My favorite PC game is Counterstrike: Source because I played it in an Internet Café when I found brotherhood in a group of male players pking each other in maps(in-game) in Flushing, New York. We were laughing, yelping, yelling and getting a rush when bullets were slinging around, bouncing around. I was happy.
It's FIFA 07. I love this soccer simulator, even though it's kind of an old thing. I also like Fallout 4.
Sid Meier's Civilization, any of them, been there since the first one came out and I'll buy the new one next month. I've likely lost close to a year or more playing the various releases of it. I frequently found myself playing through the night on weekends. After that I know it's cliche and I haven't played for close to two years but World of Warcraft. For the Horde Baby!!!
Wow, that was a serious habit. I'd have to say Counter-Strike was also my favorite PC game I've played. Mainly for all the reasons you mentioned above. I didn't dedicate 7 years like yourself, but I have thoroughly spent hours and hours of gameplay on many nights well into the morning. Like yourself as well, I've made a plethora of friends on there I still connect with to this day! Truly excellent memories made from FPS PC game.
I was (and still am sometime) a big fan of the Impressions Games citybuilder games, mostly of Zeus: Master of Olympus. It was one of my most beloved childhood game, even if for a young kid like I was it was kind of hard. You had of course to build a city in the mythological Greece, with gods, heroes and monsters helping or going against you. Since I was a big fan of mythology and ancient Greece, I instantly fell in love with that game. So many hours spent on it...
It really depends on a time, we're talking about. In the early 2000's it was NFS Underground. But nowadays it's more like MMORPG. Sometimes when I have no time to play in something serious, I prefer to spend time in indie games. There are couple of great developers, who make well-known indie-games, like ilogos development team. I've noticed their company when have been playing in Angry Birds, and read great reviews about their part of development process. After that I've visit their website for searching some other great indie games, and even maybe find some great dev solutions.
Guild Wars 1 would probably be my favorite, I enjoyed both the PvE and PvP. Knight Online is another one I really enjoyed, the PvP in Colony Zone was awesome, and Lunar Wars were thrilling. I played a lot of League of Legends but it's not really in my Top 3.
These are my favorite PC games: Red Alert 2 - I'm doing a mod on it named Project Alpha Rise of Nations - About to release a mod named Blitz Republic 7 Days to Die - Just released an overhaul mod named The Walking Horde Counter Strike PUBG World of Warcraft CNC Generals Zero Hour Company of Heroes Worth to mention: Back4Blood, Left 4 Dead, The Forest