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Time To Stop Calling Them Games?
GamePolitics wonders aloud about our use of the term game to describe electronic entertainment. In the author's view, referring to videogames as 'games' is inhibiting their adoption by mainstream society (who relates gaming to children's activities). From the article: "Things have changed, of course. Video game content now runs the gamut from kid-friendly titles like Curious George and LEGO Star Wars to adult-themed offerings such as GTA San Andreas and Black to the highly socialized online communities of World of Warcraft and Second Life or the largely adult-populated casual game scene of Pogo. Over the years, gamers and game designers have recognized the artistic and expressive potential of videogames, along with their power to enlighten and entertain players from four to ninety-four. But there are also millions who missed that particular cultural bus."
I think it is time to change the fact we call them games. I personally still deal with the fact that gaming is a waste of time to so many. My parents sit and watch the tv all night after dinner but they can't see that doing that is no different from me playing my games for the same amount of time. Why doing something on a console or computer is so different than sitting in front of a television I will never know.
Do do you call Comic Books "Sequential art"? Me neither, see how well it worked when they tried the name game?
As impatient as well all are to reshape society, the solution isn't to change the name. New names would only get used by academics and the like. You really have to wait for people to gain their own personal respect for games. Yes, it may take multiple generations, or it may happen as more mainstream oriented and casual games increase the audience, it probably won't happen by trying to give games a new name.
A "game of chess"
"Gaming"
"Wargames"
Oh yes, the word "game" has way too much of a childish connotation. :-/
and you can call blogs a "LiveJournal", and it still doesn't change that it's still just a blog filled with yet another silly opinion. :)
This is a sig. Deal with it.
How about Chess? Is that a game? Or Go?
A game describes what it is - just because you associate games with children doesn't make all games childish.
Just another attempt at marketing doublespeak.
...a GAME of golf today?
Then we can watch the big GAME on TV.
We still on for the poker GAME Thursday night?
The problem isn't the word "game". It's the term "video game". People still associate that with adolescents in dark arcades playing Pac-Man. We need to simply drop "video" when refering to an adult-oriented game and people won't think twice about it.
120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
Perhaps we should use that term. Would take the wind out of Jack Thomspons sails. "These Murder simulators are totally unsuitable for children". "This is disgusting! This murder simulator has sex in it!"
These arguments are kinda weak when applied to somethign not called a game.
I don't think the word "game" is a huge hindrance. The respectability of theater hasn't been hindered noticably by the term "play," as far as I can tell. And any kind of self-conscious relabeling of games would just be silly and obvious.
Anyway, don't we already have our euphemisms lined up? E3 could just be GE, but they decided "electronic entertainment" sounded more professional than "games". I've also heard "interactive entertainment," "multimedia experience," and so on.
They're all dumb. And frankly, any change to the terminology risks misinterpreting one of the biggest draws of video games: they ARE games, just like Solitaire or checkers or freeze tag. They are challenge and interact with the consumer in a very direct way. That's why they're fun.
I disagree, "Game" is perfect, it's exactly what this kind of electronic entertainment is. Sure, you might have add something to it... children's games, adult games, real time strategy games, arcade games... but they are all still just games.
The only ones that might depart from that might be open ended simulation games, like SimCity or a flight simulator. In which case "simulation" is fine.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
Some people just don't "get" how much less of a waste computers are compared to TV. When visiting home, my parents always lecture me on how much I use the computer. The last time, I said, "I just learned about the Coasean Theory of the firm, the P=NP problem, and the history of late-19th century Australia on Wikipedia, while you were learning about the latest celebrity gossip. Who's wasting whose time here?" (I think I said it more tactfully though.) I know, that's the internet, not gaming, but the bias applies to all computer-related stuff.
Rank my idea: http://www.sinceslicedbread.com/node/531
I don't see Basketball having problems being called a "game". And plenty of middle aged people strap on their ace bandages and stock up on liniment for regular weekend participation.
Although in some cases you might be tempted to call certain entertainment software "sports", and stuff like The Sims might most accurately be called a "software toy", "game" is probably the most accurate and neutral term to cover most things that are sold in that particular isle of your local computer store.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
I don't think this society suffers from a lack of gaming or recreational activities. That is why games are almost a secret shame. When you fold in teevee, socializing, time at the club or rec centres -- which are all good, in proportion, how much time does each person spend. I think (that is I'm sure there is a study somewhere, but I'm too lazy to go look, lol) people in our society have a disproportionately large amout of free time than many societies.
Slashdot is news, information, and recreation. Can we really measure how much time we spend performing recreational vs educational activities as we read or participate in these forums.
I like games, I enjoy tv and movies being with friends and family. For recreation, I can just go for a walk, I get a lot of excercize at work, so I don't have to spend time at the gym. I still have to do a lot of stuff at home for preventive therepy.
My point being, If I haven't made it yet, is that we shouldn't be afraid to admit we enjoy games, candy, or to having fun. Knowing the right balance is important.
Interactive novels, like comics are graphic novels perhaps.
In other news, we should call dogs "Canine Americans"
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
I've long held the belief that the total complexity of language (which would be a measure of the complexity of the characters, the complexity of the grammar, and the total number of words) would necessarily be comparable for all languages. You've still got to express about the same number of things, all you're doing is shifting where the work is done.
However, this does not appear to apply very well to English. True, it doesn't have a neuter gender and the structure of a sentance is notoriously flexible, but it does have a vast number of rules and special cases. Over time, I've also encountered many cases where a concept in one language simply doesn't have anything comparable in English. This suggests that overall complexity is not as simple as I'd assumed, although I strongly suspect I'm not too far wide of the mark.
(I would love it if someone who specializes in language could draw up a map, showing the various degrees of freedom within a language, and how different languages compare both within any given degree of freedom and overall.)
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)