Everyone has their unique game that made them turn towards gaming. Half-Life was my inspiration.
There was this sudden craze with Counter Strike and I used play it in game cafes whenever I could. Then when I decided to buy CS, not knowing about the Internet Speed required being the 9 year old kid that I was, I was just able to play the tutorial, 56k dialup notwithstanding. Then I saw this another game with a funny name bundled with it. I was used to playing games like Chip's Challenge and Spyro and stuff like that, and then all of a sudden I am playing a game where I am completely involved in the story, the awe inspiring immersion, where I am actually going to work, talking to people, even being late and then having this crazy unexpected explosion, it was mind blowing at the time.
I would not be able to play Deus Ex until much much later, and by then Half-Life had already taken over as the game I compare every other game to. I loved Deus Ex, no doubt about that, but while Deus Ex was like discovering that there is an entire continent of people out there, Half-Life was like being born and coming to terms with all the possibilities of this world. It was beautiful.