I think that SMG demonstrates that too many games use story as a crutch, and I think that this can be mystifying for someone inside of the industry who hasn't been making games since before all of this happened.
He's simply asking the wrong questions. Why does Mario want to collect all of these stars? No one cares. Why do I want to collect all of these stars? It's a lot of fun. He can't seem to get past the fact that he doesn't have a compelling in-universe reason for caring about the game, and assumes that this means that there's no reason to want to play the game, when an in-universe reason is clearly secondary to a real-world reason.
Story only exists in games at all because many games wouldn't pass muster without getting players emotionally attached to the characters. Who would play through an RPG simply to experience the battle system and shopping? Would God of War have been at all interesting without all of the Greek myth? If these games could stand on their merits, they wouldn't need to try to be interactive movies. This is what sets games apart - no one reads books for the pleasure of seeing words organized on a page (well, almost nobody), and very few people watch movies primarily to appreciate good direction or acting, regardless of content, but most people play games because of the mechanics of the game. This is why the most popular games are virtually devoid of story - Mario, Smash Bros, Gran Turismo, Mario Kart, Guitar Hero, Wii Sports, Madden, and the bits of shooters that people spend most of their time on (the multiplayer). I'd argue that no one's playing Grand Theft Auto for the story, though they do play for the setting. It's really only a tiny minority of people that will put up with or enjoy games that try to compensate for lacking mechanics with a (semi)serious plot.
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