A question, I’m sure that many of us gamers has had to answer whether it be from an angry parent or from the local high school bully is, why do we play video games? 
My typical response used to be: “Why not? They’re fun! Where else can I jump on a horse and go around with a sword bigger than sense and chop up orcs into teeny tiny pieces?”

This was usually met with an hour-long lecture on how gaming rots your brain, or a wedgie and my lunch poured over me (and that just from my parents). As this answer started to become less satisfactory and I started to get sick of eating lunch out of my hair, I started to look a little deeper.

The best video games, to me, are the ones that have an amazing story to them. You know the kind. The games that leave you itching to get to the next cut scene and not the next level up. The ones that you care more about the characters in-game than you do about half the people at work. Those are the games that have stuck with me the most since I started gaming.

Because of this, my relationship with gaming has always been based on the emotion of it all, the elation of getting Ellie to the Fireflies only to gasp in horror when you realize what they want to do with her; the suspense of sneaking through one of Vaas’ camps; the satisfaction of taking out all the enemies unseen and, of course, the WTF!? of the Bioshock: Infinite ending.

Wadayamean he’s Zachary Hale Comstock!?

All of these emotional responses come from one element of a game or another and that’s what I love about gaming. People often mistake gamers for the kind of people that can sit for hours on Call Of Duty or Skyrim, shooting each other online or devouring the souls of Dragons. While this is true to an extent, that’s not what the majority of the gamers I know enjoy the most about video games. 

What other media can have you as truly immersed in a story like a game? What other media allows you to choose the way a story ends? Or whether you’re the good guy or the bad guy? Don’t get me wrong, films and books are both fantastic means of telling a story and conveying emotion, and they have been for decades, but films or books only have you spectating a story, never really being part of it–watching from the sidelines as the story unfolds.

Games make you part of the story. They allow you to hold the sword that takes down the evil king, they allow you to command an army. They allow you to be part of some amazing stories that can only be seen through the media of gaming.

 So the next time someone asks me “Why do you play video games?” I can say to them: “Why don’t you?”

Many people ask me why I play video games, and some people even mock me for playing them. There isn’t really a definitive answer to that, but I know what my reason is.

Video games are something special, something unique. It’s a place to go to when you feel like nothing’s going the right way. It’s something creative, emotional and fun. Some people may think it is a pure waste of time, and I know many people think it’s just stupid and you can’t have a future in that kind of industry. There are game companies that simply make games just because of the money, but many other companies make games because of the love, thought and time they put in to it. I personally love spending time talking, playing and writing about games. And that is something no one will take away from me with simple and arrogant words. They just tell you that because they have no clue what they are talking about.

Since I was little and barely constructing sentences, I’ve been playing video games. I’m sure a lot of you would say the same since video games are commonplace today.

For me, video games have been a part of my life since I was in my mother’s tummy (or so she says). As a matter of fact, my mother blames those old-school NES mats for my prematurity! She said she bought it for my brother for Christmas and they played on it that same night. I was born three months too early the next day.

I honestly had a hard time believing her, but knowing how vigorous it can be to do the World Class Track Meet game on that same NES power pad, I’m sure that could’ve been a factor (moms beware!). As a result of her bouncing around on the NES power pad six months pregnant, I was born much too early and almost died. Luckily, I didn’t; otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy all the great video games we have today!

Can I blame video games for my near-death experience? Yes and no.

It was my mom’s fault, but at the time, she said she didn’t think it’d put her into premature labor. It was 1989, after all…

(I’m sure there was a safety portion on the warning sign that said pregnant women should not play on this…)

So why do I play video games?

My answer would be similar to that of my peers, I’m sure: because they’re fun!

Being able to play as an extraordinary person in a virtual world, doing extraordinary things or things I wouldn’t do in real life due to their imminent consequences?

Video games (supposedly) almost killed me, but they’ve also saved me, too.

They’ve kept me from making bad choices over the years and helped me vent my anger in a safe manner. They’ve served as a way for me to temporarily escape reality when things weren’t going so well. They’ve always been there for me when I needed them.

Thanks, video games. You rock!