realistic and deep are not the same thing, can we stop mixing them up

I keep seeing people throw around the word realistic when they actually mean deep, and it's starting to bug me. Most of the time they're describing systems that interact, consequences that stick, choices that matter. That's depth. Realism is a whole different thing.

If GTA 6 was actually trying to be realistic, it would let you do way more than rob, murder, and sell drugs. It would have to include the kind of stuff that would get the game banned in half the world and make everyone at Rockstar need therapy. Trafficking, organ harvesting, snuff films, the really dark corners no mainstream studio is going to touch. And I'm glad it won't go there.

GTA 5 felt like a giant brain dead arcade to me, and I don't want that again. The people complaining about GTA 6 right now haven't even played it. They'll either play it and hate every second while still pushing buttons, or they'll enjoy it and pretend they never had a meltdown before launch. That's how it always goes.

From what we've seen so far, the world feels more layered than GTA 5. The way NPCs react, the way the city seems to have its own rhythm, that's depth. I don't need to see every horrible thing a person can do to another person. I need the game to make me think about what I'm doing, even when it's just a small choice.

What's a mechanic you'd call deep but not necessarily realistic?

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Source: r/GTA6 · Curated content.