So there's a lot of other things that can be done on the client other than interacting with the DOM. In particular, applications that render intense graphics, or manage a local database could GREATLY benefit from more efficient compiled code, and this would open up possibilities that the current JS engine wouldn't be able to deliver.
Sometimes you don't realize there's a problem until you try doing it a different way. If you always wait until there's a problem, you're likely to get stuck doing things the hard way. There's nothing wrong with taking the occasional moment to see what new tools are out there, if anything to simply be a bit more efficient. If you're looking for new tools all the time to procrastinate, or simply always hoping something will do the heavy lifting for you then that's another story.
Or the snake one called Nibbles - my 6th grade computer class teacher had made modifications to it adding levels, etc., and had his class play with what he had created. I was just starting to learn Qbasic at the time and he wouldn't let me have the source code :(