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
Probably the Baldur's Gate games given how rich they were and how many years I've spent replaying them. I couldn't for the life of me tell you how they shaped my worldview though. Maybe a more acute attunement to the nuances of good and evil and the importance of still starkly identifying it with strong moral conviction? Probably not though.