@I NEED SCISSORS: Not all games require precision? I'd argue every single game ever made is better with having precise controls. And really, the "you can have a ton of virtual buttons on screen!" doesn't fix the fact that they're virtual buttons and automatically not optimal. You can argue they're "okay", you can't argue they're just as good - no one will ever use a touch screen for competitive fighters, shooters, puzzles, etc. Capacitive screens are okay for swiping and tapping here at there, but if they're not even perfect for typing and option like autocorrect are widely used then it's pretty telling. Plus really, covering the screen with virtual buttons is ugly, and that's not even counting your big fat fingers covering part of the screen :/ It's definitely detrimental to the experience. Plus ads, IAPs, ugly amateur art, flash game look, blatant cloning of franchises on other platforms... nope.
Yes, not all games
require precision - just because a game is less precise on a phone does not make it unplayable. But I do agree that all games are better with it - this is like the framerate debate, 20fps you can get away with but 60 is obviously preferable. Again, i'm not arguing that phones provide a perfect quality (ie. precise) experience versus a retro console, just that they can provide more quantity of control options more akin to a modern game, and in theory a wider gamut of gameplay options as a result. I would be the first to admit that if you were to break down a mobile game's controls into its individual parts like swipe controls, virtual buttons, accelerometer, etc, they
are merely "just okay" on their own terms - but combined together, you are able to do more overall at any given time than you could with just 3 fixed NES buttons (and the NES's interface limitations, visuals etc factored in too). That's where the quality vs quantity comparison comes in, and I think the phone stacks up well.
I'm trying to think up an analogy and I think this is as good as I can do - you can do your laundry in a big fancy machine with a $1 coin. It gets washed better, it's tumble dried for added freshness, but you can only get a couple of items done at once. Or you can separate the laundry out into ten worse machines at 10c each - it's worse, but overall you can get more done quicker this way. Both will ultimately get your washing done with their own perks. Both would therefore be washing and make you, er, a "washer"?
Also, I don't claim that there are no good games for phones or that no kind of game is a good fit. I love Game Dev Story, Puzzle & Dragons, Sonic Jump, Canabalt, Ski Safari, Jetpack Joyride - it's just that those games work because they are dumbed down for a touch device. Even hardcore iOS defenders like SmokeyDave say the best iOS games are those built around the device's input methods, emulating traditional controls is not good at all. If your only argument is that I should consider phones as gaming devices - I do! Just entirely non-traditional and downright incompatible with a ton of gaming experiences.
I guess there is no point really arguing then, since it sounds like we're ultimately on the same page. My first post was mainly in response to people who outright do not consider it a gaming device/for gamers
purely because it has no buttons. See the first post in this thread and circle jerk of agreement after. I was trying to show that the people who play them have an equally valid claim to the title of gamer as any other gamer in history when it comes to this control ballpark. Unless of course they think anything pre-SNES era is also not gaming, which is madness.
Controls simply don't factor into it. I think DocSeuss's post probably identified the real reason.