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What was a profound moment that a video game caused you to experience, and why?

The moment that inspired this question:

A long time ago I was playing an MMO called Voyage of the Century Online. A major part of the game was sailing around on a galleon ship and having naval battles in the 1600s.

The game basically allowed you to sail around all of the oceans of the 1600s world and explore. The game was populated with a lot of NPC ships that you could raid and pick up its cargo for loot.

One time, I was sailing around the western coast of Africa and I came across some slavers. This was shocking to me at the time, and I was like “oh, I’m gonna fuck these racist slavers up!”

I proceed to engage the slave ship in battle and win. As I approach the wreckage, I’m bummed out because there wasn’t any loot. Like every ship up until this point had at least some spare cannon balls or treasure, but this one had nothing.

… then it hit me. A slave ship’s cargo would be… people. I sunk this ship and the reason there wasn’t any loot was because I killed the cargo. I felt so bad.

I just sat there for a little while and felt guilty, but I always appreciated that the developers included that detail so I could be humbled in my own self-righteousness. Not all issues can be solved with force.

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  • Hard to pick.

    Starting my first own game system. Before that only gaming was done in "video arcades"

    Silent Service - Limping back to base with 75000t sunk, no ammo and sub barely functional.

    F-18 - First vector graphics flight sim I saw, that wasn't just wireframe. Mindblowing.

    Civilization - First playthrough with a friend.

    UFO - Enemy Unknown - Storming the first UFO. Although game was similar to Laser Squad, it was still revolutionary.

    Wing Commander - First mission ever. Game was like anything before and really tickled my Battlestar Galactica itch.

    Comman & Conquer - Had played Dune before, so it was not the first RTS, but really hit the nail on the head.

    Team Fortress - My first online gaming experience.

    GTA 3 - Playing the first time. My first open world experience. Have had a little pause in my gaming.

    B17 - Mighty Eight - Just barely ditching on English soil with only one functional engine after a suicidal mission.

    Alpha Centauri - First playthrough with the Mrs.

    Battlefield 1942 - After Wolfenstain Enemy Territory, open space and vehicless felt amazing.

    Elite Dangerous - First launch, first interstellar jump and first combat in the same flight. Elite games had been a bit boring on the sound and visual design before, but holy shit.

    Deep Rock Galactic - Never approved any friend requests on steam before. Started approving them. Some legendary moment ensued.

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