Characters in video games perform skill actions which game designers generally don't bother to animate because it would take too long and bog down the action, making in-game crafting even more tedious than it already is.
So instead of a drawn out animated scene players see a pause screen or, in the case of MMOs, a bit of mid-air hand action from your character which, as this VLDL video shows, makes crafting look super weird- and super magical!
-Via Geeks Are Sexy