For me, I find it's fun, and there is a sense of accomplishment when you achieve something you didn't know how to before, such as for Game Maker, I made this special script for an rts game, and it actually worked so I was quite happy with it.

Nothing pushes me to make games anymore. It's other been done so many times it's predictable.
Sure I could create a decent story and make a game, but it's the "make a game" part that I failed at so many times in the past, there is just no more inspiration left in me to create a game.
So I just veg out of the game making industry and practice spriting instead. Keeps my mind off my previous failures.

I'm a bit weird, I rarely play real games. I just enjoy the development process, writing down your ideas, creating concept art, writing a little code, menu designs, character designs, defining the artistic style for the game, the actual name of the game, first map, first boss, and finally finishing it. After that, it's the joy of seeing other people play and having fun and leaving a lasting memory that they chose to spend their own time on something I've created.

I make games for the same reason i write: I cannot stop thinking, so random thoughts and ideas will pester me in my head until i put them on paper or something. It looks stupid out of my head, but i nearly always act on the thought, turning it into a poem, a story, or more recently a game. It calms me and i can look back at what I've done in the past to create something better this time.

It's a combination of things that I enjoy: creativity, logical thinking. Only problem is I have high ambitions, and a short attention span.

I love to write and create stories - so creating a game allows me to write my ideas into sort of a visual aspect.

But my problem is - I love creating several stories at once, so when I get a new idea I tend to work on that too, and I get sidetracked from making the actual game.

In short - my creativity drives me to making games. ^^

I think games have some really important cultural roles.
Video games are (in terms of the human experience on planet earth) just flashing into existence, as we speak.

There are exceptions (lots and lots of exceptions) ; but the trend in commercial video games is towards frivolity.
You can clock up 200 hours playing game x, and not learn a damned thing after the first hour.

Frivolous fun is one of the legitimate applications of video-game technology. But I think there are other uses which the mainstream industry, trapped on a billion dollar technological vector has hurtled past without addressing. And it's the indie developers who are going to do something special, for humanity, with all this technology.

(Edit)


I just read this
article. Spooky stuff- but I think it reinforces the case for indie developers making games with a different agenda than big companies.

Where do I start! Creating a game allows to meet many friendly people and express all my ideas It's really great to show your friends a game you made, and you get to see your ideas come to life. Thats what game making means to me

I find it a fun hobby and plan on keeping it a hobby, some of my friends are in the industry and they're literally starting to hate making and PLAYING games all together. That's why I'm only in it as a hobbyist.

However, web development is not only fun but it's a fun job at the same time as it's you and a small team or even a large team and the process is just fun. The game industry used to be like this, they're focusing on gfx, and sound and god definitely NOT gameplay!

I love having the ability to create new worlds for people to explore. New lives for people to live. It's exciting.

Mine is that something that I create is getting noticed. That's a great feeling if it's in the right way, and what thrives me to create games.