How old were you when you played your first RPG?

crpgnut · May 23, 2021

Depends on what we call an RPG but the first computer game I played was something called Hamurabi and I played it on a computer in a science museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The place was called the Omniplex way back then but it's just called the Science Museum nowadays. I played it on my 9th birthday as part of my vacation to see my relatives in Oklahoma.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamurabi_(video_game)

I also had what became my favorite birthday cake. It's angel food cake with a strawberry flavored jello, fresh strawberries and topped with whipped topping. Cool Whip would be a common name brand in the States.

That cake could be why I'm diabetic today

Darkheart · May 23, 2021

Iirc, it went like this Dungeon Master, Lands of Lore, Ultima Underworld, Diablo,… Baldur's Gate.

It was Baldur's Gate that really gripped me and settled me into RPGs. Before that my fav games were probably Dune II and C&C. Makes sense, I guess.

bkrueger · May 23, 2021

In 1990 I bought my first PC and started PC-gaming, buying floppy discs at a local book store. (I had played a few games on other platforms before, but not relevant for RPGs). However, for some years I only played Adventures and First Person Shooters. Maybe I tried RPGs but don't remember any.

I was 38/39 in 1997/8, when I started to have fun with games like Fallout, Might & Magic VI and Baldur's Gate. I remember that I didn't like Diablo at all, when it came out but played it a few years later and play Diablo-likes besides RPGs since then. Also continue to like FPS and Adventures, but nearly nothing from other genres. The only exception is my all time favorite game Spellforce, which is an RPG/RTS-hybrid.

daveyd · May 23, 2021

I was born in 1981. My dad got a C64 when I was a toddler so I've been playing video games from a very early age. But most of what we had was platformers and arcade style games.

I think the first game I played which could be technically called an RPG was Hillsfar (1989), I'm guessing I got it when I was 9 or 10. Even though it's easily one of SSI's worst game and really pales in comparison to Gold Box games, I had no frame of reference. I enjoyed creating D&D characters for it.

Unfortunately by the 90's it was pretty hard to find C64 games so I wasn't able to get ahold of other, better cRPGs. Not counting some Sega Genesis JRPGs in middle school, the first time I was able to play another RPG was when we got a PC when I was ~16.

Hastar · May 23, 2021

I played AD&D for the first time around 1980. My neighbors had an Apple II and had a game called Wizardry. I would go over there every day after school and play it with them. That was 1981, so I was 11. So many party wipes in Wizardry. My dad got us an Apple IIe around 1982.

SleepingDog · May 23, 2021

I remember I had bought an Amiga 500 Plus shortly after they came out (1991) to play games on. There were a few RPGs like Abandoned Places (1992), Shadowlands (1992) and Eye of the Beholder (1991) that I played. So that makes me late 30s.

At this point I played any computer game but over the next 10 years I realised that I had a strong preference for RPGs. Even bought an Amiga 1200 (1996) but as game developers abandoned the Amiga I bought a PC around 2000.

Carnifex · May 23, 2021

Matter of fact, I believe it was in June of '81 that I started first playing a beta version of Wizardry one, then in later in the summer I got access to the full game. So by my reckoning, that's forty years ago, almost to the day.

HiddenX · May 23, 2021

Temple of Apshai (DOS) 1982 - I was 14 back then.
At that time I was playing all kind of games - most of them on a C64.

Shagnak · May 23, 2021

My first ones were roguelikes on a friend's TRS-80 in the early 80s (so, aged 10+).
Then a whole bunch, like the Ultima series, on my C64. Can't remember any RPGs on my earlier computers (Vic-20 or ZX81), but can't be certain.

Alrik Fassbauer · May 23, 2021

I think it was … Lands Of Lore I … and Blade Of Destiny from the Realms Of Arcania close by … and Albion. These were my very first RPGs.
I must have been somewhat within the 20s, a student, then. ( Means : It was some time within the 90s. )

Couchpotato · May 24, 2021

I was around seven at the time believe it was Final Fantasy on the first Nintendo console. My first PC RPG wasn't until I was 14 both Fallout and Baldur's Gate.

henriquejr · May 24, 2021

Seeing all posts above, I realize that I came late to the RPG party, for a lot of reasons: back in the 80s owning a computer (Commodore, Apple, whatever) wasn't exactly common here, at least not in my neighborhood. And my 1st "gaming machine" was an Atari 2600, which wasn't a "king of RPGs".

So I believe the 1st RPG worth this name that I played was Ultima Underworld 1 around 1994, which put me at an age of 21 y-o back then.

Imo. · May 24, 2021

Oregon trail in school. So 9ish. Then zork ( me and my friends spent quite a while typing bad words in to that game. :lol: ) then came wizardry in the first half of the 80’s and that’s when I really started gaming.

Carnifex · May 24, 2021

Let me be clear: I didn't own a computer myself until 1986. For the five years prior to that, I used university computers to hone my crpg skillz! We had too many darn kids to afford something like a computer, often we shared things like air, dreams, and lifelong ambitions. Times were tough, trickle down economics didn't exactly work in our favour!

JDR13 · May 24, 2021

I don't remember, but I was pretty young. The first real RPG I played was Dungeons of Daggorath on my TRS-80. I was probably 8 or 9. I had already been gaming for a few years by that time, but I can't think of anything earlier that would qualify as an RPG.

Lemonhead · May 24, 2021

I think I was 10 years old when I played Hero's Quest by Sierra. The RPG and adventure game hybrid on our IBM PC that my dad had brought home from work. This would have been 1989 and that's when the obsession started

TheDart · May 24, 2021

Lemonhead said:
I think I was 10 years old when I played Hero's Quest by Sierra. The RPG and adventure game hybrid on our IBM PC that my dad had brought home from work. This would have been 1989 and that's when the obsession started

Oh, a personal favorite of mine. A fantastic hybrid of adventure and RPG elements.

The way they'd integrated the classes was a revelation, as they each had unique ways to solve the various puzzles and challenges.

Too bad it turned out to be such a rare genre.

Lemonhead · May 24, 2021

TheDart said:
Oh, a personal favorite of mine. A fantastic hybrid of adventure and RPG elements.

The way they'd integrated the classes was a revelation, as they each had unique ways to solve the various puzzles and challenges.

Too bad it turned out to be such a rare genre.

Yeah it's a shame the genre kind of died out. I always played the thief class first since I loved breaking into houses and stealing things. There was a certain thrill to that. Then mage or fighter. Never managed to get the secret Paladin class in QFG2 or 3. QFG4 was great as well, loved the atmosphere.

darklord · May 24, 2021

I voted 10-19 as it was in my teens that I played games such as EoB etc. However I started games at age 3. By 7 or so I was playing text based adventure games on the Commodore Vic 20. Which I guess are kind of RPG's? Hmm…

I'm 42 now. My son age 7 loves watching me play, and has played and completed some RPG's himself. (Darkquest for example)

Daniel.

Carnifex · May 24, 2021

Man, those Hero Quest games were sooooo good back in the day!!! Sierra put out a lot of seriously excellent games, I'd rank them right up there with franchises like M&M, Wizardry, the gold box games, etc. Really good stuff, most of which endures to this very day, well worth still playing.

How old were you when you played your first RPG?

At what age did you play your first RPG?

1-9

10-19

20-29

30-39

40-49

50-59

60 and up

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