Why do we, as humans, play video games? You may find this to be a stupid question, but think about it. Is it really just for entertainment? Do you have more reasoning behind why you play video games?

Yep, it's just entertainment since people get bored and distracted so easi..hey whats that?..ly.

Video games are fun, and most of the time you don't even need a reason to play games, just a way for you to pass the time. For me I guess sometimes I play a game just so I could review them, so I guess that would be a reason for playing them outside of entertainment.

zanderlex : Yes, of course, I agree with you. 

I thought you were crazy before but now I think its much worse. :p

Why does someone want to do something that they can't do in real life?

You normally can't steal a jet in real life but you can (with difficulty) in GTA.

Lets say there's something that you can't do in real life, but its something that's boring, would you still want to do it? If its not fun, then you probably wont do it.

zanderlex : I think you're looking at this differently than I am.

Mario0908 : But why would someone want to explore a caslte or have a desire to do that? They must find it fun or interesting or else they wouldn't want to.

zanderlex : Well, I personally have felt a desire to do that recently.

Have you ever felt limited by the world?

I feel like there's more to it than what most people may think.

To escape from the harsh world of reality. I'm somewhat misanthropic. I like people, but there's so many annoying people out there in the world. There's also those life troubles everyone has (e.g. depression, too many overwhelming things to do). I play video games mostly for entertainment, but also so people don't bother me and I can have fun without having to worry about things.

It started out as a desire to imitate others; it seemed like I was the "only" one without a modern gaming console (we had a Coleco that was collecting dust). But my father always refused that we own a Nintendo (whatever the generation)... but never said anything about a Sega Genesis, which I received as a shared gift with my brother when I was 10.

Then, as I said numerous times, I have been into video game music for a long time, so playing gave me my "fix." It also helped me improved my English skills tremendously. By the end of Grade 6, I was practically bilingual already since I acquired pretyt much all of the medieval vocabulary. I was even reading the instruction manual meticulously to learn new words.

Finally, gaming serves as an escape from reality. Since I was a loner most of my life, this world of fantasy gave me some entertainement I could not get otherwise.

Someone said this before, but I wanted to share it with you guys since this thread caught my eye. When you read a book, you become an observer to the story, the action, and the characters. When you play a video game, you become the source of the story and the main character. When you play a video game, you choose to live multiple lives instead of one.

ypharoahs : This is an interesting image you provided. This is probably why I like RPGs so much: I love its grand quest theme where I will (most of the time) save the world.

I mean it primarily serves as a way of entertainment and passing time, that's all it is for some, but for more hardcore gamers it can be more.

You're able to experience things from a perspective not quite possible through other mediums such as a book or a movie. Therefore it can serve as an escape from reality for many. That's a big reason why I first got really into video games myself dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts at the time I wanted to be able to escape from reality and video games somewhat enabled that.

There's also the factor that you're able to do things often not even possible in real life exploring a magical world, piloting a spacecraft, driving around in a tank and blowing things up there's really not a lot that's made impossible which is a big reason games like GTA are so succesful.

Why do I play them right now? Well I play different games for different reasons. I can play a simply arcade game like super hexagon simply as a time waster or I can play something like Final Fantasy to experience a story or even escape a bit from reality, or in the case of something like Saints Row it can serve as a way to release stress and frustration mindlessly blowing things up doing things I'd never do in real life or it can be a mix of all these things.

Zlinqx : Very well put.

I think we play video games as a form of entertainment. Although, I see it as not just entertainment, but also as a challenge. When I started out playing Super Mario Bros., I played that game, beat it, and moved on to Super Mario Bros. 2, then after that SMB3, then Super Mario World, etc. Now, I play all kinds of video games besides just Super Mario. A lot of people play these games to progress to different levels of difficulty.  For me it's a challenge that I can handle and is fun to try beat. Like trying to beat your highest score. Another reason would be, like other people have posted, to escape from reality, or just entertainment.

Mine is more of a depressing reason, but when I'm playing a game as the main hero, I feel a sense of... I guess being wanted? Like people want the hero to be around and the characters love being the hero's friend. (S)he isn't a burden because (s)he gets things done. I usually have really depressing thoughts of not being wanted and unable to accomplish things and being a failure. So when I'm in that world where the hero is this amazing person, I feel that sense of connection. 

It's an escape, but it also makes me feel good. I dunno. Probably unhealthy, but it helps me cope lol. 

There are so many reasons I can lay out for why I play video games. And so I will start. First off its fun. I mean with the bight colours and interesting things in it. I mean who wouldn't want to play? Another thing it can be something that can help you calm down if you are stressed to do with something in life and video games are normally the source to calm you down to do so. When you play a fighting game you can take out your anger to help you release that stress. Another thing. I dunno if you know. But it can also teach mental disabled people a lot of things. How to read more with dialogs and stuff. I was even told that when I am sick that you should play games to keep you happy. That is what the doc said. I just love playing video games because of how it portrays and how it can help so many people in life. It can make you laugh. it can cure your  depression from being bullied at school. it can make you happy and comfort you for when you are alone. To be honest if video games were never made. I wouldn't think what my life would be as of right now...

First and foremost, I game for entertainment.

Next up is that I can do anything in games. I can be a humble farmer with no more ambitions than to raise a good crop and live a simple country life one moment, and the next moment I'm blowing up enemy bases and fighting giant robots, then a minute or two later I'm racing around the world in futuristic hovercars. With video games I can do so many things and go on countless adventures all from the safety of my room.

Then there's what others have said: it's a great way to unwind and escape pressure for a while. I may have just worked my tail off for several hours, and I can turn a game on and all of that stress and exhaustion just melts away in a matter of minutes.

Finally gaming is a form of art to me. I get to experience so many beautiful things and see and hear some of the greatest masterpieces of all time when I game. Just recently I nearly found myself in tears when I heard a song in Harvest Moon: Save The Homeland because it was just that beautiful. This and the other emotions that well designed video games can evoke in me make a good case for why I play games.

Video games offer us much more than just an entertaining diversion from the daily grind. It's a chance to escape to a virtual reality where you are capable of anything and can embark upon an adventure of your choosing. The best video games challenge our imagination (what amazing new structure am I gonna build in Minecraft today?) and our logical thinking - Advance Wars is a good test of calculation and plays a bit like chess.

Play video games for a couple of different reasons...

#1, and probably the most important of my reasons, it gives me something to do. For those of you who know me well, I'm also an avid bowler. I bowl for fun, and its also my job and I absolutely love it. If I'm not working or out of town in a bowling tournament or bowling in a league, I literally have nothing else to do (most of the time anyway). So I play games to pass the time.

#2, and probably for most everyone else, they're just plain fun to play! Especially if I'm having a bad day, I'll play a Call of Duty game online and shoot people down to give me a sense of calmness. I'll be outraged at first, but I'll start to settle after a couple games. I'm usually really careful about choosing my next game purchase, so most of the games I have I play all the time because they're too fun to not play, like I mentioned earlier.

But maybe I don't need a reason to play games. I just play them because it gives me something to do and they're fun. Period.

Certainly entertainment, but also just to kill time. I end up finding myself playing some games not because I enjoy them, but because what else am I going to do?

Gamers are frequently accused of engaging in escapism, and I used to argue that, but the more I think about it, the more I agree. We do. When you play an MMO do you refer to your character as a character or as an extension of yourself? I've never heard someone say "heal my character," it's always "heal me." Unlike people who point this out, however, I don't think that this is unique to video games. Books are frequently written in the first person, when people watch movies they cry for the characters, etc. The escapist nature in gamers is an inherent part of human nature. It's called empathy.