I need a word that describes the quality how well a board game simulates reality.
"Abstract" is probably the opposite of the word I need. E.g. Othello is an abstract game.
"Battleship" is less abstract, but still has abstraction.
"The Great War at Sea" series of games goes much much further, trying to provide a more detailed simulation of the real world. I need an adjective to describe such a board game.
"Realistic" doesn't seem to have the implied meaning I need, as I think if readers hear "The Great War at Sea is a realistic game" readers aren't going to conclude that it is a complex representation of sea battles.
Is there a term that has a similar meaning to "realistic", but emphasizing the quality of simulating reality to a highly detailed level?
Best Answer
The Great War at Sea is faithful to the intricacies of naval combat. / The naval combat is portrayed with a high degree of fidelity.
Faithful in Merriam-Webster:
One common collocation is "faithful to the source," referring to an adaptation that keeps key components of an original artifact. A film might be faithful to its source, a book. In this case, the board game is faithful to its own source: military histories of early 20th century naval combat.
Also, I prefer faithful because it aligns well with a noun, fidelity, which denotes "accuracy in details" (Merriam-Webster). In other words, faithful and fidelity describe a level of exactness in detail that seems desirable for describing a detailed naval simulation.