i saw a post a while back about the difference between "petting the dog (conceptual)" and "petting the dog (literal)" in videogames and it was pretty interesting

basically the idea is that the concept of petting the dog is cool. it's engaging with things in the game in a way that doesn't serve any greater gameplay purpose, but make it feel more like an actual place you can interact with, and not just a series of goals and obstacles. so being able to sit on a bench in a game or wave to other characters is "petting the dog (conceptual)" even if it's not "petting the dog (literal)"

but "petting the dog (literal)" has become a thing that gets put in corporate powerpoint presentations as a checklist item to tick off.
"if we add a dog and a button to pet it, we will appear on the canyoupetthedog twitter account and it's free marketing." rather than it being something fun and spontaneous and fitting with the world of the game, it's something that's added because games NEED to have it now.

anyway itd be cool if more games let you pet the dog (conceptual) rather than or at least as well as (literal) imo