For me at least, games tend to fit one of the following two categories:
1) Fun caused by learning—whether if it's an 80's style sidescroller a racing game or a RTS, many many games are about steadily mastering skills and using them to take on progressively harder challenges.
2) Immersive stories—RPGs can offer many of the same benefits of either reading fiction or watching movies. This type is pretty rare on a mobile device, but certainly not unheard of.
In either case, a game is something I'd actively seek out, not a way of escaping "pain". I certainly don't feel a "pain" of boredom that needs to be relieved. I'm just not that morose.
1) Fun caused by learning—whether if it's an 80's style sidescroller a racing game or a RTS, many many games are about steadily mastering skills and using them to take on progressively harder challenges.
2) Immersive stories—RPGs can offer many of the same benefits of either reading fiction or watching movies. This type is pretty rare on a mobile device, but certainly not unheard of.
In either case, a game is something I'd actively seek out, not a way of escaping "pain". I certainly don't feel a "pain" of boredom that needs to be relieved. I'm just not that morose.