What kind of gamer were you when you started vs what kind of gamer are you now?

When I first started gaming I was convinced horror games were completely off the table for me. I watched other people play them and could not understand why anyone would voluntarily do that to themselves. I stuck to the safer stuff, casual games, anything that did not make my heart rate spike every time I opened my laptop.

Then I tried one anyway because I was curious and someone dared me and I have not really gone back since. Now my entire library is basically horror. Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Phasmophobia, anything that makes me genuinely uncomfortable and forces me to keep playing anyway because I need to know what happens next. I actively seek out the games that scared me off before and something about that feels like a personality shift I did not plan for.

The other thing that changed is how I play. When I started, I just wanted to finish things. Get to the ending, see the credits, move on. Now I spend more time in the games than I probably need to. Reading item descriptions, sitting in a room listening to the sound design, going back through dialogue looking for things I missed the first time. Horror games specifically rewired how I engage with games in general because they reward that kind of attention in a way other genres do not always do.

I also used to avoid dying at all costs. Now I take notes on what went wrong and go back in.

What about you? Did your taste shift completely or did you always know what kind of gamer you were going to be?