“From time to time I hear people talk about how barely-interactive slideshow adventures don't really qualify as games. (For example, Myst and the series of clones that followed.) To them, I say this: If you sat down, watched it, made at least one decision that influenced the experience, and was entertained, then guess what? It's a game.” --Jim Leonard

When I play a DVD on my computer, I decide whether or not to watch it full screen, and that certainly has an influence on the experience. Does that mean that the latest installment in the Girls Gone Wild series is really a game? Or how about all the fine works of cinema that allow you to select the camera angle from which to view the proceedings? And since when does a game have to be entertaining to qualify as such?

What's a game and what's not isn't nearly as clear cut as you're making it out to be. I agree with you in principle, Jim, but before you reach for that “you idiot” tone, you first ought to make sure that you, yourself, are correct, or at least considerably more correct than the person you're correcting.

Oh, and you probably meant “were entertained.” The second-person pronoun is considered plural for these purposes.

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