Why Do You Play Roleplaying Games

[Thanee]

Voted socializing and adventure. Socializing is certainly the biggest aspect (and fun, but that wasn't on the list ). Adventure is a good catch-all category for all the interesting parts about the game. Excitement and combat certainly play into this as well in some fashion, but not as much. The setting is pretty irrelevant to me, not for the particular campaign, of course, but from a more general point of view. I don't play the game to have my image of something become 'true' or somesuch, which I suppose is meant here. Advantage over others? I'm definitely not a person that needs to feel superior in some fashion. I'm fine with equal.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Crothian]

All of that and more

 

[blargney the second]

Jedis crave these things, apparently.

 

[Umbran]

I find the options relating to acting, story, and playing a role are consipicuous in their absense.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Adventure, socialising, excitement, setting.

I like playing exciting adventure stories in a cool setting with my friends.

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

I love telling a good story.

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

I find the options relating to acting, story, and playing a role are consipicuous in their absense.

QFT. This is the only reason why I play RPGs anymore. If the tabletop game is going to be the same as a computer "rpg" than I'd rather play the computer game whether online, offline, or in LAN parties.

 

[shilsen]

I find the options relating to acting, story, and playing a role are consipicuous in their absense.

What he said.

While some of the elements listed are enjoyable, my primary reason for playing has always been that it's an incredible creative outlet for me. Getting to play a PC who is usually very different from myself is interesting enough to that end, but getting to DM is like being able to write a play and get it acted out without ever really knowing what direction it's going to go and how it will play out.

That's why I play.

 

[Nine Hands]

I was going to say for the Angst (TM), but it was not an option.

 

[T. Foster]

"Adventure" and "socializing" (which is what I voted) plus "intellectual challenge" for lack of a better descriptor -- I like solving puzzles and problems, working out effective combat tactics, managing resources, investigation (clue gathering and mystery solving) and so on. I can get all three of these things by themselves just as well or better from other activities -- adventure from reading a book or watching a movie, socializing from hanging out with friends casually, and intellectual challenge by playing other types of games (boardgames, strategy games, etc.), and sometimes I can get two of the three -- some CRPGs combine adventure and intellectual challenge, playing non-rpgs with a group can combine socializing and intellectual challenge, watching a movie with a group of friends combines socializing and adventure -- but rpgs are the only (or at least the best) way I know of to combine all three.

The fourth reason (which is curiously absent from your list) is "creative outlet" -- method-acting, storytelling, world-building. I rather assume for many people this is one of, if not THE most important factor. I actually consider it something of a pitfall in that lots of people let it overshadow the other three to the detriment of the game (like any other factor, IMO, if this is your only concern you'd be better off with a different activity -- writing, in this case; the magic of rpgs is the way they synethesize so many disparate factors), but it's still definitely a factor, if not (at least for me) the factor.