I’m not necessarily talking about moment-to-moment gameplay or mechanics (though I could see some interesting points being made about, for example, RTS gameplay or RPG character building influence how you approached “strategy” in your own life).
What I’m trying to get at are the games you felt really had something to say.
For example, while I’m by no means the biggest fan (only ever played 2 and V), playing MGS V recently (and catching up on the background a bit) has created this sense in me, and I wondered where else one might have experienced that from vidya
I credit much of my frugality to my lifelong obsession with MMOs, especially early ones where the only way to get anything was to put in the hours. Being forced to grind zeny for hours so I could afford a new item really put into perspective how money is, on many levels, simply a representation of a chunk of the finite amount of time you get here on earth.