Would AAMFP be better if it would NOT be considered a game, like Dear Esther?

[Babomancer]

I'll be honest, didn't read the whole OP, but I got the gist.

I'll keep this simple:

Spoiler below!

Video Game (noun):
1. Any of various games played using a microcomputer with a keyboard and often joysticks to manipulate changes or respond to the action or questions on the screen. (www.dictionary.com)
2. A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. (www.wikipedia.org )
3. A game in which you press buttons to control and move images on a screen (Oxford online dictionary)
4. An electronic game in which players control images on a television or computer screen (Merriam-Webster )
5. A game in which the player controls moving pictures on a television screen by pressing buttons or moving a short handle Cambridge Online Dictionary

Yes. Amnesia a Machine for Pigs is a game, by any of those definitions.

Video games aren't defined so specifically as by some ambiguous level of interaction. Why? Because that's way too subjective. You don't have to qualify for some level of interactivity to be classified a "video game." As far as I know, there's no unit of measurement for "interactivity," so classifying video games as such is ridiculous.

While I agree with you, I have to point out that all of those definitions of "video game" make explicit use of the word "game", so they don't really help in determining whether AMFP is a 'game'.