Why do I game

15 years ago a friend introduced me to the world of WH40k and I was hooked. Maybe it was because I was dragged up in a world of Asimov and Tolkien, but the idea of a world where, rayguns and aliens could be acted out on a tabletop was to much to refuse as well as seeming cool. (At the time.) My parents refused to support my chosen hobby so I funded it alone, maybe that is why I am the gamer I am today.
 But back to the original topic. Why do I game? I have always seen it as a sociable hobby, a hobby where interaction with other people is paramount and a hobby that is artistic and requires a certain amount of intelligence.Yet it is always the social part that springs foremost in my mind, I go to my local club to game against other people, I go to tournaments to play strangers and always it is sociable, not always freindly but always sociable.However as I have grown up I have found that whenever I game alcohol seems to play an increasingly more important part, culminating in the recent ETC where drinking seemed to start well before the first game, yet seemed to continue well after. Maybe it is an age thing but nowadays drinking is as much a part of  gaming as rolling dice, perhaps I could be just sat in a pub yet it is still all sociable and maybe thats the point.