[paulryanrogers]

Good stories need drama or tension. Though I'd argue games have grown to a broad spectrum, as have movies and books. And one end of the spectrum has so little interactivity it's just movement and observation, like a virtual fish bowl or "walking sim". Elaborate screen savers served this market long ago. Then games offered cheats as a form of customization outside the usual difficulty knobs, even if their original purpose was just to aid testing.

Sometimes I like to watch sim games run to see what will happen 'naturally', or setup AI battles in strategy games. The best toys allow players to enjoy them however they want.