what is a video game

[grue]

daniel's definition of impossibility i think also fails to differentiate how a movie or a book isnt also impossible. you can read a book about a life similar to yours, and follow a character who makes different decisions than yours right? there isnt a choice, sure, unless youre talking about a choose-your-own-adventure, or the choice of stopping, or reading the book out of order. in the latter two cases, maybe you take the intention of the artist into account and say you cant do that

i think a "video game" refers explicitly to two things-

-a computer-simulated "environment"
-a predetermined set of rules by which the player achieves a goal or reaches an end-state

this still fails to separate an ebook from a videogame. it is a computer simulated "game" in which the player intends to scroll past each "level" (page) while experiencing a story (the book itself). the end state is the end of the novel, or the file. one can play with the predetermined set of rules by scrolling up rather than down, for example, without changing the "game" being played. the final destination example bumps into the same problem

you are mixing two different arguments. one is the one I was making, which was

- What differentiates a video game from other games?

my point is that video games allow for impossibility in the sense that they are a means for you to play outside the constraints of reality. my point implies previous notions: that video games are games (interacting within a set of mechanics and rules) that you play. you go to video games, rather than other games, to fulfil criteria that for whatever reason you can't fulfil in real life

the second argument that you're making is

- What differentiates games from other media?

this is a much more complicated argument. there isn't a set definition of "game", for example, and the activity "play" is incredibly subjective. playing a game can be a chore and work, making it unfun. conversely, you can gamify your work to make it more fun. there are tricky thought processes here if you try to set clear boundaries between, for example, a movie and a game, because you're bound to find examples where one draws from the other's elements. this is because "play" is incredibly subjective, and "game" is a cultural activity that must be understood within context