Poll: Does Dear Esther Count as a Game?

[The_root_of_all_evil]

TLDR, does Dear Esther qualify as a game or not and why?

Yes. See above.

 

[Scrustle]

No it doesn't count as a game. There are no mechanics in it and you are not given a goal to achieve. It's merely an interactive story. Doesn't mean it's not good though, I'm very interested in picking it up myself.

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

Does it fit game in general though? does it have win/lose conditions? Challenges etc. All those definitions you posted work under the assumption that they are games that are controlled with controllers, are software or played on something with a video display. Of course those are null and void if it doesn't count as a game to begin with. Visual novels are just pick your own adventure books with some nice pictures and music. Dear Esther is just an interactive experience. A sight seeing tour of a place that was created digitally, not a real place but incredible to explore none the less. It's sweet as hell in my opinion yes, but not a game.

That tends to be my reaction whenever this kind of question comes up too. It doesn't make things like that any better or worse for not fitting the traditional definition of "game"; all it means is that we need something broader and more accurate to describe the set of things that includes video games, visual novels, and other interactive experiences. Calling everything that's interactive and shows up on your computer/TV screen a video game is like calling a newspaper a book just because it has lots of words. Yes, they're similar to each other, but they're not quite the same.

 

[LookingGlass]

TLDR, does Dear Esther qualify as a game or not and why?

[YHTBTR image]

Yes. See above.

You got me curious. I just went and played that... awesome. It was totally worth playing for the song.

 

[GrimGrimoire]

I asked myself the same when I got Katawa Shoujo, and I am still unsure what I should call it.

"Interactive Story/Experience" is what fits best.
I think Dear Esther is a game, or at least some new game-like medium, but I haven't played it, so what I will list below might be right.
There is a goal, exploration. It's not mandatory, but many games operates with that formula.
Winning would be coming to where you are supposed to go next, and losing is not finding it. Not a permanent loss, but this is not uncommon in other games.
Exploration serves as goal, plot, challenge and reward.

It's a game, on the edge of the medium, or something else but similar. Movies are something quite different, as we cannot interact with them. They are "Uninteractive Stories".
So, it's a game or a "Interactive Story/Experience".

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

TLDR, does Dear Esther qualify as a game or not and why?

[YHTBTR image]

Yes. See above.

You got me curious. I just went and played that... awesome. It was totally worth playing for the song.

Awesome isn't it? But it's still a game where you just go left and right.

 

[CarlMin]

I played the mod and didn't think much of it. Would I be more impressed with its new stand alone release?

Probably yes, but there is no action or puzzles or anything of the like. If you're not the kind of gamer that likes reflecting over subtle poetry whilst slowly exploring a strange limbo like island, this is probably not for you.