See my post # 26 above.
Do you understand the attraction of capture the flag? of paintball? of hunting for those who don’t like to eat wild game, but still like to hunt?
Whether you attribute it to the Fall of Man, or to evolutionary circumstances, most male human beings have an innate aggressive urge. It can be misused in violent crime, or pointless brawling (which used to not be a crime if everyone involved was cool with it, though it may be now, even if no one involved wants to press charges), or used well in self-defense or to defend innocent others or one’s society in war. Violent video games provide a harmless outlet for this aggressive urge, which our society has gone out of its way to suppress, rather than channel, and are, thus attractive.
As I noted in post 26, my own favored outlets for aggression are a bit more cerebral — simulating being the army commander rather than the foot soldier, or taking place more slowly than the reflex driven pace of a first-person shooter, but the triumph over an opponent (in hex-grid wargames or M:TG) or contrive opposing circumstance (in D&D or a turn-based computer strategy game) is still part of the charm.
Okay, now I get it. Testosterone.