When is a video game not a video game?
It’s not that I’m just feeling a little existential today. Honest. It’s a question that popped up in my head just a few hours into my inaugural journey with Stein’s;Gate Elite and it’s refused to dissipate since.
If we were curled up on a pub’s squishy sofa cushions right now and I asked you that question over a pint and some beef and onion crisps, how would you reply? What fundamental thing does a game need to have to be classed as such? Is it the ability to gather skill points to bolster your abilities? Is it the knowledge that you can affect the in-game world around you? Or is it just the fact you boot it up on a console, a phone, or your PC sufficient for you? What does a game have to have that makes it stand apart from a movie or even an interactive novel?
