CAN A VIDEO GAME CHANGE YOU OR YOUR LIFE?

Well if I made a game & it became a commercial success that would change mine or anyone of our lives significantly. But in terms of an actual game I've played that's impacted my life uhhh Sonic 2 I guess for really getting into games properly I don't know.

author=Tau
Well if I made a game & it became a commercial success that would change mine or anyone of our lives significantly.

I know that feel, bro. When I was further fleshing out Dawning of a Dragon's Valor (now Tales from Zilmurik) back in 2007, I reflected on the matters of rage, greed and fear and how it affects our lives; I had to because those were predominate villains in the game. Even today, writing these characters realistically demands that I reflect on the condition of society and the great failings that have come from such emotions. I feel like this "meditation" for all these years has granted me a more open insight into who I can and should be instead of simply living with who I am.

I'm not going to say that this is how others would receive my game as they would just see some monsters named Rage, Greed and Fear and think "Feh! What's next; Chaos?", but I'd like for a spark of what drove me to make this game to brush off on those who experience it. Coincidentally, Chaos is the puppetmaster, but that's beside the point.

I typically only give attention to video games that speak to me on an emotional level, so major yes to that question :D I mean, there's always exceptions, like fighting and action games and whatnot, but for the most part, I want my games to hit me right in the feels and make me contemplate shit. I prefer gamesthat are portrayed more as an art form and means of telling a story/message over action (Again, I do love some action games, fighting games are excellent for staying alert and honing skills)

I'd say the biggest so far have been Silent Hill 2, 3, and 4. They made a huge impact on me. Good role models, I know LOL. They inspired and influenced my art and writing, they helped me dig inside myself to confront issues I ignored for the longest time, they just ripped my feels right out of me and made me stare at them until nothing made sense anymore. I loved it XD Of course, i was an awkward introvert in high school at the time so it certainly didn't help me fit in at all, but au contrair, they made me not give a shit about not fitting in.

Followed up by Breath of Fire V, cause Ryu is one honorable heroic mofo and I will not ramble any further cause I don't know if I could stop myself once I start X3

Ahhhhhhhhhh vidjo games <3 <3 <3

author=Shadski
I honestly believe it can, because I feel like The World Ends With You changed the course of my life forever.

I swear, when I read the title of this thread, The World Ends With You is the first game that popped into my head!

Others that I think of are Suikoden II, Alundra, Bastion, and possibly even Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. I try not to play a game with out taking something of worth from it.

It was the wonder of being able to step into an impossible fantasy and being able to interact with it. I've always wanted to make video games ever since I first played Space Rogue when I was 9, but it was when I was 17 and played Final Fantasy VII for the first time that I realized that video games were a story-telling medium that truly offered no limits; something no book or film could ever accomplish. A video game could be a book like A Mind Forever Voyaging, or a movie like Metal Gear Solid 4, but you can never interact with a movie or a book.

A manga did for me so I see no reason why a video game couldn't.

ff7 probably caused me to get into rpgs and rpg maker itself and then game development in general. im not sure if it changed my world view or anything but I wouldn't be here without it.

Certainly video games (and other media) motivated me to get into creating my own stuff, so there's that, for sure. Plus, I also think that games, art, writing, music and other creations are ways of expressing an opinion, an emotion, or a feeling in ways that are sometimes easier to understand than simple words. I've cried after reading manga, been reminded of my past by movies, and been inspired by a hero in an action show... So, yea, of course!

I so relate to all you guys stories!
In my case...

"What I do... I do with no regrets." -Yuna

I think the tale of Final Fantasy X was probably the one that got the most impact on me from all forms of media ever. It really played a humunguous part on shaping the person that I am. Persistant, ever-smiling, iron-willed, pessimistic but filled with unsurmountable hope... Another one that had a heavy weight on shaping me was Final Fantasy Tactics. Together with FFX, they shaped up my current religious point of view, which is that I don't need religion to be happy and a good person. As such I'm completely free from any sort of religion, and I just sort of do what my heart tells me, filtered by what I've learnt from life, other people's failures and my own as well. In a more negative light, I'm extremely skeptical and reluctant in relation to churches and religion now, and whenever someone spits the word "salvation" I feel like punchin'em in da guts lololo