What we mean when we talk about stories in games (opens in new tab)

There's a lot of arguing about story in games recently. There was this, then this, and then this. Each one kicks up a bit of argument, and then later someone come back with another tack. So here's me, butting in. So as I see it, there are two basic ways stories and games can happen together. Games can be used to tell stories. You can tell stories about games. The two can happen at the same time, and they can be blended, so it's not always easy to tell them apart, but they're clearly not the s...