This sounds queer, but I was thinking of it today. Like, instead of making everything gameplay relevant, you could make the whole environment interactive. I was thinking for example, you have a sword, but you can scoop an apple or something up from a table, and fling it from your sword. That's completely pointless in terms of gameplay, but it would be incredibly realistic. Trouble is, you'd need to implement some form of gravity engine for everything, and considering that it's pointless in terms of gameplay - it's not going to happen.

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