What do you view gaming as?

[RedDagger]

I'd go with 'general entertainment and interactive media'. This, I believe, covers all the bases:

 

-Hobby. As a little bit of entertainment to wind down with after a long, monotonous day, that is also engaging and fun; or something taken more seriously, with the extreme end having people spend 8 hours a day grinding at WoW - one way or another, getting pleasure out of something you like. This is gaming at its basic level, just something fun to do.

 

-Competitive. Serious business, with spectators experiencing it less as a hobby and more similar to the entertainment football fans like, with the exception that in most cases the spectator also plays the game - it makes it that much better. And for the players themselves, this goes beyond fun and into the experience of something more serious. Although non-gamers are generally fixated on the idea of gaming just as a hobby, competitive gaming is growing like an atomic fireball - I love watching people be amazingly good at the games I play, and so do many others. I'm going to throw in speedrunning as well - similar idea, but you can think of it like competitive multiplayer games except for singleplayer. Also because breaking games is entertainment in itself.

 

-Art. Some games, possibly with mods, are so amazing that you have to just admire the landscape, soundtrack, lighting, experience, voice acting, sound modelling, animation, story, etc. Some games have been compared to good movies, some to popular art styles, some to real life, and it's the diverse range of what you can appreciate in games that makes them awesome. Combine this with constantly increasing computer specs and optimisations, tech like the Oculus rift and inflating budgets, games will just get better at providing something to look at, hear, think about, and generally experience. Sometimes it's not about having fun, it's about experiencing it in a more traditional sense as media. Using the game to create your own 'photos', machinimas, or even just funny videos, makes this part of games all the more expansive.

 

-Modding. Who said you had to play games to enjoy them? Although, unlike the others, this isn't something I do, some people like to go further than creating content in-game and create new things for the game - be it a reskin, game mechanic overhaul, entirely new area with voice acting, quests and all (Falskaar anyone?) or just making RPGs rapid fire dildo cannons, as with anything else some people just love to create, fix and otherwise tinker about. A hobby for some and a job for others, this brings interactive media a lot higher. I still file this under gaming, and like NTAuthority said, games don't have to be about gaming itself.

 

Video games are versatile, and they are awesome because of it!

[AceThaCreator]

Gaming is life Gaming is love. It all started back in Christmas of 97' when i got my first gaming system which was the Playstation 1. With it came the square soft demo which contained various up and coming Japanese gaming titles and there was one that stood out the most which was Final Fantasy VII which to this game is my favorite game of all time. Growing up, I was always into the story modes in games and online to me was just a bonus. Gaming to me is one of my favorite past time activities and i do it more than any form of media like watching TV, surfing the web, and etc.

 

Even with a full tome job and other things after work i do, i always find time mainly in the evening to just unwind and enjoy getting lost in the game of choice at the moment. They are a great stress reliever and entertaining as hell unlike most unbearable bulls*it that is on american cable television. I honestly don't think ill ever quit playing them and will be 70, if i make it that long and the arthritis ain't too bad and still be gaming.