Why do we game? Why do we spend many hours of our precious time and money, to get better and be hip with newest equipment, when there so many other things to do in life, equally fulfilling and even cheaper? 
 
Personally I think it is because of something more. We are willing to spend the money and time, because we feel that we are getting better and better at what we do. Instead of always watching a movie, or listening to music, we actually get to do both, and we are essential to the momentum of the game. It progresses through our input, not anybody else's. It is like having a blank canvas, and get to smother it with paint. 
 
To illustrate my point, I would like to point my finger at Braid, a game I find so strangely attracted by. It seems odd, compared to so many other grand games that  have caught my eye and who seem a lot more able with their full 3D Unreal-Engine and all. But when I first laid my hands on that 2D-scrolling puzzle platformer, I felt nostalgia.  I thought back on all those nights when I worked hard on getting through Super Mario on GameBoy. Super Mario is a lost cause for me now, and no game with Mario would ever make me feel the same way. But the important thing is that Braid seemed like that game. The spiritual succesor to the Mario game from my childhood. 

Why do we game? Why do we spend many hours of our precious time and money, to get better and be hip with newest equipment, when there so many other things to do in life, equally fulfilling and even cheaper? 
 
Personally I think it is because of something more. We are willing to spend the money and time, because we feel that we are getting better and better at what we do. Instead of always watching a movie, or listening to music, we actually get to do both, and we are essential to the momentum of the game. It progresses through our input, not anybody else's. It is like having a blank canvas, and get to smother it with paint. 
 
To illustrate my point, I would like to point my finger at Braid, a game I find so strangely attracted by. It seems odd, compared to so many other grand games that  have caught my eye and who seem a lot more able with their full 3D Unreal-Engine and all. But when I first laid my hands on that 2D-scrolling puzzle platformer, I felt nostalgia.  I thought back on all those nights when I worked hard on getting through Super Mario on GameBoy. Super Mario is a lost cause for me now, and no game with Mario would ever make me feel the same way. But the important thing is that Braid seemed like that game. The spiritual succesor to the Mario game from my childhood.