[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

I'll oblige you. Of course a game system cannot be a complete reality simulator. But still, I would point out that to be useable for Generic and Universal roleplaying it is fundamental for the rules to be able to be a 'good enough' reality simulator.

First, many gamers want to play realistic games.

In the PDF, Kromm defines what GURPS means by "realism": plausible consequences of actions, verisimilitude, and consistency. It doesn't matter whether the rules work the way the world works so long as these elements are maintained. You can play a realistic game without simulating reality. GURPS, he points out, defaults to realistic abstraction.

Second, even cinematic and fantastical games rely on a backbone of realism to cover matters that are not specifically altered by the fantabulism of the setting.

That's just another way of saying that anything that if you ignore the cinematic parts of a game, you're left with the realistic parts. But that still doesn't mean you have to simulate reality, just provide the consequences, verisimilitude, and consistency.

To play in a cinematic game is to abandon plausible consequences for narratively appropriate ones, to ignore verisimilitude where it isn't wanted, and to subordinate consistency to narrative convenience. ("Are you telling me you could have gotten out of those cuffs at any time?" "No, not at any time. Only when it was funny.")

Accordingly I would urge you and other GURPS writers to not be too blithe about dismissing the importance of simulation.

He's not blithe about it at all. He devotes nearly a full page to it in this 14-page document.