I started playing video games since 7 years old, so that's from 1997. I did not play games very much at that time, or rather was not allowed to play games a lot by parents. I mainly played a lot of educational games at the time.
Eventually they stopped allowing me to play video games, thinking that it was a bad influence. However, it did not stop me from going to the cybercafe and playing Command & Conquer which was my favorite game in my childhood. My particular favorites were Yuri's Revenge, Tiberian Sun and Zero Hour. I also played Doom and Max Payne on the side.
Then after I entered college, I got into gaming big time. I was a big fan of Need for Speed, Burnout and CounterStrike. After that, I moved onto RPGs like The Witcher, Mass Effect and Dragon Age. I also ditched Command & Conquer after EA ruined it and moved to Civilization.
Now I am retired. Temporarily. I am doing my postgraduate studies and find it difficult to balance gaming with research, dissertation, conference presentations and TA work. I will get back to gaming once I finished my postgrad and got a steady job to afford a beastly gaming rig. I still follow the gaming news and forums. Sometimes I wished I hadn't because gaming seems to have taken a turn for the worse with DLCs, early access, microtransactions, unethical journalism, false advertising, social justice and now paid mods.
As for platforms, I have only played video games on the good ole' PC. I did play some games on the Brick Game. Remember that device ? I never got a chance to play on consoles because once again, strict parents. But I think that is for the best because well, Master Race :thumbsup:. I am the eldest so there was a lot of expectation to perform and study well hence the strictness. I mean my younger brother is now allowed to play games on a PSP. Grrr...
Anyway, I have been playing games on and off for about 18+ years now. The only other thing I did longer than that was reading books and watching cartoons.