why should a book or movie be different from a game? well for one they're wildly different media. what you wrote only applies to linear narrative-focused games,

why should a book or movie be different from a game? well for one they're wildly different media. what you wrote only applies to linear narrative-focused games, and if those are the kinds of games you like, that's fine… but the medium has so much more to offer! I would rather try a janky, kind of bad, yet mechanically/systems-wise interesting game like Kenshi over another AAA movie-game any day of the week. I have no problem with linear/linearish narrative-focused games—I'm currently playing through a visual novel actually. but interactively conveying a pre-defined narrative (possibly with some "choices" sprinkled in here and there) is only the tiniest tip of the iceberg of possibilities the medium affords! the problem here is, video games are still a very young medium, so many people have preconceptions about conventional storytelling/narrative structure that they carry over from film and literature. many people want a video game they're considering purchasing to be something with an Hour Count you can look up online, weigh against your interest in the plot/setting/characters/whatever, and decide if playing through the predefined arc of the game is something worth their time. few people look for games with mechanics and systems that converge in interesting, complex, emergent ways, and say to themselves, that looks like something fun to play (with) for as long as I keep enjoying it! Sea of Thieves is an interesting game because it attempts to bridge this gap. when my buddies and I play it every now and again, we enjoy planning some loosely-defined goals for a session, then just fucking around on the open seas as we see fit. for us, something like seeing how many powder kegs we can gather and fit into the crow's nest so as to test the viability of hucking them into the water and shooting them when fighting player ships, is infinitely more entertaining and interesting that playing through the scripted storyline quests. but on the other hand, my fiancée loves to play through these scripted storyline quests with the wife of one of my friends, just dutifully following the quest instructions, looking up how to do things online if needed, whatever is necessary to check that quest off their list. this same friend's wife has expressed in the past that she cannot for the life of her understand the appeal of the roguelike/lite genre—"why would you just want to play the same thing over and over?" many people like (and expect games to be) linear narrative experience video games, but more games should try to be more gamey, more systemsy, more emergent, because that's what makes the medium unique and different than others. the only issue with this is player expectations, which hopefully will shift somewhat with time.