What Does Someone Gain From Creating Viruses That Destroy People's Computers?

[Jugga Juice]

I'm trying to understand the mind of hackers and virus creators who create viruses that fry peoples' hard drives and spams peoples' facebook accounts. I assumed that it was because their lives are pathetic and they have nothing better to do other than make peoples' lives miserable. But is there any more to it? Am I missing something? What does someone actually gain from making computer viruses?

[Shaurya Dhingra]

fun

[Karthi]

dude..let me get this straight..basically their motto is not to cause damage to ur system..but to show you how pathetic your protection is.

[wiki123]

They do it just for fun but they might also earn money because some viruses trick you into buying their product...

[Willy]

Think of a virus (/virus writer) as a vandal, they get (perverse) satisfaction from screwing up your computer.

Not so many viruses are written now as there's no profit in it for the creator, instead the bad guys have moved on to spyware, fake AV programs, spambots, etc as they can and do make money from that.