-Discovering that I really enjoy a game that I somehow missed out on and knowing that there are sequels to play when I finish.
-Buying and trading with folks on messageboards and then the waiting to receive little packages in the mail. There's something awesome about receiving "presents" in the mail year-round.
-Sensory overload experiences that can't be found in other media (e.g. Tempest 2000 with a spinner controller in S-Video on a large CRT with the volume cranked way up in a dark room , sitting down in an arcade cab that moves while you play, etc.)
-Going to conventions (big or small) and seeing things that I never thought I'd see in person, meeting people whose work I admire, or sharing a sense of common connection with a room full of strangers.
-Meeting people who
were strangers on a message board for a day in NYC or inviting them over to my house for an afternoon to play video games and leaving those meetings with a new group of people that I consider to be friends
-The rush of adrenaline that comes from getting past a particularly tricky part in a challenging game (I'm looking at you, shmups genre).
-The wealth of ideas: there are more previous generation games that interest me than I will ever be able to play and always a deluge of new games that intrigue me as well.
-Surprising people (especially my students) by busting out "obscure" knowledge of gaming at those moments when a question comes up that no one else knows the answer to because they aren't very involved in the hobby and then seeing them light up with silly grins.
-Building an arcade cab was a hell of a lot of fun, and playing on it is a joy as well. I haven't decided which I have appreciated more. I know that my love for gaming motivated me to learn something about woodworking for the first time since 7th grade.
I could probably go on and talk about the things I get to do involving games in different capacities (doing a podcast, writing a book, etc.) or things that have made me happy in particular games, but I won't steal all the ideas.
See, I'm not really a curmudgeonly old man who hates games/gamers!
Obviously, if I didn't get a lot of enjoyment from gaming and being involved in gaming communities, I wouldn't care enough to push it to be (what I consider) even better
