Why do we play video games? It's a harder and more existential question to answer than it seems at first. The sense of progress? To participate in a story? Because, I dunno, it's fun? If you were to take your favorite game and strip it down to its barest parts, what would be left?
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/n7bypk/cookie-clicker-wasnt-meant-to-be-fun-why-is-it-so-popular-8-years-later