This question has so many answers to it depending on what type of games you are into. Role-playing games, Quest type games, and some online and fighting style games tend to bend toward stories. While others like first person shooters, some fighting games and odd games, such as "We Love Katamari", rely on graphics or sheer fun with insane and illogical things to do that leave the gamer thinking: "I wonder what they were smoking when they thought this up?"

This is not an easy question to answer. I know quite a few gamers that all have mixed emotions about it. I'll first start off with the breed I know as my Anime Gamer Friends (a.k.a. AGF). The majority of them play games solely for the stories. To them it's like playing a book. Your main objective is to advance in the story, to learn about the lives of your characters, the world that they live in and the people around them. A lot of people just think that games are there to make us couch potatoes, and are nothing but a bad influence and a waste of time. True, they may be, but when you look at it from the standpoint that some games are books, and experience how they spark imagination and create characters that live through people believing in them, it's a whole different ballgame. Look at Square Enix's Cloud from Final Fantasy 7. He is role played, drawn, cosplayed, loved, and hated. I mean some people even come up to me and say they want to have his children! People love to wrap themselves around characters and get into the stories of the games and "become" that character. One of the most recent failures, in my opinion, is Square-Enix's Final Fantasy 7: Dirge of Cerberus. They took one of the most popular characters from the Final Fantasy 7 game, Vincent Valentine, and expanded his story in a merger of a mission based first person shooter meets RPG game. The game play was quite fun and eye catching but they failed miserably in the story department.  A lot of FF7 fans are highly disappointed about this. In contrast, Square-Enix's Kingdom Hearts 2, has a good story, visually pleasing fighting and okay graphics and is doing quite well. "Capcom's Devil May Cry" and "Konami's Castlevania" all have great characters and stories that people can really get into. I wish I had Dante as a pet, I love his attitude and he reminds me of some people I know. Anyway, in the realm of RPG style games, story is king. Having good graphics help a lot, but to me and some other fellow gamers, they come in second.

Then you have the genre of rock'em sock'em shooter gamers that my brother and his horde of friends go for. They will buy only games that look "cool" and have an added side of realism and strategy or blood and gore, with the story part coming in last. In fact, my brother played Drakengard and skipped all the story scenes. He just wanted to run around and kill things. There is nothing wrong with that I guess; it's just what he enjoys in a game. He is also into the tactic side of the war games.  He really goes for puzzles, chances, and anything that has a strategic game play flavor. In one of my RPG games, Final Fantasy X, there is this game called "Blitz Ball". I hate it with a passion, but he loves it. It's a math involved strategic game that works like soccer, but you are under water and have to measure distances. It's just way too complicated for my feeble mind to grasp, however, he can play it for hours. I think that some gamers really like to give their mind something to do.  Most of the first person shooters/fighting games, and some others, give them that outlet. Just because the game isn't "Okay children, let's count numbers", doesn't mean that you are not using your brain while you play. It's also a good workout for your hands! So, see, you get exercise, using your brain along with fun all wrapped up into one! How bout' them apples? I haven't played a lot of "World of War Craft", but from what my brother and others have told me they just play it because it looks cool and it's addicting. So, if you are into the strategy, guns, fighting, history, and mentally stimulating games, then check out some of the war games, fighting games and such.

Well, so far we have two factors, which are Story and Graphics and Mentally Stimulating game play. The third is what I call "quirky" game play. There are those games out there that are just so interesting they are fun. One of those is Namco's "We Love Katamari". That game will make you wonder not only what on Earth they were smoking, and where can I get some? It has almost no story, its graphics are "old school" even though it was made in 2003, and it has no point whatsoever. If you ever want a good "off the wall" game, I suggest that one for you to try. There are a few games I count as "quirky" game play such as the game "Destroy All Humans". It has a story and decent graphics, but let's face it; you only bought it so you could use the anal probe.  Do you actually buy that game so you can "see the story"? No, you want to pick up cows with the tractor beam and drop them on people. I don't care what style of game you play, cow dropping is fun to do. Racing games never really spiked any interest in me.  I haven't played them enough to put them into any of the categories that I have mentioned, but, I will have to say that Electronic Arts' "Burnout 3" could be labeled as quirky because all you really want to do is crash, tailgate, and destroy exotic cars. Whatever style of gamer you are, the middle ground quirky games are usually the most fun. They are great to play just to get your daily fix of fun.

So what really makes a game? In my opinion, I think that it all depends on how well the game company can please its target audience by providing a well thought out, interesting and involved game that will make you want to go back and play it over and over. I think that Dirge of Cerberus problem was that they rushed it, and didn't plan it out or put enough effort into the story. What I hate the most in any game no matter what it is, is the lack in pride, finish, and planning. It is just as simple as that.