Video games come in a wide variety of genres, just like any other form of entertainment. This also means that opinions differ when it comes to which genre is the best, but it's all up to the person who's playing them. For me, I'm a sucker for Role-Playing Games (RPGs). I still play my fair share of first person shooters and such, but there's always things about RPGs that keep me coming back to them, no matter what. So, here are five reasons why I love RPGs.

1. Ability To Do Whatever You Want

When it comes to role-playing games, you can do just that when you play them: role-play. You can create a character to be anyone you want them to be, and then behave accordingly. You can create a character that looks like you, or you can create someone totally different (Always wanted to be a lizard, or a fairy, or some other weird humanoid thing? Well now you can be! sort of). You can be the nicest person in the world, and then go home and play a character that decides to murder everyone they come across just for fun. This doesn't mean you actually want to murder people, it's just fun to have the option in a video game to do whatever you want. If you're like me, though, you feel really bad being mean to the characters because you got attached to them, so you're really nice throughout the entire game. If I can't help everyone in real life, you bet that my character in the game is going to save the world and try their best to make everyone happy!

Everything is fine! Maybe I want to be on fire right now!

2. Exploration

I LOVE to explore in video games. The scenery is always so beautiful, the world can be massive, and it's so interesting to go around and view how everything interacts with each other. You can be on your way to do one quest, and get sidetracked for three hours because you decide to check out a 'small cave' that turned out to be a dungeon that gave you five other quest to do. I love that! You can just be walking along and random things happen around you. Often times you have the ability to fast travel from place to place in a game, but it can be much more rewarding just walking or riding there because of the opportunities that could be present along the way. If you're gonna play an open world RPG, explore every nook and cranny, because things can be hidden in the weirdest places.

It doesn't even look like a video game! It's like actually being outside, without all the bugs and sunlight.

3. Combat

The variety of ways you can do combat in many RPG's is something I've always admired. You want to be a mage? No problem, here's some fire or ice or whatever. Want to duel wield? Here's your axe and sword. It opens up so many possibilities for you to play the game in different ways. You can play as a warrior, and then create another character who's a thief and experience the game in an entirely different way, because the way you have to fight and gain levels is different. Using a gun compared to a hammer can completely change the way you perceive the game. My advice is to try a lot of different classes in whatever RPG your playing and decide whatever works with your fighting style.

Or maybe you just want to fight with a radish. That's cool too.

4. Story

RPGs are usually very story driven, and I'm a sucker for a good story. Some people don't care much for a story in a game, they just want to play the game, and that's totally fine. But for me, a good story gets me so much more invested in the game and gives me a reason to keep playing for hours on end. Not only this, but a good story has replay value if there is the option for multiple endings. Some RPGs let you make the decisions, so you influence what happens in the story. This means you can play through the game different times, in different ways, and you can see how everything pans out depending on what decisions to make. This really makes a game for me, because I love feeling like the choices I make in a game matter.

Listen-- You don't get to make these sorts of important decisions in your everyday life.

5. No Matter What I'm Fighting, I Can Stop And Eat As Much Food As I Want

If only I could do this in real life.