What is (and is not) a Simulator Game?

I started thinking about Simulator games (like American Truck Simulator and Farming Simulator) one time and then this question hit me.

Isnt Call of Duty a shooting simulator basically? we all know the difference between something like a Farming Simulator and a game like Call of Duty but why do we compartmentalize shooters as not simulators?

I dont have an answer, I have some possible answers that might work but I dont know really

anyone have thoughts?

Fire Emblem is Orgy Simulator.

I wouldn't call COD a shooting simulator the guns have no recoil or bullet drop I'm sure there is a game that does shooting more realistic like Arma probably.

like most genres, Simulators can be used to describe games broadly.

I tend to think of sim games like The Sims, Roller Coaster Tycoon, Sim City and I am an Air Traffic Controller when they're described as Simulation games.

But Animal Crossing, Viva Pinata and Tamagotchis are all also Sim games. And any online game with NPCs definitely has elements of a Sim.

I would say Gran Turismo is a pretty good simulator of driving

Simulators to me are generally, ummm...digital representations of a technical experience. I guess? In other words, a simulator is something that tries to replicate a certain experience, be it flying a plane, driving a car, performing surgery, and so forth.

The connotation of a "sim" to me is generally one that strives for realism, though you can have "arcade" sims that are light on realism (such as Microsoft Combat Flight Simulations) but still get a lot of things right, and you can also have unrealistic simulations like Tie Fighter or Elite: Dangerous.

So no, CoD is not a "sim" because it's a first-person shooter; it strives to tell a story, provide action and scripted moments, and so forth. However, I would call ArmA 3 a military sim because it strives to represent what it might be like to serve in the military, but it could also be considered a first-person shooter to an extent as well. Definitely more sim than shooter, though

Simulator are what I call a realistic gameplay. Something that is near what is real IRL.

If any game chooses to have simulator in the name, that means the devs have focused on providing an experience that is as close to real life as possible. I believe Gran Turismo was going for that at one point.

Last game I played with simulator in the title was flight simulator and I just don't get the appeal unless you're training to be a pilot or something. It's boring and I spent the majority of the time intentionally crashing the plane but mind you at that time I was probably 13.

COD is definitely not a simulator. You could construe the campaign in some of the games to be that but I think if they really want to go for it, remove the hud, wear and tear on guns, limited ammo, only one life, and no pickups outside of looting fallen enemies for more ammo and even then no instant replenished magazines. Some shooters (I believe the old R6 games) have tried to make it to where if you reloaded a magazine that was still half full you'd lose the ammo in that mag from your stores. This put emphasis on making every shot count and firing the weapon until the magazine was empty. Not the COD style of gameplay where you shoot two rounds and reload

ITs not a proper simulator unless it has keyboard layout that uses every single key on your keyboard.

@tryit: A simulator is when you're mimicking the realistic requirements of a task.

Isnt Call of Duty a shooting simulator basically

No. If you readied a gun in every aspect, turn the safety off, had tremors during the recoil, limited ammo based on your characters gear, character felt the weight of a heavier firearm, and had to reload realistically (not how CoD does it) that would be simulating the realistic use of a gun. Call of Duty is more 'realistic' than something like Quake and D00M, but far from a simulating experience.

Many games are called simulator and above is a brief way describing how they come to be coined 'Simulators'.