I've had a computer (of sorts) in my life since... Well, 1977-78 I would guess. Though the first "PC-like" one was really just a machine that would play "pong", and you HAD to have someone to play against. Computer interaction was UNHEARD of back then. I mean really, microprogramming wasn't even INVENTED at the time (or at least not USED). I remember when the first tax audits were run, the punchcard machines would need to load TONNES of cards for a single audit. And memory was stored on a rectangular board the size of a 15" LCD monitor... But it would only hold about 8 bytes ! I still have one of those lying around somewhere. If you think memory is expensive today, then just think that we payed like $1000 for 8 bytes, you pay $79 for 512MB today.
That being said.... Yeah, I remember when the first "interaction" came around with games like pacman. That was fun. For the "personal computer" a lot of the games were text based, many had little or no graphics to speak of, and sounds were at best a beep.
I have played my way through Doom, the fallout series, Under a killing moon. A lot of the Laser gun games. Stuff like Pool of radiance (the ORIGINAL), eye of the beholder, Bards tale, civilization, mech warrior. A lot of these games required some skills to defeat them, but even more, they were CHALLENGING, and some of them offered almost unlimited replayability.
That being said, I DO enjoy playing BF2, but it DOES get boring, it's the same all over. In fact, the only reason I play it (well, not the only, but the MAIN) is because it is a decent game, and it takes my mind of other things, and I use it to relax. The original poster would call this an "addiction", and to some extent, I think my wife would agree.
But B2 is not the only game I play. I play BF2 when I dont need or want to think, when I just want to send my mind away on vacation. There's no challenge, no ultimate goal that I should not set for myself. And if I want entertainment, I can just as easily go watch a movie, playt a DECENT game, go out with my friends or family.
It IS true that the gaming industry is going downhill. And it' doing so FAST. And yes.. it IS about the money. But they (the game making industry) can think that way because they get away with it. Because people like you and me go BUY the crap they make just beause the graphics are nice. Who gives a SHIT about the graphics ? I want GAMEPLAY, I want ENTERTAINMENT. Not just a brief moment of distraction before the next game arrives to take it's place.
, then a Fairchild, Amiga 500 and finally through all the PCs.