Is exploration a form of gameplay?

[SvennoJ]

Boutros said:

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.

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.

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.

http://geoguessr.com/ I consider that a game, pretty fun one too.

Exploration is the biggest part of a game to me. My interest level goes down a lot after I've seen it all.
The exploration in Dear Esther was good enough for a second playthrough, Proteus 5 playthroughs, Thirty flights of loving twice, Mirrormoon EP well too huge for even 1 playthrough.

It's exploration that keeps me going through an fps/tps. Get all the annoying enemies out of the way, then check out the level design. Honestly the shooting mechanics have been the same the past 10 years, it's the environments and sometimes the story that keep it fresh.