> customize the UI of IDEs and hide menus and such That's not even half of it. TUI programs are designed to be keyboard driven from the start, not as an aftert

> customize the UI of IDEs and hide menus and such That's not even half of it. TUI programs are designed to be keyboard driven from the start, not as an afterthought. All the IDEs I'm aware of are hopelessly outclassed here. There's also things like registers, column editing, and the buffer abstraction which make common tasks less cumbersome. The list continues. It's not that one tool can be used for a task that the other can't; rather it's just better at it from my perspective (given my particular workflow and toolchain). For me, there's a significant ergonomic difference which makes for a more pleasant process overall. Is keeping a clean and orderly workspace "just a game"? What about using the best (from your perspective) tool for the job? I imagine different people will care about these things to different degrees. As you point out, perhaps for some there's primarily another motive (exercise control, irritate a coworker, maintain an appearance, ...). That's not mutually exclusive though and it's hardly unique to programming.