A gaming memory I have is from my first time making it to the boss level in the shareware episode of Wolfenstein 3D. I nearly fell out of my seat when Hans Grosse shouted "Guten Tag!" and his chain guns started blazing.

Another is playing Dino Wars on the TRS-80 Color Computer. It's the first video game I remember playing. Nothing specific about it other than I liked to play it as a kid, but it was a two-player game (early beat'em up) so one of my parents had to play the second dinosaur.

For me I think the moment would be when I bought Oblivion on disc.
I was a user of that other service. And it was not that bad. I mostly used to buy retail discs and redeem them.
Then one day I bought Oblivion. I was very confused on not finding a key. After some research I found out that It uses an old-school DRM disc check to run. Now I was unwilling to use that DRM. So I started to read more about DRMs, and what were the other alternative Game Stores.
And then I came to know about GOG. And I was amazed to see their attitude towards gaming and game sales. DRM-free was the most important thing for me.

About a month after I joined, there was one of those major sales. Bought a lot of games on impulse. :p
And receiving the bonus games for free was a great experience. Played the first Witcher game a lot, and till this day it is one of my favourites. Even after playing Witcher 3 and even though I felt the game had its share of problems, the atmosphere and storytelling of the first game was something special. Kaer Morhen was magical, and the streets of Vizima I will never forget.

I started visiting the forums a little later. And I think this community is very special too. I mean the generosity of many of the forum members was something I never expected. And one of the charms of the site has become browsing the forums. I think I spend less time playing games because of the forum, but then I am not complaining.

I don't know if this is proper entry for the contest. But here you are. :)
The 10 year anniversary shirt would look great.

However, I have still not bought Oblivion on GOG yet. :p

Bioshock 2 good ending, I don't really cry that much for anything, first time any form of media legitimately made cry. It was so happy and sad and ahhhh, such a fantastic series.

Close second is the bioshock andrew ryan encounter, holy shit that was fantastic.

Have a wonderful day all!

Ok, here's a fun, if somewhat tragic story.

So, back as a little kid during the 90s, I played a lot of Sim City, and later Sim City 2000. They were great games, I loved them. Being a little kid however I was also terrible at them. My poor cities were broken money sinks that went nowhere, it's citizens quick to boot me out of office. Not that I wasn't trying, I got hold of books on the game, red them cover to cover and even made a little bit of improvement but never really managed to take off with building a grand metropolis.

Fast Forward to to the 2010s. I hadn't touched the series in awhile but decided to go another round with it. After all I'm an adult now, I was older, smarter and most importantly for this story the proud owner of a physical copy of SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition. My mission: Make a working city and finally show this series who's boss!

I play through the tutorials and after that start up a new city using everything I've been taught. It takes about an hour or so but soon enough. I've done it. My city is making money! After so many years I'm successfully building a working city!

So of course no sooner do I see the city income switch over to positive then the game crashes and my city, the first real success I've ever had with this series, is lost. Ow.

To this day I've yet to work up the nerve to go round 3 with this series. Though with me getting the game once more off gog maybe it's about time I do that.

D'Sparil with -fast is the toughest fight in the series easily. I don't think I can do that again lol.

Several years ago in the early stages of my relationship with my girlfriend, we played through The Curse of Monkey Island and Leisure Suit Larry: Love for Sail together. What made this extra special was that this was during a time when we didn't have home internet access, nor smart phones, so we paid full attention to the game without any distractions. It was actually quite amazing.

One of my favorite gaming "moments" was playing Minecraft over the internet with my friend, where we built our own towns with railroads and through mods we even had a small airfield with planes. We spent hours in that game just playing around, exploring the never-ending map, trying out new things in the game or trying to build something that we haven't tried before. I don't think I've spent so many hours in one game, except for maybe The Sims 2.

The weirdest gaming memory I have is from the early 2000s when The Sims wasn't quite new but The Sims 2 had not yet been released, I had The Sims and some expansions installed on my father's computer and my closest friends all had a Sims family there, we would take turns to play.

One night me and two of my friends came home hoping to play the game. I had been playing earlier that afternoon and for some reason, when I left, Windows didn't turned off as I commanded it to. So the computer stayed running for hours trying to shut down and I think (I can't be certain) the CD-ROM was left spinning all this time. When we came home we had to restart the PC and we were going to check if The Sims CD was inside the drive... as soon as my friend pushed the button to open, the CD went out flying, breaking the drive's door, it barely missed my surprised friend's face and crashed to pieces against the opposite wall. My other friend tried to pick up one of the CD pieces from the floor and it was so hot it burned his fingers. So we had a laugh, but sadly no more The Sims for a while. :D

Curiously, some other time, we watched a Mythbusters episode in which they couldn't make a CD explode like that and we were like "hey, that's no myth, that happened to us!". :)

Yes, I agree! That one would get my vote. :)

Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader.

