As you'll see from the date I joined Hexus, some 12 years ago, I've been around a bit and as a long time gamer, a self PC builder, I've seen the rise in the graphics quality in that time.
In the olden days (cough) you would be looking at upgrading your PC in a rough cycle of around 18 months as technology marched onwards in order to keep up with new titles and enjoy all the new effects whilst maintaining the all important 90FPS on CRT monitors. A new graphics card was one of those moments where the increased power would allow you to game with a higher image quality and wow your friends with the extra visuals. I bought a discounted ATi 970 pro and the difference was remarkable at the time and it did allow a greater immersion in games, however, when playing with others I wasn't concerned with how pretty the environment was!
Some gaming titles would introduce features that would make the environment far more "realistic" and yet in an online gaming environment such as UT2004, the graphics quality would be dialled down a notch or two for online and multi-player sessions in order to keep frame rate high.
Gone for me are the days when I'd actually "stand" in a game and simply marvel at the stalactite dripping water into a pool, watching the ripples from the drop and then realise my character was actually reflected in the pool and the ripples were affecting the reflection! Gone is the appreciation of the ability of my hardware to render hordes of enemies coming at me (and my friends) whilst immersed in a bigger environment (Serious Sam!). WoW was a game that I became addicted to, but the marvel wasn't the image presented on the screen, but rather the detail in the environment and the fact that there were hundreds of people kicking about in the same virtual environment and the ability to interact with any of them.
Some titles (Far Cry) pushed the boundaries so much that even the most expensive hardware wasn't capable of getting close to the ability to play at anywhere near the maximum settings. Did people not enjoy playing it? Nope, they raved about it.
We are now on the cusp of 4K gaming for the masses, which will ultimately become de-rigour just as 4K TV will become the defacto standard as prices drop. The step up from 1080p, at the moment is costly, however, I don't think my gaming experience is as much affected, because I got as much of an immersive and enjoyable experience from playing South Park - Stick of Truth, as I did playing Metro 2033 Last Light and Bioshock infinite.
Is your gaming experience affected by quality of graphics?