If you choose not to simulate the other player, then you can’t see them, but they can still see you. So it’s destroying one direction of the communication channel. But the direction that remains (they seeing you) is the dimension most relevant for e.g. whether or not there is a difference between making a commitment and credibly communicating it to your partner. Not simulating the other player is like putting on a blindfold, which might be a good strategy in some contexts but seems kinda like making a commitment: you are committing to act on your priors in the hopes that they’ll see you make this commitment and then conform their behavior to the incentives implied by your acting on your priors.
If you choose not to simulate the other player, then you can’t see them, but they can still see you. So it’s destroying one direction of the communication channel. But the direction that remains (they seeing you) is the dimension most relevant for e.g. whether or not there is a difference between making a commitment and credibly communicating it to your partner. Not simulating the other player is like putting on a blindfold, which might be a good strategy in some contexts but seems kinda like making a commitment: you are committing to act on your priors in the hopes that they’ll see you make this commitment and then conform their behavior to the incentives implied by your acting on your priors.