I never played Desert Combat, but I'm sure if I'd have shifted my focus to PC gaming earlier it would have caught my attention. BF1942, BF2, and BF2142 are just infinitely superior to what Battlefield has become.
I didn't get into PC gaming until early 2008 with Crysis, when I was in high school. I was mostly into shooters at the time, and Crysis just had everything I wanted; sandbox single player, awesome gun customization, top notch multiplayer with all the customization and modding in the world + the Power Struggle game mode which actually has a strategic element which I loved, also the SDK. Making mods for it was almost as fun as playing it.
PC gaming changed my tastes and preferences entirely (I barely even play shooters anymore), because of how much better designed its exclusive games are for their respective genres. It made me crave MORE, it refined my tastes.
Unfortunately for me that greatness that once defined PC gaming and made me love PC gaming is now endangered or even extinct. The endangered would be great, moddable multiplayer shooters like Battlefield 1942/2/2142, Star Wars: Battlefront, UT2004, Crysis and Crysis Wars. Some of the only ones left with players are Killing Floor series, ArmA 3, CS:GO, and L4D 2. Too many have no players. The extinct would be great RPGs like Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment, Arcanum, and NWN 2 Complete. Thankfully I have no issue playing older and greater games, but I want more going forward.