Whether it's wrestling in the backyard, saving up for your first skateboard, drifting your car around corners, climbing through the second floor window of an abandoned sanitorium, sailing a garbage raft across the river, or rappelling down an abandoned mine shaft I think in general... most people don't like to admit that video games made them do it.

I vividly remember what it was like playing Bethesda's open world RPGs for the first time in middle school. Like many I would barely pay attention to the primary storyline. For me it was all about unlocking map markers, exploring every square foot of the world, having to know what is behind every door, every tunnel, cave, or building. I remember a buddy showing me Oblivion for the first time, pointing to a mountain and saying "you can go there". Maybe a bit goofy but that stuck with me. It has been nearly a decade since I've sat down and played through a video game but there is no doubt in my mind where my obsession with exploration came from. My Google Maps account, absolutely flooded with pins, looks an awful lot like my map of New Vegas did 10+ years ago. The insatiable need to hop fences and peek around every corner bit me for the first time in City 17, Cyrodiil, and the Capital Wasteland, it hasn't left me since.

Are there any specific movies or video games from your childhood that you believe drew you toward urban exploration?

Sort of indirectly, but I have one. The whole Tony Hawk series influenced me to be outside on my skateboard, riding all around town looking for spots to skate. Very often that overlapped with finding abandoned stuff.

Posted by EsseXploreR Sort of indirectly, but I have one. The whole Tony Hawk series influenced me to be outside on my skateboard, riding all around town looking for spots to skate. Very often that overlapped with finding abandoned stuff.

Totally, same here. I was never great at skateboarding but my buddies and I all grew up on the Tony Hawk games, got skateboards, and spent a ton of time wandering around the neighborhood looking for and filming spots, that's actually how I got into photography too. Further to that, the Tony Hawk series is almost entirely responsible for my taste in music.

The old Zelda games were pretty formative for me and probably had an influence on my later interest in exploring. Or, maybe, I was already the type to enjoy exploring and that's why I was drawn to such games in the first place.

Kind of funny: one of the dungeons in Wind Waker is called "Forest Haven." Wonder where they came up with the name...

I lived a sheltered youth. Draining didn't appeal to me because I thought of kids dying while going underground looking for ninja turtles.

The Fallout series definitely had an influence on my appreciation for post-apocalyptic aesthetics. But honestly, my passion for urbex actually started out as an interest in graffiti culture, poking around under bridges and down alleys to find the hidden parts of the city. That naturally morphed into urbex as soon as my wanderings took me to my first abandoned warehouse, and I've been exploring ever since.

Posted by Aran But honestly, my passion for urbex actually started out as an interest in graffiti culture, poking around under bridges and down alleys to find the hidden parts of the city.

Samesies. Plus a little bit of that old skatepunk “don’t tell me what I can and can’t do” attitude.

I honestly can't say the media had any influence on me 'discovering' it at all, tbh. I just always remember being fascinated when I was young by the ruined castles and abbeys that dot the English countryside and that naturally carried over into abandoned buildings.

none of this... I am 48 years old. What influenced me in this hobby was growing up in a mining town gone bust and all the ruins that were hanging around.

With skateboarding, well, i saw a kid that lived next door to my grandmother doing it, seemed like a thing I wanted to do and went with it.

videogames weren't really thing in my formative years... nintendo came out when I was a sophomore in high school. I was more interested in getting my drivers license, getting shitfaced with my friends and trying to figure out something wonderful to do with the rest of my life.

I got into exploring because of climbing, abandoned buildings are like jungle gyms for me, then got into photography because of how popular it is in the community. But assassins creed 100% got me into climbing.

Come to think of it, UER got me into a lot of stuff like rooftopping, draining, and craning, things I might not have thought to do on my own.

True, a lot of my inspiration has been coming from UER itself recently! I also picked up a ton of my original passion through the Uncharted games.