> "reality is a simulation"

A simulated universe requires everything an ordinary universe requires, plus a simulator.

Absent independent evidence for the simulator, “we are simulated” is a less parsimonious hypothesis than “the world we observe is the world.”

I don't mean to doubt the simulation hypothesis/theories out there grounded in fact. As you point out, it isn't what it sounds like, essentially. But the majority just hears what it sounds like, and form an opinion around it. Ask them to explain, and it's more along the lines of "life's a video game"