And what I'm saying is that many other people do gain something from those very small actions, whether it's an emotional impact, a feeling of exhiliration, of pleasure, of fear, or whatever. Forcing the player to push a door to a room where they hear chains dragging against the floor in a horror game is scarier than taking away control from the player to have the character open that door through a cutscene. This is basic game design.
You're being intentionally obtuse at this point, or refuse to gain perspective that many others don't share the mindset you do. All I can say is that people do feel that these subtle, small actions are emotionally impactful even if you don't, and leave it at that. There is proof everywhere of such, whether it's through developer interviews or through the players who responded positively to them. You can keep repeating "It's just like pressing play/pause during a movie" all you want, but the fact is others don't see it that way. And they'll continue to not feel that way. So games will continue to implement those small actions.
They should rename NeoGAF to "Well, that's your opinion, GAF."
Obviously, I feel this way. Obviously, you feel the way you do. We are on a forum, discussing these things; what's the point of even participating in this topic if you are just going to pull the "Well, differences of opinions and that's that."
On topic, and be free to ignore this post if it offends your opinion, I feel my play button analogy fits your description just fine. Imagine watching a movie and the main character hears scraping from the other side of a door. The main character grabs the nob and suddenly the movie pauses. A big sign appears that says, "Press play to open door."
That's, essentially, what you just described. exactly. There is no difference. It's even worse when, as has been the case in many narrative heavy games, you open the door to a cutscene. You aren't resolving yourself to open the door, your character and the game have already determined that for you. This offers absolutely nothing beyond what a movie can in terms of how the gameplay can impact my understanding of the narrative.
And, again, that said, there are examples of games that implement gameplay mechanics as a method of telling a narrative. Those offer something beyond movies and books. I also understand the idea of taking gameplay breaks inbetween your narrative bits, because games are engaging and fun, more fun than movies a lot of the time, but that's because I enjoy playing video games.
What I remain unconvinced about is this idea that moving my character some how attaches me more emotionally to my character than reading a book or watching a movie about the same story, or why it would. How pulling ladders down or pressing X to open a door or "pay respects" somehow makes me understand or feel narrative better than alternate mediums. Or, Jesus, that video games have some sort of inherent edge in the narrative department, as many are arguing here.
There is nothing wrong with liking games or liking games with stories, but if it's the stories you crave, and they matter more to you than gameplay does, then you are spending your time in the wrong hobby. It's like if someone wanted the best stories, but refused to check anywhere but a fanfiction site. Yeah, you'll find some good stuff, but it's relatively awful compared to what you could be reading.
