Из журнала моддера цивилизации:

I certainly don’t mean to imply that simulationist strategy games (for example, Europa Universalis or Dwarf Fortress) are the true strategy games. Most of the additional detail that these games offer are fluff – they make the world come alive for the people playing them and can be a positive for gamers looking for that sort of thing, but they aren’t truly strategic decisions. In Dwarf Fortress, building a bed can be a long and elaborate process involving many different small actions, but there’s only one strategic decision being made – the decision to build a bed. The additional actions can draw a player in and make them feel more a part of the world – I’m not criticizing the decision to include them – but they just don’t have much to do with being a strategy game (‘simulation game’ probably deserves the same weight as ‘strategy game’, ‘action game’ or ‘rpg’ in this context).
еще один взгляд на проблему обсуждавшуюся тут в теме в чем удовольствие от игры?
есть стратегия, где надо принимать решения, и есть симуляция, где надо просто участвовать в каких-то процессах, делаешь что-то - смотришь что получится. симуляция в свою очередь сама делится на "реализм" и "атмосферность".