Hounds barking. Guns shooting. People shooting. And you, running as fast as you can, trying to get out of this insane prison, keeping you locked up.
A prison, with bars and guardians and with the big problem that you may not go out of it. Imprisonment is one of the worst things. It can be done in a subtle manner, like being asked to friendly to hold someone's briefcase and than not being able to go where you want until he took it back, out of your own courtesy, or in a more cruel manner, like being at a Tupperware-party where you cannot leave because that is not morally acceptable.
You need a possibility to get out. Even if you'll never use it, the trick is to have the OPTION to leave. It gets real frightening when you cannot. In the biggest way this is when you are totally strapped down to a chair with heavy ropes or so.
That's also why people don't like going to prison, in generally. That probably explains why they will even lie about crimes or pay instead of going to prison. Luckily, in our society, you can do everything if you pay it off. You can destroy nature when you pay for a license. You can smoke, because you pay loads of taxes on it to the government and so on? Does paying make it less harmful to steal, cheat, drive to fast, smoke or pollute environment? No, but the government receives money for it, so it's all right.
But when you cannot pay you will get to jail and that's terrible.
People want to escape more than just this. They want to escape all that keeps them imprisoned. Most of all, their own thoughts. Escape in over-obsession for details, hobbies, learning, reading, watching TV, playing games... a bit more philosophical you can see all humans as pitiful beings, all running away from one distraction to the other from themselves. Until they have had so many distractions they want to escape from the distractions by being themselves for a while.
We role-players have found a real great escape going even further; being a totally other being in a totally different world. It really provides a place where you can really get away in. But when we watch this more closely, like when we taped and analysed our rpg-evening for instance, which we will not do because it looks to much like schoolwork and one of those tapes getting out is enough to get us all locked up, we will see ourselves being exactly ourselves. We will take this change to escape not as such as other people in another world, but as ourselves in another world and body, with other abilities. We will not escape from ourselves at all, but escape from the world that will not let us be ourselves as we want it, but slows us down.
An extreme version of ourselves, in a world where we dare to be it, that is the way we escape. So I think I can conclude from that that we do have the makings to be great inside of us, all of us. And when the real world keeps us unsatisfied about showing this, we turn to a fantasy world.
Well, try and explain this as a reason when your mother asks you why you like to rpg so much. Or maybe better just keep it in mind yourself and accept that your mother does not understand all you interest just as you don't understand all of hers. And preferably do not go to Tupperware-parties.

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