Favorite aspect of 4x games

[Atrocities]

I like the fact that you can loose yourself in them for days. That for that time you are not some pathetic worker bee drudging away in the day to day grind of real life. No, in those hours, or days you are the God of your realm with the power of life and death in your hands. You don't like the way someone talks to you, you destroy their world. It is an escape from reality that is far more addicting than it has any right to be.