When I first played Sim City, I wasn't much older than my first-born is now. I was an even more genre-blind gamer back then, playing anything I came across. The concept of a city-builder wasn't the most immediately appealing game concept to my pre-teen mind. Still, I'd already played through text-based adventures, CRPGs, dungeon-crawlers, and other complex time sinks, so it wasn't an intimidating idea. It was a video game and therefore by definition I'd give it a shot.
I will always remember it as the game that taught me a self-awareness of my addictive personality.