I guess you could say my gaming journey really kicked off when I was about 7, but the spark had been lit even earlier. My dad got me a CD packed with old-school arcade games—those simple, pixelated classics—and that’s what got me curious. But the real turning point was getting my hands on my dad’s work PC. That’s where I discovered some absolute legends: Half-Life, StarCraft, Thief: The Dark Project, and Hexen. Before I knew it, I was spending hours on Quake III Arena, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Tomb Raider, and Need for Speed, completely hooked on all of them.

As gaming evolved, so did I. I got into multiplayer shooters like Battlefield 2, which kicked off my full-blown Battlefield obsession. Out of the entire franchise, Bad Company 2 is still my favorite—something about the multiplayer just hit different.

High school only fueled my gaming habits, especially in I.T. class. Instead of actually doing the assignments, my friends and I would fire up Age of Empires II. We had a blast messing around with cheats like “how do you turn this on” to spawn cars and confuse everyone. If we got bored of that, we’d jump into Counter-Strike 1.6 or Counter-Strike: Source, turning the classroom into our own LAN party. Those sessions were some of the best gaming moments of my life.

Eventually, I found my true calling in MMOs. The Lord of the Rings Online was my first big MMO crush, and I loved tackling dungeons and PvP. That led me straight to Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR), and to this day, both games are still on my rotation. The camaraderie, the challenges, the sense of adventure—it’s basically everything I want in a game.

These days, my absolute favorite way to play is online with friends. It doesn’t really matter what the game is—it’s all about sharing the experience. That said, when I’m going solo, I can’t resist a good RPG. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is an all-time masterpiece for me, and Cyberpunk 2077 totally draws me in with its futuristic setting and endless possibilities.

Honestly, gaming’s been a constant in my life—from the early days of pixelated arcades to modern open-world epics. It’s taken me to incredible places, introduced me to amazing stories, and helped me make lifelong friends. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.