Once, video gaming was about defending the Earth against Space Invaders. Now the most casual games—played on phones, tablets or handheld consoles—involve doing chores.

1. What are these games? One example is Animal Crossing: New Horizons, by Nintendo. Players create an island town, including planting a garden. In other games—such as PowerWash Simulator, Lawn Mowing Simulator and Unpacking—work is the whole point.

2. Why work when playing? “Video games are often engineered to scratch psychological itches,” says Jamie Madigan, author of Getting Gamers. We tend to enjoy games in which we can develop mastery and progress, perhaps unlike what happens in messy real life.

3. Why play a cleaning game when you could just ... clean? Life is much simpler in game world, says psychologist Megan Connell: “You don’t have to open your garage, dig out the lawn mower, find out it’s empty of gas and then get interrupted by someone in your family asking where the pliers are.” —Lexi Pandell