Why do you play Video Games?

[pervertedjester]

I was reading someone else's comment about some silly relationship hang up about gaming and it got me thinking about why I play video games in the first place. Boredom usually is the reason unless it's an exciting/ long awaited sequel to a game I'm a fan of. But the poll is there to help get ya thinking, add your own reasons if I missed one.

Enjoyment

Entertainment

Boredom

Escapism

Distraction

Other...

[NamerOfStars]

Some years ago, I saw a strange sticker on the back of a car at Costco. It was of a strange symbol I didn't recognize; elaborate enough to be a religious symbol, a bit much for a product logo (and the car was clearly a Honda, so it wasn't that). I was tempted to wait until the driver got back and ask them, but it's not hard to spend hours at Costco, especially if you're buying for several people, so I just took a picture and moved on. I asked several people, but no one recognized it; the closest I got to a solid answer was "it kinda looks like the Maserati logo"- which it did, but that clearly wasn't it. Some suggested to do a reverse image search online, but every damn one I tried linked back to a Google database, and without EME support, that idea was dead in the water.

I began seeing the symbol on the backs of more and more cars, and I started to wonder if it wasn't some kind of cult thing. Then one day I fired up Crusader Kings, and BOOM! there it was- a symbol that today everyone in America who's not Amish, blind, or an infant would recognize:

Its seeming rise out of nowhere is one of the big reasons I think there's more to that war than we're being told, but that's beside the point, which is that there's another reason people play games: education. Not the dull, Oregon Trail-style "learning" crap, but to develop mental and physical skills that have applications in the real world.

It's also true that people rarely do things for only a single reason; most people who play games do so for more than one.

[ManOnFire]

When I do play it's usually for entertainment. But I really don't play video games like I used to. I think the last time I did was like 2 years ago. I enjoy them, but when it's a game I'm really crazy about I end up getting nothing else done especially if it's a weekend, and I don't like my time or my life being dictated by that kind of thing. So I don't play.

[strateguy632]

or set a timer and use pause, knowing you can continue next weekend

[ManOnFire]

@strateguy632 Nah, that wouldn't stop me. The key was to have it removed completely from my house, then that way I can't play. It's worked.

[SixFootSexy]

A good game teaches you critical thinking, tells a good story, challenges you in fun and meaningful ways, and gives you emotional stakes that you remember after you put down the controller. It's a combination of all of those things in the poll, and more.

I told a girl once that I prefer video games to movies because you are an active participant in the entertainment, not a passive one. You have agency over a win or loss. You are the protagonist. In that sense, video games are an untapped resource to develop alternative egos and reality for people to simulate environments and experiences hence unexplored through other mediums.

[TheSpaceGnome]

Enjoyment and entertainment are the same thing.
The boredom option is pointless because people are only bored when not enjoying what they are doing, do thats also the same thing.
When trying to distract one's self, one usually seeks out entertainment to enjoy, same thing again.
Escapism is done for the purpose of enjoyment, yet again, same thing.

So really you only have 2 poll options, enjoyment, and other.

Obviously my answer is enjoyment through entertainment about exciting things I'm a fan of, because I need a distracting escape from boredom.

[Sour-rose]

Me and my husband loves playing games together. Some days we play separately and that's okay. (we don't live together, our marriage is different from what you think.) But yeah, video games is a release of the bullshi of the world to me

[DeeDeeDeVour]

The 1st 3 reasons.

Sometimes, due to boredom, we'd entertain ourselves with video games.

The enjoyment's a bonus.

[Adventurer23]

I voted "other" to see the poll results out of curiosity. I'm not a gamer, so I have nothing to add. lol

[Siri137]

Enjoyment, entertainment and escapism. Those three reasons, but never online, and computer games rather than video games.

[PBandJ_Nerd]

More for excitement for me. Which I guess qualifies for enjoyment, but I didn't pick that.

[MysticDevice]

For the exact same reasons people read books or watch movies and tv. And its actually a proven medium for socialization.

[KC-Sunbeam]

My reasons include every option that you put forward.

[petera1987]

Computer games are much better than video games, so I play those instead.

[TheUniqueOne96]

Entertainment.

[zagor]

All of the above.

[enterr10]

For enjoyment