This reminds me very much of my own father, though he wasn't a gamer. Coming from an older generation, his great love was books, and I loved it when he gave me a beat up old book from the 1940s, told me he read it many times, and "thought I might find it interesting." Looking back, I know he too faced anxiety about sharing these important, secret parts of his past: "will my son find this as captivating and glorious as I did, or will he put it aside -- or worse, read it to keep my feelings from being hurt?"
As a now out-of-the-house "adult", I can say that sharing your past with your children is perhaps the most profound and meaningful way you have to connect with them as a father -- at least this was my experience. Sons especially, I think, really want that connection to their dads. It helps them understand who their father was, what he was like as a child.
I think my dad did the same thing. The two books I remember him recommending were: Have Spacesuit Will Travel by Heinlein and Ivanhoe but Sir Walter Scott. If you don't mind sharing what books did your dad recommend?
He's recommended so many over the years...probably the most memorable were the Hornblower series (great if you like ships), and G.A. Henty. then the Three Musketeers when I was a bit older. He's also always wanted me to read Dostoyevsky's the Idiot, his favorite, but I haven't gotten around to that...
As a now out-of-the-house "adult", I can say that sharing your past with your children is perhaps the most profound and meaningful way you have to connect with them as a father -- at least this was my experience. Sons especially, I think, really want that connection to their dads. It helps them understand who their father was, what he was like as a child.