The game's "plot" is fairly simple: it starts with the attack on the first Death Star, and ends with the destruction of the second Death Star. 10 levels in the main body. Simple, right? Not so for my younger self.

Unlike the relatively simple trench run of the first Death Star, after a hectic flight across the surface the second Death Star requires you to navigate its very cramped interior in your X-Wing. It's littered with jutting out pipes and other obstacles throughout, and if you clip one of your wings against something you're likely to spin out and crash. Oh, and did I mention that as well as this, you have to dogfight several TIE fighters that have followed you in? If you don't deal with them, they can destroy the Millennium Falcon. That's right, it's an escort mission.

What with all that, it's very tempting to slow down in order to get through. Unfortunately, the final part of the mission requires you to fly back out fast to outrun the core's explosion. If you dawdle too much, you can see flames round the edge of the screen as the explosion catches up to you. I didn't manage to complete it when I was younger, giving up in frustration.

I've come back to the game a number of times over the years. Whilst I mostly preferred its sequel, Rebel Strike, I always wanted to finish Strike at the Core and in doing so beat Rogue Leader. So, some years ago now I came back to the game, older and more skilled than my child self. After getting to the final level, I found that it was as frustrating as ever. It was very much a case of bashing my head against a wall, and again, I began to get frustrated and consider quitting.

Instead, for whatever reason, I decided to try out a game-mode that I would never otherwise use: I switched to first person. After a few attempts, I got the feel for it, and decided to speed up.

What followed was a full-speed dash through the narrow passages, weaving through gaps and around pipes, shooting down TIE Fighters, and blowing the fuck out of the Death Star II, escaping the raging fireball wrought by its destruction. It was, without a doubt, the most intense gaming experience I've ever had. I couldn't believe I'd finally managed to beat it. To add a cherry on top, I think I got either a gold medal or "best ever" for the mission - I'd have to check my time.

(I'll most likely edit a photo in later - the only one I could find in my images was this. It's possible that I may have made a recording of doing it again, but I don't really know.)

EDIT: Seems I don't still have that save file - my records indicate that was in 2012, before I got my current WiiCube setup. The image I had seems to be from my most recent Rebel Strike save file. Looks like I wasn't doing too badly. On a related note, it turned out that a similarly frustrating level from Rebel Strike - the speeder bike chase on Endor from Return of the Jedi - was much easier in first person view.

Watching The Witcher Intro Cinematic for the first time:)
Still have my hard copy, DVD in a case with a cover.

First online game I played was Everquest. Good times...

Spending hours in the EC tunnel to sell my wares and later keeping my character logged in all day at the Bazaar to sell my wares.
Reaching a names spawn I needed for a quest only to find it camped and then waiting hours for the player to finish/die so I can have my turn.

And my best memory, binding (set spawn point) myself in front of a named spawn so I could farm the named monster (and surrounding names) only to fall asleep. Wake up some time later to find myself in a death loop. Think I lost about 3-4 levels. LOL.

I can't say I have anything "epic."

1. A few years ago, a friend of mine had moved away. We decided to play Divinity: Original Sin together. Since we are both ancient relics, it took us an embarrassing amount of time to figure out how to play online. We finally did, though. It took us a little over a year to finish since we could only play two hours per week.

2. When I was a kid, my favorite game was Chuck Yeager's Flight Simulator (apparently, this game was later renamed after a lawsuit). I crafted some pretty epic tales of mishap and woe looking at that two-color sky/ground horizon. "Ladies and Gentlemen, it looks like we'll be making an emergency landing on the highway again."

3. Dwarf Fortress--it is the source of good memories and my occasional vanishing off the face of the earth for two days. Highlights include a "succession" game I played with a friend where we built a tower out of Camel Soap (that's not a brand; it was actually made from camels) and the time I made an artificial waterfall. Of course, for that second one, I first made a plumbing accident where water was spewing upward all the way to the surface. Par for the course. I've also won the Forgotten Beast art contest a few times. That's a fan thread on the forums where people draw the procedurally-generated monsters. Modding is also fun for that game. I added a velociraptor to the game once, and I also made my dwarves all sleep in hammocks. Ah, unfortunately, the word "bed" is hard-coded in the game, so they showed up as "Wool Beds," but a big part of dwarf fortress is using your imagination anyway, so that applies here. I think the best part of Dwarf Fortress is the bugs, though. A few years ago, a patch accidentally made most of the poultry sterile. This turned out to be because the livestock were using the dwarves' marriage ethics code. At the time, most dwarves were very conservative. So, when it came time for the eggs to be fertilized, the hens would figuratively say, "What kind of a girl do you think I am?" and slap the roosters.

