Pottermore - game or not?

[Melbu Frahma]

I think this is Community and not Off Topic, but if I'm wrong please move it.

Okay, so, confession: I've been messing around on Pottermore's beta somewhat the last day or so, mainly because I had some friends who love it and wouldn't leave me alone until I did. Pottermore, if you didn't know, is J. K. Rowling's new online project for fans of the Harry Potter series, complete with new info about aspects of the lore written by Rowling herself. Not all that great - annoying UI, very small amount of content, buggy in places - but then it is a beta, and some of the new info contained in it is mildly interesting. But I'm done with it for the foreseeable future, because there's very little to do in it, aside from repetitive chore-like "games" and it's very clearly designed for children and younger teens; one look at the feedback form makes that obvious.

Which brings me to the question for the community: is Pottermore a game, or something else entirely?

Several of my friends claim that, since the site is built around the premise of a "Where's Waldo?" style seek-and-find, and also contains a potion-making game and a "wizard's duel" game, that Pottermore is a game. I don't agree, though; I'd have to label it as an interactive data bank with gaming elements thrown in, or, at best, a data bank with mini-games randomly attached to it. Once you progress through the seek and find/story portion (which you can even easily skip through, aside from the Wand and House personality tests), literally all you can do is make potions, participate in a "wizard's duel" which is really just a glorified typing game... and go back and read through all the articles you unlocked.

I'm curious as to what the community's opinion is on the matter, if any of you have messed around with it at all; it's a question of semantics, true, but still interesting to me. If you're curious, you can "play it" for free, and can probably fast-forward to the mini-games in about fifteen-twenty minutes' time.