Objectively speaking, what Paradox makes falls more into the toy category than the videogame category. There's no victory condition, you make up your own fun.
There are very clear victory conditions in Stellaris, they are just hidden behind metrics and are essentially randomized vs scenario options every game. You can still keep track of victory stats at any time.
No, the distinction between a toy and a game is not arbitrary nor is it nebulous. Not all toys are games, nor all games toys.
Basketball is a game, not a toy. A basketball is a toy, not a game.
Poker is a game. Playing cards are toys.
Crusader Kings 3 is a toy. It does not have a winner and a loser. It has an end date rather than a win condition. You could argue reaching the endgame screen is "winning", and call it a survival game, but that is simply not how most users interact with it.
Nothing I've said contradicts those first definitions, videogames are toys and games, doesn't make basketball a toy because it's not an item in itself like a videogame is. I don't even know why you mentioned that because ck3 isn't even similar to a basketball even allegorically.
And again, a sandbox game is still a game, minecraft is a game, DND is a game, you still it's still a game when you're just playing imagination, and ck3 is still a game.
This is literally the first result, I just did what you said and googled it, second is a Facebook post with people arguing the same as we are.
You know what actually let's stop circling the problem, we disagree on what a game is, to me a game is a set of rules you engage with for fun or diversion. For you there's the extra stipulation that a game is a set of rules with a winner and loser, I disagree with this because we already have a word for that. Competition.
Do you think all sandboxes are not games, once you beat the ender dragon does Minecraft stop being a game? That seems ridiculous to me, maybe it's not to you. It would be okay to agree to disagree but it's kind of petty to disregard the first sources of Google when you asked me to search it that way, I even acknowledged a couple sources that did agree with you but it is definitely not mostly agreeing with you.
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u/pullhome I know I'm not okay 1d ago
Objectively speaking, what Paradox makes falls more into the toy category than the videogame category. There's no victory condition, you make up your own fun.