I don’t think I’ve ever asked you this question. Please tell me. It would be exciting to see many different reasons.
I don’t think I’ve ever asked you this question. Please tell me. It would be exciting to see many different reasons.
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I play because I’ve always played. Video games help when you need a break from life and they’re super fun. I play to be around friends that I have met throughout the years too.
-Luna
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“I play because I’ve always played.” These are the words of a proud and committed gamer. 🙂
Are you still playing around friends in person, or has that moved online?
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I play both. My friend and I are starting a gaming YouTube channel soon to play side by sides, but I love a great online multiplayer game online. Fps and RPG’s are my favs.
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I’ve many fond memories of playing classic multiplayer games with friends. 🙂
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Release. Escape. Story. So many reasons!
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I really do love your concise comment. I imagine you went back to playing after typing that. 🙂
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I don’t play video games… they play me!!
Just joking. It’s a pastime I’ve enjoyed for almost 30 years now and has provided me with endless hours of fun and engagement from a kid to adulthood. These days, it’s a wonderful form of escapism, but as a cultural person video games also add an extra layer to the books I read, films I watch, and music I listen to. For me, they all add up to understanding the human condition and where I’m going in my life.
I also like shouting “Noobie scum!!!!” at noobs. It’s proper LOLz.
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Yes, they do complement some themes of great novels, music and films. It’s interesting to reflect on those themes and what we can learn about ourselves.
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To relax and have adventures I can’t have in the real world 😀
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I think you captured my favourite reason in a single sentence.
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The reason why I play games have changed through my life. I find that when I was younger I enjoyed more action oriented games, not that I still don’t, however I find an engaging story to be increasingly important to me. I want a narrative that hooks me and gets me invested in characters and their stories.
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A good story can make an average game much more interesting to me.
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Loads of reasons, I guess. I grew up with Games, so that’s a big part of it, but in general, I think it’s the whole Active Media thing that makes them interesting and addictive. I can still lose myself in a book, but if I watch TV for more than a couple of hours straight, I start to become aware of the fact that I’m not *doing* anything – so, for me, I just find them more engaging and absorbing than passive media.
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Yes, I love sitting on a my couch and being able to control a fictional universe.
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I play video games the same reason I read: to explore new places, meet new people, and take part of a life outside of my own. It’s a real case of being a gamer not because I don’t have a life, but because I want to have many.
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“…because I want to have many.” Well said!
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To escape from this depressing world, have fun, and relieve stress. Video games give me worlds I can save and inspiring stories to live out 🙂
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An interesting point! Video games remind me that the world is not beyond redemption.
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There are a variety of reasons I play games. I love the interactive nature of storytelling that games brings and they allow me to escape for a bit, just like a good book or movie might. I love to be able to decompress with a competitive game and as I’ve gotten older, time has become an issue so spending four-five hours at the hockey rink isn’t really feasible anymore but an hour of Halo might be. I like to be put my brain and reflexes to work in puzzle and platforming games. Games cover such a large swath of my entertainment needs and depending upon what I need at a certain time, they can do the trick.
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I like the strategy and thinking in puzzle games too.
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It’s a great tool to escape this often complicated and invariably hard life.
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True. And we don’t need to get in a car and drive far away to escape.
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I played games as a child to cope with bullying and teasing from other kids. I play games as an adult to immerse myself in the amazing stories and the beautiful worlds and to bring inspiration to my writing.
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I’m sorry to hear about the bullying in your past. It’s beautiful to see you found so much meaning in video games. I too find video games fuel my writing, even beyond this blog.
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Man, I love all these answers. What a testament to the power and pull of video games. For me, it’s a combination of anxiety and an incredibly active imagination. Video games get me excited like nothing else does. The feeling of discovering a new world that you can actively inhabit and affect directly is intoxicating. Back when I was a kid, I feared that one day I would outgrow video games. Now that I’m an adult, I know I’ll be playing them as long as my body lets me. Watching games grow alongside myself has been fascinating and enlightening, and I wonder where that journey will lead us.
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Absolutely wonderful comment! I’m still afraid I’ll outgrow video games too, but I won’t let that happen. Making time to play, however, is a greater challenge.
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No kidding. Lately finding time to play games is like a balancing act. I finally figured out that I just need to play whatever I’m feeling like in the moment, or I just flounder trying to find the “right” game to play, if that makes any sense.
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It does make sense. I know what you mean.
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I like games because unlike other forms of entertainment it is interactive.
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I think that’s an important point. I don’t always feel like sitting a watching a movie; I want to get involved in the story.
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The most obvious answer is that I play video games for fun, but there’s something more, too.
Beauty. Maybe I don’t have an informed opinion whether games are a form of art or not, but it’s clear you can find some art in almost every game. And I’m not talking about the visual side only, even if I always appreciate amazing landscapes or architecture. Be it the soundtrack, voice acting or writing, many games really give you a chance to experience beauty in various forms.
Escapism. While I lead a peaceful, happy and absolutely unheroic life, I look for something completely different in my games. Heroism. Duty. Struggle. Sacrifice. Give me a plot and a player character which focus on such things and I may ignore that your game has bad graphics or clumsy controls.
Reflexion. Yeah, well-written games can give you food for thought just like books or films. Just one example; Papers Please made me think a lot about the nature of totalitarianism and bureaucracy and their impact on the current condition of my country.
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Good points, and I find I play for the same reasons. I’m not sure if enough people mention how games allow one to reflect on life.
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I’ve always loved playing video games because they are fun! They are a great form of escapism and I love diving into different worlds to do things that aren’t possible in real life.
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Me too. I think it’s an honest answer that many share with us.
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For me it’s that escape where I can sit and focus on something really fun and not worry about the “real life” for how ever long I play for.
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I get that. It’s definitely still a good escape from everyday life.
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For the interaction, the feel like I am in control and that what I do affects what is going on.
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I can relate to that.
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