hooked.
You're in.
There's no way out, not until you save the timestream, complete this one last side-quest and mine enough minerals to build a life-size replica of Disneyland.
I've Been Waiting For Your, Hero of Time
"Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of time."
"My dad bought it as my Christmas present, I was 13 years old, and started playing at 12am, and give it a break at 7am of next day."
Javorrock
"Makes me sad that no game of any kind will ever consume me the same way again."
RecycledAccountName
GiphyWatch Out For Those Dreaded Knee Arrows
"Skyrim is an obvious answer, but It was really the first time I became truly obsessed with a game."
travisisokay
"I constantly struggle with my latent Skyrimitis. It's a chronic condition that causes any mention of Skyrim to cause a strong craving of playing that game again."
"Brb, gotta go play Skyrim."
RaccKing21
"Skyrim helped me get through the worst breakup I ever had. I need something to distract me so I decided to play this game that had been sitting in my Steam library for so long."
magnumthepi
Can't Resist The Worldwide Phenomenon
"minecraft"
gamer-s-man
"Minecraft on its own is a timesink. Minecraft with a good modpack is a death sentence."
cheesycoke
"I first played Minecraft back when it was a downloadable jar and you updated your skin by logging into their site and uploading it. I was regularly playing 8-12 hours at a time."
ywBBxNqW
GiphySir. Finishing This Fight.
"Halo 2. Too many hours in the mid 2000s mastering skulls and Easter eggs."
Puzzleheaded-Pin3460
"And wishing you could finish the goddamn fight, but couldn’t."
RIP_Country_Mac
"Super jumps, button combos, custom lobbies. Yea…. I easily went into the tens of thousands of hours club. Shoutouts H2F."
S420J
@kileywrestling/Bluesky
