Is Microsoft Flight Simulator Actually a Video Game?

There are a lot of simulator games on the market nowadays and many of them feature realistic experiences. Virtually, you can perform surgery, drive a train, farm a homestead, and so much more. Some, like Stardew Valley, are clearly more gaming than realistic practice. Then you have things like Microsoft Flight Simulator, which literally feels like you’re doing the real thing. Are the hyper-realistic experiences we keep seeing more and more of actual video games?

The fact of the matter is that video games are a highly subjective medium. VR, for example, is largely considered a type of video game. Is it the gamification of a virtual activity that makes it a video game? Honestly, I’m not going to offer any sort of definition. I think it’s more useful to talk about what Microsoft Flight Simulator offers players in terms of gaming or depending on your experience, non-gaming.

The early reviews of Microsoft Flight Simulator point to the game being highly realistic. Cockpits are nearly button-for-button depictions of the real thing. So, how much of a game is there to play? Honestly, not much. You can’t even take “jobs” in the game. For example, some train sims offer goals like delivering passengers to this place in ‘x’ amount of time. There’s no sort of mission-mode to Microsoft Flight Simulator, so what are we really dealing with?

It’s offered on Xbox Game Pass, but it’s also not really a game? Does it matter? To some, yes. If you don’t know much about the game, you might mistake it for something a bit more arcade-like. That’s why it’s important to research the things you go to play before buying them. I don’t know how many people are buying the game without any idea of what it is but it’s worth mentioning. This is not a video game in the traditional sense. That said, neither are visual novels.

Still, these non-traditional games are still video games. They are visual, digital experiences you control via input controls. Does it really matter what a game is and what a game isn’t? Games are an escape and whether or not Microsoft Flight Simulator is a game or not matters a lot less considering how beautiful it looks.