Did games motivate you to pick a certain job, speak a certain way, do certain hobbies, etc?

For me, I think FF7's Soldier and FF8's Seed motivated me about military concepts. The whole soldier deal seemed like something else. It always stuck in my head, and eventually I did 4 yrs in the corps. Throughout my (mis)adventures, I could recall moments from those games that reminded me of what I was going through.

Odd I am sure.

Anyone else experience anything near this?

Fight Night Round 3 influenced me to put ice on my eye after it got pucnhed.

But other than that. I mean the whole street racing fad came from the games and thats a hobby for me (at least cars are, which again, sprouted from games).

Some more straight to life games influence the way I act or think. I mean everytime I saw Brucie in GTA IV all I could think of was working out. I increased my work outs just because of that (to think an hour and a half a day was not enough).

DBZ was the mad motivation for me back in my working out days (I enjoy the fluffier side of civilian/daddy life now). Watching gohan tear up cell, or vegeta at random was motivation (even though thats an anime, the working out topic brought it to mind)

That's really cool king.  I often wondered if people thought of games like that as well.  It sounds kind of funny but I honestly looked up to Squall from FF8 and when I was one of the captains on my football team in HS I thought of what he would do in a situation and how he would handle it.  I know it's kinda weird but true lol.

But it is a good influence. I mean hell, I rather work out then game when I saw Brucie and they say GTA is bad. At least I don't go around rummping it with hookers or killing other Russians.

Oh and I learned how to hotwire cars from Alone in the Dark 5. Sure the in-game version is not 250% correct but it teaches you the basics. It really is easy kids!

well gaming motivated me to game more xD

but in all honesty id have to say i like gaming/anime because they present the worlds and different societys problems, humans dark sides and the like in a much different way that say a liberal biased media that whats you to conform and think in a certain way ;)

At least im not alone in this. Good stuff....I think a good game can be a good influence in (not a basis for) ones life. Just in this thread alone its helped a few of us out/motivated us to do greater things and go forward.

Survival Horror has always been my thing to so naturally I always wanted to get into Criminal Justice.  Just all of the detective work in games and stuff kinda pushed me forward into it.  Right now I'm in my second year for it and I wouldn't change a thing so hopefully all goes well.

Call of Duty 4 encourages me to wait in the shadows and pick off unsuspecting passers by...

"Manhunt" convinced me to "properly" recycle all of my grocery bags.

i was allways talking about mgs2 lol. then mgs3 came out...we never stoped talking about it *.*

No,games have no influence on my real life.

yikes! so its true... the army owns Square-Enix!

Well... Pacman encouraged me to eat Pez sweets once... (seriously!)

And... We Love Katamari taught me to expand my vocabulury by describing something as ...avant-garde as opposed to "good" <3

guitar hero keeps making me pick up my guitar and play for ages cos i carent play guitar hero :)

Well no game has influenced me on real life decisions.I feel a game should remain as a game and stay in the virtual reality world and shouldn influence our minds in the real world!!

i find it hard to think anyone could say they haven't been influenced by a game in "real life". i'll bet just about all of us has at least quoted a one liner from a game/movie/tv show ect. so one could say the game influenced your choice of words. @prashanth isn't that pic you have of a game character? ................

anyone on this site at this time, haven't you ben led here by your interest in gaming? isn't this taking up time in the real world?

There's a difference between taking up part of your life, and actually influencing it.

Games do take up a huge part of my life, and have done for years. Is it worse than any other hobby? No. I've been playing games almost daily for 29 years, but it hasn't made me fat, retarded or violent.

But they haven't influenced me at all. Yes, there are times when something happens in real life, and I think "oh, that's just like that game!" But at no point have I made a decision to do or not do something because of a game.

fair enuff

Sorry, that first line sounded a lot harsher than it was intended!

no offense taken

yikes! so its true... the army owns Square-Enix!

Well... Pacman encouraged me to eat Pez sweets once... (seriously!)

And... We Love Katamari taught me to expand my vocabulury by describing something as ...avant-garde as opposed to "good" <3

I want to know what influenced you to change your avatar every time.

Hey mr soul crusher well i do agree when it comes to choice of words i do feel the game influences.For instance till date i have been try talk like solid snake,lol i mean his voice.I love uttering those starting few words in MGS4."War has changed,its no longer about nations,idelogies or ethnicity.Its an endless series of proxy battles between mercenaries and machines.War and its consumption of life has become a well oiled machine.War has changed.Id tagged soldier carry id tagged guns,use id tagged gear.The nano machines inside their body enhance and regulate their abilities.Genetic control,emotion control,information control,battlefield control,All this monitored and kept under contro"l!!!

Nah, for me it's the other way around. I play Gran Turismo because I already like driving. I play Grand Theft Auto because I already like killin-uhhh, never mind.

I learned a sense of setting goals and working towards a higher level by racing on Gran Turismo. It got me wanting to earn money so I can do this and buy that and save for this and pay off that. And when I do reach my goal, I have the same sense of accomplishment as I got in the game. I don't get affected by shooters or anything like that, only games that are tangible in real life. If I was in the army or military, COD4 might enhance my field perspective.....

I wish life was like a RPG, where you can "Level Up" once you reach a certain goal LOL.