Why do you game?

[KB9JMQ]

It is the most fun game I have ever played.
It is a great game to play with great friends.
I love seeing how a DM and players shape a story from start to finish.

 

[Desdichado]

I game partly because I've always been fascinated with the exotic, and fantasy has always been nothing, if not exotic. Now, not all my games are fantasy, but I tend to always mix something exotic into even my most mundane, modern game, on some way or another.

Gaming has always been a creative outlet for me as well. I came into gaming from a fantasy novel-reading perspective, not a wargaming one.

Gaming has always been a social outlet for me too. I've done a few games here and there with people I didn't know very well, and occasionally even with people I didn't like very well, but I've long ago decided that that isn't going to cut it anymore. I game with friends now, except for events like Gamedays where I still do one-shot games with people I don't know.

I actually do not game for escapism. I don't enjoy playing or running in games where the characters get to be the biggest bad-asses around, who go kick some orc ass on the weekend. My favorite games, both to play and to run, tend to involve a bit more complicated, pseudo-horror elements. Better not just whip out your sword and attack in my games, or you'll be potentially facing some really nasty consequences.

 

[WayneLigon]

It's one of the few creative outlets I can actually be good at. I can't sing or play an instrument, can't dance, can't draw. But I can manage gaming, aka Amateur Theater Lite.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

It's the easiest way to combine my 2 favorite hobbies: Hanging around in tunnels and worshiping Satan.

More seriously, it's great escapism, sociable and gives me something to think about when I'm meant to be working...

 

[Wombat]

I love telling stories.

I love reading about different cultures, mythologies, and histories.

I love getting together with my buddies, talking, laughing, and having a great time.

RPGs seemed the best way to combine all three.

29 years and still rolling

 

[Dancer]

To pick up gaming chicks!!!

 

[Nighthawk]

Gaming is my primary social event, by my choosing. I am generally around people I am comfortable with, some of whom are my friends. I play ccgs, rpgs, and wargames.

Gaming is a creative outlet, although it is not about personal escapism. Gaming is like reading a novel for myself. One that is written as it occurs, if that makes sense at all.

 

[JoeGKushner]

There are several reasons why I game.

1. I like stores. RPGs are interactive stores.

2. I like to scoalize. It's weird as I'm a bit of a hermit crab as I read so much, but once I feel a little comfortable, I can yak it up with a wide variety of people.

3. Need something to do with my dice. I'm too far in now man! I can't back out now.

 

[Kid Socrates]

I run games because I love creating. I like to pretend I'm a writer every now and then, since I'm decent at writing but really bad at actually sitting down and doing it; yet I can find myself writing pages and pages of notes. For one game of mine, including the system stuff and world writeups and character notes and NPCs and sessions, I've written 45,000 words, and since I'm starting a second game in that same world at the same time, that's going to really go up.

I run games because I love laying a framework down, a setting and a series of events, and seeing what happens. I game because I get equal amounts of pleasure from droppng a really clever plot twist as I do unveiling a villain's strange unique ability. I game because for some reason, I love designing d20 mechanics and customizing every aspect of my world and supporting cast. I love running games more than I do playing in them, which I wouldn't have said a few years ago.

Also, everyone else's reasons -- it's fun, it's my friends, and it's a good creative and social outlet. Plus, it makes for some good memories -- I don't think there's a single person here who doesn't like relating stories from old gaming tables.

 

[drakhe]

Saved me a lot of typing....

Coming up on an ENWorld Gameday tomorrow, I find that this is an excellent question.

Main reason? Sheer love of the game - the number-crunching, and the coming up with neat concepts, and cool stories. Even if I never gamed, I would still buy new material and peruse books, comb the web, etc.

Second reason? Having fun with friends. I enjoy the socializing, the cutting up, the insults, the jokes, the sharing of stories and letting off steam. Even without the gaming, these are still the people I go to movies, organize day-trips, celebrate holidays, etc. with.

Third Reason? Because it's an excellent social outlet through which to find people with whom I have things in common. Just like a stereotyped sports jock would find a better home in a sports bar than an sewing circle, When I'm socializing or partying with fellow gamers, I don't have to expalin myself. We all know most of the same odd quotes, terms and culture. If I say to a gamer "critical-fumbled on that pool shot," or "I'm going to my family reunion and then I've got a Forgotten Realms Game after that," he or she doesn't give me an odd look.

Saved me a lot of typing.... couldn't have said it beter