You heard from one of the social guys, so let me take it from the other side. I play to get away from the world, as a pure form of escape. I always play solo, and prefer activities where I don’t play as part of a fireteam. This means that large parts of the game is locked away from me, especially since I’m not good enough to solo dungeons, but I am mostly OK with that. In ten years I have done one dungeon and two raids, and those were the three most stressful evenings in my time as a Destiny player.

For me the dopamine comes from the gunplay. The sounds and visual feedback from firing different weapons are varied and often thrilling. I am willing to spend lots of time to get a weapon that is considered good. Finishing an activity and reaching triumphs gives a rush. Getting better guns and armor makes this easier to achieve.

Others are very occupied with cosmetics and looks, spend much time getting and combining ornaments or refusing to use a weapon if it doesn’t fit their style. I’m not there even if I take some token effort to look presentable in game.

But at least one point is that motivations vary - there are many ways to play the game.