F0X said:
Boutros said:
I seriously wouln't consider something like Dear Esther to be a game. Really the only thing you do is walk around. And the path is pretty straightforward. Same thing for Thirty Flights of Loving.
Maybe an interactive novel.
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Then we have different standards. When something has a game mechanic in it, even if it's merely one, I'm inclined to call it a game. Am I wrong? Is advancing through a digital world no different than turning the page of a book? Is exploration a form of gameplay? You didn't really answer my question, cy the way. You restated the kind of argument I'm addressing in the OP.
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If by exploration you mean moving around using arrows on a keyboard then yes that's a gameplay feature but only if it has a greater purpose. To be a video game it needs some sort of interaction and some sort of results to the action the user inputs. If you can't have any true impact on what happens then I can't call it interaction (essential to be called a video game). I need to be challenged or be given choices. And so walking around for the sole purpose of seeing the progression of a story is not very video game like.
It's like considering Google Street View a video game.
