I Think Gaming Needs a Renaming....
- Thread starter Adam Gadal
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I'm a gamer and I am proud.
I play video games and I am proud.
I will call them video games and the people that love them as much as I do gamers until the day that I die.
Why the fuck should I care about this supposed "negative stigma" you speak of?
I play video games and I am proud.
I will call them video games and the people that love them as much as I do gamers until the day that I die.
Why the fuck should I care about this supposed "negative stigma" you speak of?
This reminds me of the "graphic novel" thing for comics. It didn't do a whole lot, though the name is still used.
There ARE actually some games that prefer to be called an Interactive Story, so people have the right frame of mind going into them that the only button-mashing they'll be doing is to page through dialogue.
There ARE actually some games that prefer to be called an Interactive Story, so people have the right frame of mind going into them that the only button-mashing they'll be doing is to page through dialogue.
This is same as some Atheits like Sam Harris want to adopt the name Bright(s) instead to escape the negative stuff, aint so easy.
"Gamer" is cool with me
"Gamer" is cool with me
toy   Kavachi said:
[toi]
?noun
1.
an object, often a small representation of something familiar, as an animal or person, for children or others to play with; plaything.
2.
a thing or matter of little or no value or importance; a trifle.
3.
something that serves for or as if for diversion, rather than for serious pratical use.
read #3 very carefully!
First and foremost, I am gonna ask people please stop swearing. My intention was to make this as an intellectual conversation between gamers, not a thread where people curse at me every 10 words. I can understand you being compassionate about gaming, I am too. I'm also not saying this is something that HAS to be done, but it is an idea I have had that I wanted to get feedback on. Thanks for replying and letting me see your opinions though, it is appreciated.
Now for all those who are saying they don't want to care about people who don't understand the medium...I'll be honest that is kind of the main problem with video games and you are just perpetuating a stereotype everyone has with us. My parents when I was younger didn't want me to play video games because they thought they would turn me into a anti-social outcast that didn't want to associate with people. By saying, "I don't care about the people who don't understand video games," you are giving people who have similar views my parents did ground for their reasoning.
In other news, has anyone else noticed that there are times where video games are massively complained about for their content because 'they're games'? Almost anything the news or society has to say negatively about content in our video games they have no problem with if the exact same type of content is in a movie or a book. And again it is for the simple reason that the name of the medium has 'game' in it's name and perpetuates a view that this is something that is a toy for children. A couple of you have said that we don't really need a renaming, instead we just need something that can show everyone, gamers and non-gamers alike, exactly what it is this medium can do. I believe something like that can be done, trust me, but those who do it are most likely going to have to go to hell and back because of how much controversy what they could be making could bring up.
Now after reading most of the comments in this thread I guess the general view so far is that the name Video Games is just perfectly fine. Though I myself am still not convinced for a simple thing that happened a few months ago. I was talking to a friend of mine, who is an avid gamer who loves the medium, about the storyline of Assassin's Creed 2. I was telling him how the beginning levels where you play as Ezio with his family had so much emotional importance it was mind jarring (I'll explain it if you want me to, but I won't go into it now). One I was done talking he looked at me and said, "Adam, why are you looking so far into this? It's only a game." Now tell me, have you ever gotten a response like that when discussing stuff that has happened in film, or things you have read in books? I haven't and it's because people understand those medium can express deep emotion thoughts upon those who watch or read them. Video Games have yet to gain that reputation, and while there are countless reasons why, I believe that one of them is because of the name of our medium.
Again thanks to everyone who has posted so far, I do enjoy the feedback on this topic
Now for all those who are saying they don't want to care about people who don't understand the medium...I'll be honest that is kind of the main problem with video games and you are just perpetuating a stereotype everyone has with us. My parents when I was younger didn't want me to play video games because they thought they would turn me into a anti-social outcast that didn't want to associate with people. By saying, "I don't care about the people who don't understand video games," you are giving people who have similar views my parents did ground for their reasoning.
In other news, has anyone else noticed that there are times where video games are massively complained about for their content because 'they're games'? Almost anything the news or society has to say negatively about content in our video games they have no problem with if the exact same type of content is in a movie or a book. And again it is for the simple reason that the name of the medium has 'game' in it's name and perpetuates a view that this is something that is a toy for children. A couple of you have said that we don't really need a renaming, instead we just need something that can show everyone, gamers and non-gamers alike, exactly what it is this medium can do. I believe something like that can be done, trust me, but those who do it are most likely going to have to go to hell and back because of how much controversy what they could be making could bring up.
Now after reading most of the comments in this thread I guess the general view so far is that the name Video Games is just perfectly fine. Though I myself am still not convinced for a simple thing that happened a few months ago. I was talking to a friend of mine, who is an avid gamer who loves the medium, about the storyline of Assassin's Creed 2. I was telling him how the beginning levels where you play as Ezio with his family had so much emotional importance it was mind jarring (I'll explain it if you want me to, but I won't go into it now). One I was done talking he looked at me and said, "Adam, why are you looking so far into this? It's only a game." Now tell me, have you ever gotten a response like that when discussing stuff that has happened in film, or things you have read in books? I haven't and it's because people understand those medium can express deep emotion thoughts upon those who watch or read them. Video Games have yet to gain that reputation, and while there are countless reasons why, I believe that one of them is because of the name of our medium.
