What was your turning point?

At what point did you decide that your hobby meant more to you than a passing fancy?

For me it was being introduced to a role playing game Empire of the Petal Throne.

My family owned a unit on the Gold Coast (at Burleigh Heads) and the grandson of our neighbours downstairs introduced himself and this novel concept called role-play.  I can't quite remember the year but it was in the later part of the 1970's.  I was fascinated, I had always had an interest in fantasy with the worlds created by R.E. Howard and Michael Moorcock, this world created by M.A.R Barker was something outside the normal western style fantasy.  I was hooked, and from that moment on my desire to know more about the new experience called role-play and wargaming took off.  Thanks to magazines like The Dragon and White Dwarf magazines I found even more options available to me to expand my interest into.  Until I started earning an income I was for the most part a role-player, it was cheaper than traditional miniature wargaming.  I collected miniatures because I liked them, and I could paint reasonably well. In those dark days selling lead miniatures in Queensland was against the law (they being classed as toys - I think).  Unless a retailer knew you as a reliable customer you were required to "place your order" and then collect your figures in a few days time.  Ah the nostalgia...

My leap into miniature wargaming came about after a rather unpleasant collapse of my coterie of friends.  At the time I wasn't aware that my mental health was diminishing and that my friends at the time, like many today still do not understand what living with a mental illness is all about.  So going to miniatures was a way I could distract myself from a world of hurt.  I also didn't need a large number of people to have fun, I just needed one opponent to play a miniature wargame.

So there you have it, while my interest has always been with me from an early age, it took just one innocuous meeting to turn my life around and turn what was just a passing fancy into a full blown obsession.  What was your turning point?