Ok, I know the cute answer is: "Pop the DVD in and hit the play button!"

I am speaking in terms of play as in what you do with a game.  I understand the following:

* Someone can play a game, as that is what you do with games.

* A game can have a story with it, that provides a framework for a game and its levels.  Adding narrative, and voices and dialong to set the content of the gameplay can make a game more engaging.

* A game world can embed in it details of a rich backstory and details that, as you explore the environment, you get revealed to you.

But how does one play a story?  Is it possible to do one, or is a story something build around a game?

By allowing the player multiple paths for story progression. Ex: Heavy Rain

I suppose oneself could also 'play' a story via divergent gameplay and heavy roleplaying a la minecraft or RapeLay. Basically you make your own story/pick victims to rape.

Like patapon said:

Heavy Rain

And the better answer would be ask Shakespeare.

Also Hotel Dusk Room: 1?? was like reading a book and the way you hold the book was literally like holding a book too. You should check out that game.

the true answer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Packard

I personally read about half of these http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Fantasy (translated in french, I didn't read english much at the time :p)

Chose Your Own Adventure books in electronic form.  That's bascially what I consider Heavy Rain.

Would that constitute play though?  Say you were an editor, and you had a writer working on a story, and the writer periodically asks you for decision points in the story, and gives you multiple options for the character.  You reply that the character should do one of the following choices.  Is the editor playing a story?

define play?

is it making choices to define your experience? then if the editor is experiencing the whole story and makes descisions that define it then yes, he played the story ^^

That's clever.

I don't like heavy rain but I like the concept. It evolved things from farenheit. Each of those games had brilliant parts. But the story was just bleh to me and that's a big deal for such a story based game.

But I'd like to see a mix of farenheit/heavy rain style games, and Dreamfall/the longest journey type games. Which might be LA Noire.

multiple paths could still be argued as "playing then watching". you just get an to choose which way you want to go. But then you must watch.

If its meaning no cutscenes, then I would say bioshock and half life are the closest because you generally can do things in the dialogue.

Deus Ex, Bioware/Obsidian games are choose your own adventure though very limited. But they still have cutscenes after your choice.

In Final Fantasy X-2 and Chrono Trigger/Cross, shadow hearts you can get multiple endings, where your decisions affected the ending. Would I say you're playing the story... no, but that's my opinion.

I guess this is more or less a mental exercise. As, I don't think it really matters. I enjoy all the type of games listed plus more.