Again thanks to everyone who has posted so far, I do enjoy the feedback on this topic
Reading: Respectable pasttime.
Watching films/movies: Respectable pasttime.
Gaming: Not widely accepted as such.
Obviously, there is no problem with the word itself. I don't think we need to change what we call our hobby/profession, but rather the connotations of the word 'gaming'. Instead of people thinking "sad" or "pathetic", we'd ideally like them to think the same thing that they might when someone says they read books or watch TV for enjoyment. Glossing it up with a superfluously-lettered name and making it harder to say won't make people think of it any differently.
Watching films/movies: Respectable pasttime.
Gaming: Not widely accepted as such.
Obviously, there is no problem with the word itself. I don't think we need to change what we call our hobby/profession, but rather the connotations of the word 'gaming'. Instead of people thinking "sad" or "pathetic", we'd ideally like them to think the same thing that they might when someone says they read books or watch TV for enjoyment. Glossing it up with a superfluously-lettered name and making it harder to say won't make people think of it any differently.
First, we need to make sure games are actually worthy of taking seriously, then we can start worrying about projecting that image. I want video games to be on the same artistic level as books and movies too, and one day they might be, but they're not there yet, not by a long shot.
They are toys, he isn't joking. A toy is an object that exists to provide entertainment. A video game does just that. That doesn't mean it can't be any of the other fancy things we call them, like "art" and "medium" and "piece of technology", but it is also a toy. And so what? "Toy" is just a title given to it, it doesn't mean anything.Kavachi said:
Electronic Interactive Entrainment. Everyone loves acronyms and there is no better more suitable one for the medium as EIE (pronounced eye)...
Maybe it might help if "Gamers" stopped pretending to be victimised, resorting to this kind of self-pity would shame even Hillary Clinton.
Gaming is doing fine, it's getting bigger and more relevant every year, games are becomming so ubiquitious we are now seeing the transition to a complete lack of dedicated gaming platforms/devices.
Trying to run away from videogames like this only make you look suspicious.
Gaming is doing fine, it's getting bigger and more relevant every year, games are becomming so ubiquitious we are now seeing the transition to a complete lack of dedicated gaming platforms/devices.
Trying to run away from videogames like this only make you look suspicious.
Games, inherently involve restrictive rules and limit-testing strategies, while toys are for fantasy and free play.Mechanix said:
A ball is a toy, but football is a game for instance
I think gaming is a nice term actually. I find it more fun to poke on gaming genres.
MMORPG is usually the most fun one.
For example we can take the easy approach and cut out all things we know by looking at the box, this can go down to two letter descriptions such as OR (Online Roleplaying) or MR (Multiplayer Roleplaying).
- If you want a suggestion though, how about 'Entertainment Software', lol
MMORPG is usually the most fun one.
For example we can take the easy approach and cut out all things we know by looking at the box, this can go down to two letter descriptions such as OR (Online Roleplaying) or MR (Multiplayer Roleplaying).
- If you want a suggestion though, how about 'Entertainment Software', lol
I?ve heard this in a lot of different places lately but I don?t really buy it. General perception has little to do with a name and even if it did, grown people often play games. Some even play video games... In bars and other places, kids don?t generally go into. Hell some grownups get paid to play games.Adam Gadal said:
I don?t think the name is holding it back and all the replacement names I?ve heard sound pretty pretentious. One way to worsen the general perception is to try and get people to take it too seriously... More seriously than it deserves to be. There?s already too many people that take gaming too seriously.
No, I think the best way to improve the perception of games and gamers is for gamers to start acting more responsibly.
This includes:
Don?t act like a dbag with the headset on.
Don?t fall for every money grubbing scheme the publishers, platform developers, and retailers like gamestop comes up with ? you don?t need to pay for a game in full a year before it comes out. While we?re at it the dbags at gamestop need to stop acting so elitists to non-gamers... It just makes them seem more pathetic.
Don?t fall for the hype so much.
Learn that it?s okay to be critical of something you patronize. I enjoy playing my ps3 but I?m also extremely disappointed with it.
Demand value for your dollar.
In other words, if gamers were more savvy consumers, they might be taken more seriously.
I don't think the word "entertainment" should be in there. Already there are a lot of people who think games aren't art, they're entertainment, as if the two are mutually exclusive or something. Though the word "interactive" definitely should. It may be easiest to just go with "interactive art," but I don't think that would be best.
A university I know calls their game studies "playable media." I think that might work.
Really though, gaming doesn't need a new name; it needs an academic name. Just like movies have the term "film," to which it is referred in circles that study and care about it. Video games will always have a game-like quality to them, and that's fine; what we need is a term for a specific study of games as an art form rather than games strictly as games, and it will be used in the academic and research circles that really matter, and as a result, by those who may not belong to those circles but really admire and enjoy the medium.
A university I know calls their game studies "playable media." I think that might work.
Really though, gaming doesn't need a new name; it needs an academic name. Just like movies have the term "film," to which it is referred in circles that study and care about it. Video games will always have a game-like quality to them, and that's fine; what we need is a term for a specific study of games as an art form rather than games strictly as games, and it will be used in the academic and research circles that really matter, and as a result, by those who may not belong to those circles but really admire and enjoy the medium.