Reaction to Wikipedia on Use Case

Use Case

According to Wikipedia, a use case "is a list of steps,typically defining interactions between a role and a system, to achieve a goal." 

It seems to me that a use case is basically a step in the process of developing functional requirements that models how components of a program will interact with each other.  Many of these use case examples could be pictures such as UML or even memory and pointer diagrams.  

From Alistair Cockburn's "fully dressed" model, the Design Scopes and Goal Levels steps seem a big confusing and unnecessary.  I personally believe that if I was looking at a use case, I should be more concerned with the top level ideas of how a system interacts than trying to remember what a solid box and hollow box mean.  Knowing the design scope and the goal levels of a use case is useful information, but should be conveyed in words.  

One of the biggest benefits that I see to use cases is that they make it clearer exactly what role each part plays in a system and everyone working on a project with access to the use case can typically agree on the requirements.  This also depends on the quality of the use case writer though.  

All in all, even though use cases provide much more information, I would prefer a user story to a use case.  Some of the examples of use cases are a little convoluted and may be a little too much for the task at hand.