"Video games are for kids". I heard that a lot in my childhood. But this is a totally fake argument, since we have a lot of adults and even older gamers in our community. And no, games aren't "garbage that only teach how to kill each other, since there are no games about love" (You may not get the reference, but brazilian people will).

But, why do we play video games?

As for myself, I'm someone who enjoy stories. Since my childhood, I like to play games because of the adventures you can live in the simulation. I think that's why I love RPGs like Final Fantasy and adventure games like Telltale stuff. For me, it's like a movie, but you have control of the events, so you are the main character.

There are other reasons why I play games. With a friend, you can have lots of fun in fighting games for example. Part of my teens where spend playing Smash Bros. with my friends, and we had a lot of laughs.

Yeah, I play because every game has a world where you can live an adventure as the protagonist.

What about you?

The stories: Video games are yet another medium to tell stories. Text, film/tv/video, and audio dramas aren't the only way to experience stories. And by stories, my answer is varied. Visual novels, point and click, cinematic games with a lot of gameplay, or even Nintendo games which virtually always skimp on what we think of a story but as players we are telling stories. Using Mario and Co to traverse environments is a story in and of itself.
My family members enjoy them.
And here is the big one from a quote I have seen online....
"I am a gamer. Not because I don't have a life, but because I choose to have many."
Video games are often more immersive than other entertainment. It's easier to picture myself as inheriting my grandpa's farm and finding ways to customize that lifestyle than it is to see myself as part of Luke Skywalker's Jedi journey.

The interactivity and gameplay was the biggest reasons that got me into video games. My appreciation for good stories in gaming came later in life but engaging gameplay with vibrant art styles made my imagination go wild!

Gaming nowadays has become a form of escapism but still the things that drew me in the first place have kept me gaming.

They're pretty fun.

Lots of factors really,

First of all, it's just a fun medium that demands our active participation in the creative process of completing the experience. You don't get to do this with other forms of art.

Then, the medium of video games is one that encompasses all forms of art into itself, music, visual, cinematography, writing, etc ...

Certain stories or series can benefit from the long form storytelling that is unique to videogame because it can empower the player of it's role into the narrative meaning a stronger sense of connection to said narrative than if you were just a passive watching participant.

For some, it's also the value of escapism or experiencing things that are completely outside of our shared reality into these unique universes we create.

They don't have commercial breaks (yet)

It's pure escapism, hence I only play VR nowadays if I have any time and energy left at the end of the day. (Usually don't anymore)

Getting into long games is getting harder and harder, so many games require so much of your time that they've gone out of reach. So most of my time in summer goes to Puzzling Places and the weekly set of races in GT7. I'm down to maybe an hour or two of gaming a week.

But it's nice to get engrossed in a game world. CyubeVR was my latest world to get lost in.

Many reasons. Different games for different reasons, or some of the same reasons.

Some include:

* Interact with stories and worlds. whether I'm telling my own in a grand strategy game like Crusader Kings 2/3 or Victoria 2/3 - or even Breath of the Wild, reading it in an adventure game like Phoenix Wright, or in film form interspersed with video game mechanics - like in Xenosaga. Part of this element is I can see the story unfold at my own pace.
* As a bit of a "toy" - like sandbox games and grand strategies that I can manipulate
* Social elements - During lunch hour at work, when I'm in the office, we'll sometimes break out Mario Kart, Monster Hunter, or some other multiplayer game.
* Joyride while listening to music - like in GTA Vice City.

For entertainment.

To answer your question, because I can😊, but following on from that deep insight , when I was in primary school we played lots of what were referred to as indoor games, mainly boxed games like monopoly etc that became more sophisticated overtime with the likes of electronic battleship so the arrival of pong, space invaders, galaga etc along with consoles that let you play at home seemed to me a natural progression from those earlier forms of gaming.

The rise of arcades where we teenagers could hang out, or those 18*or over *Australian drinking age  the situation of being able to have a beer sit down and play those already mentioned video games built into a glass topped table that had  proliferating through many pubs and clubs at the time just further cemented gaming as a part of my life just like sport and music.

Fun. Only fishing and sex is more fun than videogames.