Your premise requires an invalidation of modes of interactivity as meaningful. To transpose Twine works into a book is actually a considerable adaptation in man

Your premise requires an invalidation of modes of interactivity as meaningful. To transpose Twine works into a book is actually a considerable adaptation in many cases, because the form of discovery in Twine requires clicking hyperlinks and watching text appear or disappear - not turning pages! What the critical majority is going for in their understanding of "game" is this idea of "novel interactivity" - that the author is primarily interested in the mode of interactivity, vs. communicating through an established mode like a book or song. The status quo that you're pointing to is "systemic interactivity" - the part of "game" that employs rules, player agency, and simulation. The issue with upholding systemic interactivity is that then you can reason your way into a situation where many video games are not games because on a broad level, they reach predetermined outcomes in the service of a designed story. And then you will say that adventure games are not games, puzzle games are not games, etc. There are some designers who take this kind of stance[0], but as you acknowledge, they're in the minority. [0] http://keithburgun.net/are-games-a-storytelling-medium-guest-article-by-fabian-fischer/ http://keithburgun.net/are-games-a-storytelling-medium-guest...