[YurgenJurgensen]

Why not? You are aware that many ticket-redemption games reward the player with literal baubles and trinkets, right?

Just because many people choose not to engage with the mechanics doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

[_aavaa_]

I never said they don’t exist, I said they are neither necessary nor sufficient for something to be a game.

[YurgenJurgensen]

Don’t dodge the question: Why not?

[_aavaa_]

I’m not dogging the question, it’s trivially answerable: many games don’t have achievement and are games nonetheless

Further, if you remove the achievements from games they continue being games. GTA without achievements is still a game. Remove the entire XBox and PS trophies system and all their games still remain games.