Gaming can be a great reprieve from the drudgery of everyday life. Say you’re a line cook at a pizza place. You spend all day kneading dough, spreading sauce, and tossing on toppings at lightning speeds. You’re working hard to keep up with orders and the clock is always ticking. You get home after a hard day of work looking for a little mind-numbing fun. You boot up Club Penguin, say hi to your Puffles, and then clock in at Pizzatron 3000. You click away on your computer, trying to arrange the right amount of sauce, cheese, and seaweed on an endless stream of pizzas coming through. And it feels incredible. 
Even when games imitate life, we still love them. 

Not every game has to be an escape to a fantasy realm, sometimes we just enjoy a simulacrum. Why else would the Sims be so popular? We don’t get enough of life while we’re living it.