Why Do People Play Video Games?

I saw this question earlier and it really made me think about it. Personally, I believe that video games relieve stress and keep your mind distracted when you need it to be distracted. To an extent, playing video games even becomes an escape.

I started playing games online when I was in a car accident. I was on homebound and in a wheel chair for almost two years. My father had purchased a laptop for my birthday and my brother suggested we found a game to play with eachother. I ended up finding a game called “GunZ: The Duel”. That was the start of my online gaming addiction in 2006.

While at first I was only playing with my brothers and people I knew in real life, I started to recognize the community. I was playing the game often and would talk to people regularly that I had associated with before in a different match. Nearly six years later and I still have friends from this game. I do not play the game anymore, but I still associate with the friends that I did make. I have them on Skype and on Facebook. I even plan to visit someone I met there soon.

I believe the community of a game becomes a big influence on whether or not you continue to play it. If I play an online game with rude and disrespectful people I’m not sure if I would stick around. I play other online games today, but I still play with the same people. We will download and play something new together when it comes out.

Top reasons I believe people play online video games are:

1. The community

2. Entertainment

3. To escape (Alternate reality?)

4. It’s a form of competition

5. It kills time

I’m sure there are more reasons. I do believe that the top reason for people to play them online is because of the community though. I believe it’s the only reason to explain why Runescape is doing so well compared to games that actually have great graphics and gameplay!