Well, that is bloom and not the same as flares. The apperture in the human eyes works a bit different than a camera.
What you are talking about with the lightbulb, its a halo, not a flare.
Halos are a quite different phneomenon as they are created by the inability of the human eye to adapt to steep contrast/lighting contrasts.
A flare on the other hand is caused by the diffraction at the apperture edges. That is why photgraphic flares are usually hexagonal in shape, because the camera uses a hexagonal apperture… And thats what destroys the immersion for me. In real life, I expierience bloom and halo, but never hexagonal flares like a camera…
All the pictures in your post are taken by a camers (obviously). And correctly, a camera expieriences flares.
As the article states “Starburst effects can add an interesting element to a photograph”
But I like a computer game to put “me” in it. Not seeing as if a camera recorded it…
Oh, and the things you see after yout 10th beer arent falres either 