As I sat in front of my computer trying desperately to come up with something to write about this week I found myself without any ideas. There was no real news I was excited about. There aren’t any games coming out in the near future that I’m all that excited about. The WiiU is right around the corner, but seeing how I abhor EVERYTHING Nintendo…that was out too.

Then I tried to think of why I even like video games, and one memory came to mind. It was the day that, after more than a dozen years of playing games, I feel I actually became a “gamer”. But let me start with a bit of background info…

I’m a huge fan of the show Chuck. One day I was searching some YouTube videos and I came across a video featuring Adam Baldwin (John Casey) and Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah Walker) doing voice overs for a game titled Mass Effect 2. I instantly looked on Steam and found a demo. After playing through the demo about a half-dozen times I bought the game. It almost instantly started gettin every spare moment I had, but really never more than 1-2 hours at a time, that is, until a snow-day kept me out of class one day.

I was going to school fulltime, so after driving my wife to work I came home and sat down in front of my computer, cup of coffee beside me, and started in on my usual 1-2 hours. Before I knew it I looked at the clock and I had been playing for 4 hours. I refilled the coffee and sat back down. I clocked a total of about 8 1/2 hours that day…way more than I had ever spent in one day playing video games. I experimented with new weapons and new powers. Got in a grove with certain squad mates (usually Miranda and Thane or Miranda and Garrus). Went further and further than I’d ever gone. Developed an affinity for sniping, which I had previously hated in games, and developed my most defining quality as a gamer…sitting there all by myself saving the universe.

Now this is a relatively boring story, I’ll admit it, but for me it was the day that I picked up the gamer tag and haven’t put it down since. No, I didn’t grow up loving a lot of the older games, nor do I own dozens of different games…but I’m a gamer none the less. Gamers come in all shapes and bends.

So what’s your story? When did you pick up that gamer tag? Let us know in the comments.