There's a game moment that has stuck with me for over 20 years. So here it is (sorry to bore some of you):

I've been putting many hours into B-17 Flying Fortress (sadly not on GOG). A very fun WW2 Bomber Flight sim. This was a few years after the Memphis Belle film released.

The game's goal is to survive 25 missions. Fly to your target, bomb them and get the hell back in (sorta) one piece. The game had a tendency to be either very frustrating or very rewarding, depending on how long your mission ran and if it was a success or not. There was no saving while in a mission. It can get quite "white knuckle" being the Captain and manning all ten crew stations at any given moment to ensure your plane survives the run.

This mission began like any other - attend the mission brief (we're to bomb a naval yard), review the flight roster, then take off and join the other bombers. It can be fairly mundane as you fly over the English Channel so you're free to accelerate the game's time to move things along. Normal time resumes and you pick off a few planes that try and take you or the others down.

After a few of those skirmishes you get a few holes on the side of your plane, tend to your wounded crew and bandage them up to continue on. Not long after you hear on the radio the bombing run is to commence. I decide to take lead of the squadron and line things up.

The the flack appears, heavy flack. Each coming closer and jostling your bomber - which can make it difficult to line up your crosshairs. Plane sightings are being called out. The bombing run can last a fair bit of time so you're free to take control of the guns or let the crew manage without you. They're not the sharpest in the early missions so best do shoot them down yourself. We've lost some bombers already, the squad is thinning.

My plane has taken a good beating. Several leaks are visible. I suspect engine 4 will lose its oil eventually, overheat and catch fire. We're minutes from dropping our bombs so I switch to the bombardier's seat and take control of the plane. Things are looking good. Clear skies and the target is visible. Just have to keep straight and level. It looks like now or never so I give the order and we drop our bombs. I switch camera views and watch the devastation. We met the target for the most part, enough to consider the mission a win. Awesome.

I return controls to the pilot so we can begin the turn and go home. I survey the damage. It isn't good. I eventually feather engine 4 and increase our speed on the remaining engines to maintain formation with the group. I believe there's about five of us left in various condition. More planes swarm us. My bomber and crew get shot at. We're not looking too good. An engine catches fire. I pull the extinguisher and luckily it still works. We're now down to two engines. We can still maintain altitude, but we cannot hold formation. The group moves on without us. We're alone. Sitting ducks. We're about to cross into safe territory so we should be okay.

I dare not advance the mission clock to speed things up. Any number of failures can occur and we either blow up or fly into the ground within seconds. Real time it is. The English Channel is in view. Minutes seems like hours. I have the crew tending to one another to shore up our wounded. We lose oil pressure on number 1. I feather it, leaving us with one engine. I cannot maintain altitude. It will be a slow and steady descent over the Channel as we make our way towards home.

I dare not let the computer auto pilot control flight so I go it manually. I weigh my options. Landing hydraulics are shot to hell. I have a bit a drift in one direction. Landing will be near impossible. Hell, landing in better conditions can be a challenge. Grounding the plane is equally risky. Run aground or go a blaze and everyone dies. Not really an option. I just need to make it over the Channel and maintain altitude for as long as possible for a safe bailout.

Another grueling 30 minutes roll along and I'm safe over English soil. I'm at a high enough altitude to ensure everyone makes it out safely. It's now or never. I give the order and we all bail. Sadly, it would seem no one is at the controls as now the bomber's nose begins to dip. One by one stick figures can be seen with their chutes opening. Helpless, I sit there and count one by one.

All ten chutes are open and I continue watching as the bomber spirals into its descent before crashing. I'm eager to learn my crew's fate. I read something about the Commander being pissed off I lost the bomber, but our mission was a success. Some crew will take longer to heal, but damn, we can fly another day. Wow, I pulled it off. I look at the clock and see about three hours have gone by and I'm just drained. However, it was all worth it.

edit: bah I'm not going to have time to write this up. :P Good luck to everyone!

I have quite a few moments that stand out, but I want to take time to write them up: Humongous Entertainment, LEGO Island, Speedy Eggbert, Tomb Raider 2 demo and 3, Doom 3, TRAoD, GTA:SA, CounterStrike LAN parties, my first few GOG games, etc.

I am in.

Friday evenings are the best time for gaming.

You had a long and tiring week with lots of work. Time to wind down, relax, get some mountain dew and play games on gog. That is what I do.
Gamers all over the world tune into play games single player or multiplayer and have a blast.