You know books and games are different mediums, right? Or are games, films, books and music all the same thing in your mind?

I cant tell if youre serious or not. If not, people can pursue activities for other reasons than stories and playing with other people. For example, they can enjoy gameplay, interactive stories, visuals, immersion, being creative, etc.

There are great single player games that don't even have a story.

What lol

I like reading books, but with any other medium than games you are limited to a passive role. They can't make a story your story the way a game can.

Aside from the rebuttals already mentioned - I've always had an aversion to online only games because GaaS means that someday the game can just stop existing, especially for a smaller studio. Give me at least the option to play P2P, if not single player.