List of games that I feel had a profound effect on me.

1. Pac-Man: though not the first video game I ever played, it was the first game I owned and the first title I became competent enough to play until told to stop. This was my first brush with game obsession. I've probably never been better with a game than I was with Pac-Man. It also started my official  love of video games.
2. Legend of Zelda. Concrete goals and a clearly defined end to the game with a mix of RPG elements: I was in love.
3. Super Mario Bros. Who wasn't changed by this game?
4. track and field: one of the first games I encountered with a multi-player element. Also learned my friend John could vibrate his right ring finger fast enough to shatter glass.
5. Final fantasy VIII. This might be sacrilege to some, but this was my first PSone encounter with the Final Fantasy series and I loved the story and characters. I know VII is probably the most beloved in the series history, but this is my favorite by far. I fell in love with Rinoa, but no in a creepy-the-guy-can't-get-a-girlfriend-way.
6. MK III. Instead of Mortal Kombat it should have been named multi-player killing. If you weren't with your significant other, you were at my house playing MK.
7. Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear. First taste of true teamwork in a tactical shooter. I was a founding member of lan troupe with a really offensive name; we were known as ST. I was werewolfdaddy - ST. We didn't ladder, but often would host some of the top teams in the ladders at  our lan and smoke them. I mean you, Greedy Headhunters.
8. Battlefield 1942 through Battlefield 2142. Loved the original game. When ST moved on from Rogue Spear, we first started playing BF1942 and then Desert Combat as soon as it came out.
9. Mass Effect: loved the story, but in retrospect, I hate the elevators.
10. DDO. after years of playing solo, I'm playing with my brother and girlfriend on a game that celebrates the game that dominated my youth. Naturally, they're two of the three people I've played the most D&D with.