Is playing through the first one absolutely necessary to enjoy ME2?

if you have an xbox 360 (which guessing from the color of your name, you do) it helps get the full experience as you can import your save and carry the story through from the first game. 
 
I don't know if it's absolutely necessary but it's deffinately reccomended.

Absolutely necessary? No. However, the first one is an excellent game in it's own right and for me it significantly improved the experience to see the choices I'd made in the first game carry over to the second one.

hey look its 1.1.11

No.

Men and women will literally throw their bodies at you every mission in that game (if you choose to be Adept).  Try it out, bro.  Bet you can get it for cheap somewhere.

Nah. It's a good game, but you can just read up on it if you want.

It isn't required by any means, however you will be doing yourself a favor by experiencing both parts. They are both fantastic games. ME2 gives you a rough outline of events from the first game but actually playing through it is vastly superior.

Yes

On a more serious note, I think you should play it, however, if the universe doesn't grab you like it did me (enough so that I would play through the first one three times and the sequel three times, as well, If I can remember correctly), you probably should pass on to the next one which is much more streamlined meaning if you've played a game like Gears of War, the shooting will be much more familiar and easy to get used to, take cover and shoot. 
 
No insult to the first one, I actually think that game is fantastic and before the sequel came out I thought how could they top the last one with the sequel?  And they did.  In every way imaginable (despite some story gripes I have with the game, I personally feel like I reached the mid-point of game rather than the end when I finished).  The game is still great in its own way despite some bothersome vehicle sections, or actually how sluggish it controls really (I didn't mind driving around with it but it can have some irregular physics).  But, whatever, man, that's just like my opinion.

If you are interested in playing Mass Effect you should play it before Mass Effect 2 not just because of the aforementioned save importing but because the original's combat is pretty weak compared to the 2nd game. Also for maximum enjoyment skip playing as a solder and give another class a try.

yes get both, the first one is flawed but still a very great action rpg while the second is a shooter rpg

It isn't necessary, but you'll miss out on a good game.

im kinda forcing myself to do it. I got both of them in a steam sale. I really want to play the second one, but I feel like I gotta play the first one first. Sort of a personal thing. Not like the first one is a bad game or anything

Unless you can import saves, you really should play the first one, since the default ME2 shepard is basicly renegade and a jerk and you can miss out on half the content, along with extra side quests and dialouge you can only get by importing from the first game.
 
I had a friend who just got into Mass Effect...I had him play the first one just so he could jump from that directly into ME2...he thanked me for it.

alright guys, thanks for the input. I'm gonna play the first one before this one.

me2 is my game of the year and i never played the first. however, i did have a quick youtube search for the first section of the game's playthrough. i watched just far in enough for the basic story and characters to be established, which helped somewhat when characters occasionally recall things from the first game. this isn't absolutely necessary though.

Get the first one. A percentage of people prefer it to the second, and who knows you might be in that percentage. I know I definitely am. It's my favorite game of all time, give it a shot.

I am close to finishing ME2 a 2nd time and I haven't played ME1 yet, but I will get and play trough it as soon as possible. 
 
A lot of people said that there are characters in the 2nd game you don't meet if you haven't played the first so I'm pretty sure it will be the same with ME3. And meeting someone in the 3rd installment only because you've played the first game sounds awesome to me.

I'd recommend getting it and playing through on easy just to get the story. The first game is pretty clunky compared to the second, but it's pretty cool to see the choices you make in one carry over.

The first one is a better game, so yes.

I would say it's absolutely necessary if you want to get the most out of ME2. The story picks up some years after ME1 and many of the important characters play some part in ME2. Bioware made some strange decisions to allow new players to experience ME2 though, but at the same time it relies heavily on knowing what happened in the first game. Not playing ME1 before playing ME2 is like watching Two Towers before Fellowship or Empire Strikes Back before Star Wars. You see some new characters and places and will be able to pick up the threads, but it's definitely a continuation of a story and expect you to know some things already.

Recommended but not necessary. I'd imagine the first game must feel real dated now.