BioWare - Telling Stories

Jay Watamaniuk takes up the pen at the BioBlog with a piece called Telling Stories:

I’d like to step back a moment and let everyone in on a little secret: playing games is like lying. It’s telling an elaborate yarn that you and your friends will believe just long enough to participate in some group hypnosis voodoo that results in a new work of fiction where you are the hero, villain, victim or observer of events both large and small.

To me that is the essence of gaming.