I kind of hate the subtextual idea in this thread and often found in discussions that gameplay = combat. Gameplay is so much more than that. It's true that combat is often the core especially in products of the AAA variety, but even there is often so much more at play. Simply moving, exploring, reading, talking to characters, all that stuff is gameplay. If your button presses are required for things to proceed then you're technically playing it, even if you're proceeding down an extremely linear path. That's still interaction, and that's what games or gameplay is defined by. They're not—or at least they shouldn't be defined solely or mostly for vanquishing your foes in glorious, bloody, high speed battle. Games are narrative and gameplay is narrative—it's a story the player makes by playing, and that's why ludonarrative dissonance can be a problem. /rant
