Were you predisposed to enjoy RPG's?

[thewok]

My RPG start as a result of computer games. I had played Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior before, but I still was more interested in fighting games and the like. When I was in college, I visited a Virtual World center, and I was introduced to Battletech. From there, I picked up Mechwarrior 2, and eventually the MW2: Mercenaries, which I played in an online league.

There, I took control of the Lyran Alliance, and rather than see everything as a spreadsheet game, I actually took on the role of the leader of the nation, making all posts in character as the new Archon of the Alliance. The people I met playing the game had other interests, which I tried out. One of these was Baldur's Gate, which I probably would have passed up had I never logged into Kali.

I had never really been into fantasy before. My father and grandfather were avid sci-fi fans, and they never watched fantasy. Even so, I enjoyed the game, and I tried out other things as well.

I bought a 2nd edition starter box at one point, but I never played it. I also had a starter kit from Diablo 2 that I never played. I still have these. But when 3rd edition came out, I bought the PHB and I made it my mission to play it. But it took my employment at Best Buy for that to happen.

It was there that I met my current game group, and I played my first D&D game in 2001/2002 at the age of 25 or 26.

So, there may perhaps be a way to determine disposition to RPGs, but I'm not sure if exposure as a child is the main influence.

 

[thalmin]

I played a lot of "make-believe" with my brother and friends in grade school and junior high. We played swords, cops, cowboys, war, "guns with guns" (we had the right toy guns), "guns without guns" (we didn't have the right toy guns).
I also read a lot of science fiction, Conan, Fafhrd and Grey Mouser.
Much later, one of my scouts (I was a scoutmaster) introduced me to D&D. Then I finally read Lord of the Rings.

 

[Kzach]

I was already reading all sorts of fantasy and sci-fi by the time I was introduced to RPG's. My first RPG experience was simply a couple of other kids who I hung out with had a Palladium Robotech book. We all read much the same books and enjoyed the same comics, etc. and that rules book introduced me to the concept of roleplaying and using rules to simulate combat.

After that, I pretty much investigated it on my own. The next time I was in a large town (the town I lived in was a small country tourist town of only 25,000 people), I went to a gaming store and bought this brand new RPG book called Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook 2nd edition, 'cause it had literally come out that month, so it was the new shiny.

I ran games, got the DMG, ran more games, got loads of people into the hobby so I could run more games, joined clubs, started clubs, etc. The rest is history