Walking simulators are basically just interactive novels,

You can decide how fast it goes etc and listen to a story

hmm

Yup

ok

And it's not insulting for them to not be games. It's better if they're separated

People should know what they're getting into

well theres also things known as "serious games"

Thats basically education in gaming form

Edutainment

what a silly term

"education" in the way that Uni indoctrination is "education"

Or Chinese political education.

education doesnt need to be serious

There are decent educational games

nah, Serious Games are stuff like for example flight simulators for pilots etc

But those usually get called "educational" instead.

thats even more silly

I always thought those were called "simulators" or "trainers"

yeah

well

This "serious games" movement appears to be more about being "artistic" in the style of Brecht or something.

Serious games are meant to be realistic

Utilizing gaming to advance political causes.

Surgeon simulator is not a good representative of real life surgery 😄

No but faux sims aren't sims

lol

I don't think it pretends to be.

They're just memegames

well exactly

A better simulator would be DiRT 3

so Surgeon Simulator would not be qualified as a "Serious Game"

Even though it doesn't have "simulator" in it's name.

or Goat simulator 😛

Dirt is still simcade isn't it?

Bascially. They've actually published papers on simulating dirty-tire interactions to try and properly emulate the physics.

But the game is also designed to still be played casually.

I was thinking stuff like full on sim racers, or DCS

"Serious Games" is probably closer to Papers Please. But without considering "both sides"

And the people who bought spintires for mud physics

Microsoft Flight Simulator?

yes like Flight Simulator