>>My basic point is that no one single thing can be classified as THE way to define a data/database engine. In very generic terms, anything that can process data to one degree or another - likely fits within the many definitions out there.<<

So nobody can prove me wrong if I insist that the sound of galloping hooves means a Centaur has arrived in town. How useful.

I believe the term usually used is "common sense". To get along, we all need to use some. Which is why it is acceptable to say that Some Truths are Self-Evident. It is self-evident that Age of Empires is a game, not a Data Engine. Stubborn argument against such self-evident truths is amusing when employed by 3-year-olds who love to ask "why", but it is very, very tiresome when a discussion is hijacked by an adult to pursue this sort of nonsense.