[Thinking While Gaming] Are Kinetic Novels Games? What Defines a Video Game?

What's the minimum of challenge, goal, interactivity, or enjoyment needed so you can say that a computer program is now considered a game?

Salam (Peace)

If you read my game reviews before, you must've noticed that I considered Kinetic Novels as Video Games... But these 'games' have no gameplay at all, Unlike normal Visual Novels, these have no choices and one ending, and most of them don't even offer a mental challenge.

Many people consider these 'Software Novels' video games..

But today I found someone questioning if "Higurashi" was a game, saying "They shouldn't call this a game when you have no choices or options to make/choose" .... most the comments said it IS A GAME but not for the reasons I expected, as one of them said "Not a a video game but a challenging game."

(Higurashi when They Cry - A Sound Novel... Game?)

I said in my mind "Hey, Kinetic Novels are games too--" But I stopped...

I asked myself: "On what base I call these Video Games?"

I thought, Video Games are interactive software that requires input from the user/player and give them responses... This is similar to wikipedia page on the topic:

A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device such as a TV screen or computer monitor.

But there are many interactive softwares that do just that, and I don't consider games.... If you added "Challenge" to the definition then it will remove the normal computer software from the equation. I suppose it will include most of the Video Games...

But this will not include the Kinetic Novels!! they don't offer challenges like many games do... and if broaden the interpretation of "Challenge" then what makes one not say it's a "novel" put into a software skin?

Speaking on that, even normal Visual Novel are gray area in this regard... But if text-based games from the past generations are still considered games because they offer choices. Then I can safely say that Visual Novels are games.

(DanganRonpa is Visual Novel with engaging gameplay parts)

The Answer I Found: "Don't Try To Find An Answer."

While I love thinking about these meaningless things, I think the people are "Extra Credits" are right... This question divides people more than it creates a satisfying answer.

Here's their video I found while I was still writing this post:

To quote a part of it I loved:

...It's why we can't limit ourselves with some divisive definition of games. It makes our art worse, it makes our play worse, it splits our community and makes us miss just how much overlap there is between the lives we walk through everyday and our experience in some simulated room.

What do you think?

Did your opinion change after reading this?

What defines a game for you?

This is something crossed my mind, thinking while gaming... and I wish to see what others think about it.

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Images are taken straight from the games steam pages.