We play video games to satisfy a few primal needs, that are not possible to satisfy in the modern, restricted, and mundane world of ours. Video Games also stimulate imagination, the stuff we read in our fairy tales growing up seems real and thus can be experienced rather than just read. I will list them down in no particular order and give a few lines of description with each.

1. Escaping the Real World:(Immersion/Roleplaying)

Video Gaming as a pleasurable past-time emerged in antiquity as a way for nerds and geeks to escape the mundanity and their own insignificance in the Real-world. As Video Games advanced from Space Invaders, Pong, and Ultima: The Age of Darkness, the immersion into their world also became more complex. You could literally experience yourself as an adventurer in a world of magic, where monsters and magic, gods, and demons are real. You can feel them, experience the foliage and touch a lot of other novelties. 

2. Making Complex Moral Decisions and Experiencing the Consequences(Philosophy/Moralizing/Decision-Making)

This need is again borne out of the feeling of helplessness and inaction, especially amongst the society's learned but socially weak people. Another component of this need is that people like "doing the right thing" even if its in a game. Seeing deep philosophy in a real-world situation as meted out in a video game, is deeply satisfying to folks, and thus they satisfy their "moral" and "intellectual": needs from playing a complex video game.

3. Creating Things (Crafting/Brewing/Cooking)

Creating things is a base instinct in our souls, barred only by the availability of materials, knowledge, and willpower. Humans have created crops, buildings, books, wooden objects, weapons, and countless other things since prehistoric times. In video games, we can create potions, buildings, troops, food, weapons, spells, etc.

4. Competitive Spirit (Winning Encounters/Beating Opponents)

Beating others and thus achieving social dominance is as old as humanity itself. When humans split into tribes and learned basic social behaviour, they began beating other tribes for food and shelter. Later, amongst societies, humans beat each other for climbing to the top and/or win the favour of the rulers. Similarly, when people play games, they beat monsters, other players in multiplayer matches to satiate their competitive spirit.

5. Strategizing and Tactifying(Choosing between a variety of options to win challenges)

Usage of multiple weapons, tactics, spells, and troops (party members) to win battles explores the need for humans to use a large variety of tools at their disposal and think before attempting a challenge. If only beating a stick was the way to victory, we'd get bored. That's why, terrain differences, spells, weapon types, and different companions provide an interesting array of choices to choose from to win battles. 

6. Undertaking a Quest (Sense of Adventure/Unfolding Lore)

As children, most often we read stories of adventure, especially where a protagonist is a young fellow, to whom there is a task assigned by fate and to undertake that quest, the fellow has to embark on an adventure. Adventure is nothing but experiencing the unknown in a pleasurable fashion while solving various quests along the way. Games often give us that sense in varying and differing means, but most often in the beginning portions, where nothing is explained yet. Also, the way the unknown is slowly explained, (pacing and magnitude of unfoldment) adds to the charm of the adventure.

7. Experiencing Story (Like Watching a Film or Reading a Novel)

Video games like any other multimedia have a story which gives the reason for the game's contents/plots to exist in the first place. Stories in video games immerse people a bit more than movies and novels because your decisions also help in advancing the plot. This reason is a bit more intellectual than others as in this one, we tend to connect the dots and evaluate the plot points rather than simply explore the unknown.

8. Celebrating Victories (Rewards/Achievements)

Winning is useless without rewards and fame. Video Games also reward us by providing us with new weapons, titles, cash reward and in-game content. This reason is no different from garnering achievements in the real world as well.

9. Sense of Command & Control

Playing large scale RTSes gives you a sense of experiencing leadership/kingship. Power, even virtual is a big addiction and thus players enjoy the feeling that large-scale virtual empires give. Troops fighting and dying for you, villagers mining and farming for you give a commanding aura, extremely pleasing to people with leadership affinity or lust for power.

10. Experiencing Enhanced Emotions

Specific emotions like a sacrifice, valour, debauchery, empathy, justice, romance or even cruelty can be somewhat satiated while playing a thematic video game. Real-life scenarios showcasing strong emotions are rare and taxing. Hence, virtual interaction can provide some relief.