Why do (or don’t) you play tabletop RPGs?

One of the reasons I can’t quit tabletop role-playing games, even with all the video games I play, is because I can’t get past the human factor that occurs in said tabletop games. I mean, I’ve had experiences playing in and running TTRPG sessions that I don’t think computers will be able to match within my lifetime, and I can’t imagine not having those kinds of experiences. There’s something I love in seeing what chaos a group of players can wreak on my villain’s carefully laid plans.

That being said, there are certainly games that have gotten close, and those games are getting closer and closer. In the past few years, I’ve played two that felt very close to tabletop — Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous and now Baldur’s Gate 3. And for that matter, even games that don’t necessarily replicate the tabletop feel can still chew into the time I have to do that kind of thing — spending as much of my life on World of Warcraft as I have means I’ve definitely played fewer tabletop games than I otherwise would have.

Still, I persist in tabletop play because, frankly, I just have a lot of fun creating my own game worlds and setting players loose to wreak havoc. I love seeing players create their own interparty dynamics, work up weird ways to deal with problems I thought were fairly straightforward, and spend entire campaigns refusing to go to the one place that has the answers to all of their burning questions so that I end up throwing a haunted pirate ship that flies at them. And then they end up taking it to another plane of existence (you know the drill).

But what about y’all? Do you or have you ever played a tabletop RPG? If not, why not? If so, are you still playing? Tell us what your thoughts are on tabletop play.