Why, hello there Steemians. Today, I've decided I wanted to make an attempt at doing my very own challenge here on the site. Well, technically I had the idea from a few days ago. But, whatever, we're not remembering it that way, damn it! Anyways, there was a certain hashtag that gained some traction over on Twitter several days ago, where people picked their favorite top 4 video games. Some people actually opened up a smidgen and talked about one or two of their choices, but were limited by the character limit. I liked the idea of this and what I saw when people actually talked about why they chose what they did. But, I thought it could have been used in a much better way by having people actually open up a bit more and speak their minds.

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So, that brings us here to the "Why games are good for you" challenge. The premise of this challenge is that I want you to pick 4 of your favorite video games and either write a paragraph or two about them telling us why you love them so much, or, you can pick 4 games that influenced who you are as a person in some way or form. This can be something as simple as a game influencing you to have a distaste for a certain genre of gaming, or something more complex like a game that influenced you by giving you the aspiration of wanting to develop your own games. Or, anything in between. I just wanna hear about your experiences and love of gaming!

I'm hoping that this challenge will give people a form of content that they otherwise wouldn't have been able to make, and maybe bring the gaming community just a tiny bit closer together with interactions and getting to read about others opinion and experiences of games of all kinds. At the very least, it's something fun to write about so I hope at least a few of you are willing to take part in it! I suppose it wouldn't be too fair if I didn't include my own list of games with reasons why they're in there, so I guess I'll write mine in here with the rules following after. Enjoy, ya filthy animals.

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1. Halo 3

I have no doubt whatsoever that if I hadn't of found Halo 3 as a teenager, my life would be quite different right now. This game single-handedly sparked my love of multiplayer games. I have an insane amount of memories stemming from playing this game, most of them usually either being hilarious or anger inducing. None are something I'd give up though. I have no doubt in my mind that I sunk an insane amount of time into this game, spending most of my highschool weekends jamming on here with friends. Not only did I get a lot of entertainment from this game, but I also ended up walking away with some other positive things outside of the game itself.

These things range all over the place, like making some real life friends out of gaming friends who I still talk to to this day over 10 years later. Or, the memory of how excited I was when I got my first 20k youtube views on a video I uploaded of something cool I did on Halo. There were quite a few things I could go on and on about with this game, but I'd be here all day. In short, this game showed me a multiplayer experience that I'd never seen before, and I still haven't found anything quite like it since then. I truly miss this game, and think people these days have missed out on something great. For those of you who played Halo 3, there's a mod that just came out that is trying to bring the experience to the PC. It looks promising, and I truly hope they can get it fully up and running soon.

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2. Resident Evil 2

This game was the start of my interest and love for the horror genre of gaming. I stumbled into this game back when I was 7 or 8 years old, watching my cousin play it after I got home from school. I finally got my hands on it once he was done, and after a handful of hours my little mind was too terrified to go back to it for a couple of years. It stayed with me since I was a kid, however, and as I got older I started checking out more and more horror games as time went on. I honestly don't think I would have been all that interested in horror games as a teenager without getting sucked into the world of Resident Evil as a kid.

This game still sports some of my favorite creature designs for any form of horror media. Featuring Mr. X as well as a mutated William birkin, along with some other interesting creatures like the Licker and of course the T-virus zombies. It introduced a lot of great mechanics for video games to me as well, and shaped an idea of what makes a good horror game and what doesn't. This game provided my first taste of horror in gaming, and got me hooked from the start. I can't say it shaped my love of horror entirely since I've always loved horror movies since I was a kid, but it definitely influenced my love of horror games heavily.

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3. Dead Space

While I'm on the topic of horror games, lets talk about the one that was the cream of the crop for me. I haven't been able to find a horror game that impressed me and engaged me anywhere near as much as the Dead Space series did. This game became an obsession for me as a teenager, and I still haven't found my way out of the fog that it put me in. This game molded my tastes further for the horror genre, showing me even more of how a horror game should be done. Not only that, this game was the one that got me interested in checking out the lore and other aspects of the universe that aren't fully shown in the game.

I won't sit here and circle jerk myself on how much I love this game and how great it is. This game means so much to me that I got a tattoo of it on my body several years ago, my one and only tattoo. It definitely influenced me as a teenager, and aided my interest of sci-fi/horror films as well I can definitely say. I really don't know what kind of games I'd be overly obsessed with if I didn't have this one in my repertoire. I'm just thankful, yet sad that this game takes a spot in my heart. Thankful because it was a wonderful piece of gaming, sad because the series didn't get the send off it should have and is now dead in the water.

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4. Fallout New Vegas

I had a very hard time choosing this final space, I'm not gonna lie. It was really between this and Bioshock. Bioshock honestly could very well be my 4th choice, but I'll go with Fallout New Vegas since it clicked with me just a tad more. What do both of these games have in common? They have excellent writing for the storyline. While Bioshock has a linear story with minor RPG elements, as well as some of the best twists in video game writing, this game kind of went the opposite route. While it isn't anywhere near as serious in some regards, it has such a huge branching path and so many interesting/fascinating things to do I couldn't help but pick it.

Star Wars KOTOR was the game that got me into RPG games to start off with. After that, I waited a few years before finding another game that caught my attention. That game was Fallout 3, which I also loved (Seriously, how could you not love the Pint Sized Slasher). However, that game had plenty of issues that I can't argue against, as much as I loved it. New Vegas took everything that I loved in Fallout 3, and improved it leaps and bounds. This is the game that I think of when I think great RPG. I've yet to find an RPG that tops this for me, and I still go back from time to time and play through it. I've probably spent about 1500 hours playing New Vegas over the past 8 or so years. There is just so much crazy shit in this game, I can't help but love it. Combine that with the interesting story, great writing, fun characters and fun combat and you have a winning game. You'll probably notice that I'm a fan of the Fallout series from my avatar logo, and this game is 100 percent why. This game will stick with me for the rest of my life, and I'm pretty happy with that.

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Well, there's my entry for this challenge. Hopefully that helped give you an idea of what I'd like to see from the rest of you who are interested in participating! Lets get into the rules for this challenge, just to be sure you know what to do.

The Rules

• Post an original article, don't plagiarize
• Pick 4 games that mean a lot to you
• Try to write at least 1-2 paragraphs for each game talking about your experiences with the game and why it means something to you
• Use the hashtag #Whygamesaregoodchallenge in your tags for the post (This way I can find your guys posts and read them!)
• At the end of your post, challenge 1 or 2 other Steemians to come try out this challenge

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Well, here's the part where I challenge some people. Unfortunately, I'm going to break my own rules already and challenge a few extra people to try and get this thing rolling off the ground. Guess I can't be too pissed if someone doesn't follow the rules now, eh? Here are the people that I challenge to come write an article!

• @erodedthoughts
• @playfulfoodie
• @alexbeyman
• @gamersclassified
• @saywha
• @modernzorker
• @jacobtothe
• @Strawhat
• @overkillcoin
• @lifebeyondgaming
• @acidyo
• @steemitadventure
• @moon32walker

Well, hopefully a couple of you guys get interested and make a post. I'll look forward to reading and rewarding any that I see pop up. While a resteem isn't needed, I would appreciate it greatly.