I'll start things off.
This is old shit, but if you remember when Gamergate was at its height, a lot of them complained about "walking simulators," games like Gone Home, Dear Esther, etc. with very little in the way of typical gameplay mechanics like challenges that have to be overcome through skill or failure states. Gamergate dipshits seized on a white-hot, psychopathic hatred of these games, spinning the lack of skill required into bizarre conspiracy theories about game journalists promoting these as a plot by non-gamers to pave the way for the infiltration of gaming by "anti-gamers." Also because a lot of these games are about minorities, who of course GG assholes considered by default to not be "real gamers."
The thing is, I don't like walking simulators either. I've only played a few, but the only one I even kind of enjoyed was The Beginner's Guide (and even then, I don't think I would've missed out on much if I'd watched a longplay instead). The medium is the message, as the old saying goes, and the ability to engage through interaction with the mechanics is what sets games apart from other media. Walking simulators (and visual novels, but that's a different gripe) don't take advantage of this in a way that gets me invested. To me, a walking simulator feels like the equivalent of a movie that consists solely of a guy sitting in a chair and reading a story out loud.
The difference between me and a GG dipshit, of course, is that my dislike of the genre doesn't hinge on ridiculous conspiracy theories or hatred of minorities, and also that rather than wage some crusade to kick walking sims out of the gaming club, I just don't play them. In any case, though, the association is strong enough that it's something I tend to avoid bringing up.
that's interesting to consider. in the US, so much of what passes for identity and culture comes from whatever tenuous or imagined connection white people have with a perceived immigrant past. aside from the racial component, it's like a reaction to knowledge that All American™️ culture is a construct of a corporate marketing campaign that succeeded mixed with the standard pastiche of over consumption, which can be hard to parse out. some people here cling really hard to a culture and place they are completely disconnected from and celebrate it in ways that i'm sure would be nonsensical to its inhabitants, even though it's only been 3-5 generation since they left.
it's hard to explain being inside of it in a way that does it justice, so it's helpful to see what these symbols and ideas mean or even how they are used in their places of origin since modernity.