I Think Gaming Needs a Renaming....

[Particulate]

Interactive Virtual Scenario. How's that for hoighty toighty?

that's pretty hoighty toighty

 

[jovack22]

This is why STD is no longer politically correct to say and is replaced with STI.

That's because they aren't diseases - they are infections.

I really, really hope you're not being serious...

Serious as to why medical science chose to rename the condition to reflect them being sexually transmissible infections? I suppose we are.

It's clear you have had no experience with the medical field then.

The change was created mainly because the word "disease" carries a larger stigma over the word "infection".

Search up disease and infection and you'll see the two words will often go hand in hand. The fact that many people can have the infection but not display symptoms could also be said that they have the disease but are not displaying any symptoms yet -- which is the reason why some person thought that diseases had to be characterized by visual symptoms (which is the easiest way of primary screening).

At least that's how we talk about things in drug research at the pathology labs. I know MDs who still say STD and agree that the change to STI is completely insignificant and silly.

You are most welcome to your opinion. I'll stick to the correct term.

It's not an opinion. Did you read what I wrote? Let me be more clear since I work in this field. They changed it primarily because of the stigma and negative connotation associated with the word, and because for the common person with no background in microbiology, the word infection implies that they may have contracted something without realizing it -- thus reducing the spread through superficial means... so it was more of an epidemiological/social reason rather than a biological one.

Diseases and infections go hand in hand. Not all diseases are infectious (genetic diseases etc), but all infections are caused by an invading parasite species -- which of course will exhibit some sort of negative attribute -- i.e. a disease. Which is why many MDs PhDs scholars etc (myself included) believe the change was pointless. Not all infections exhibit characteristics immediately, but will in fact manifest themselves eventually in the case of STD/STIs when in the right circumstances.

Would you consider HIV a disease? I mean, it's just a BBV infection right... Do you see the folly in that train of thought now?

It's fine if you wish to just "stick to the correct term" but hopefully now you understand the reasons behind things.

As I said: I'll go with the majority of the medical world and recognize them as infections.

Better you go with the flow for now then, so when and if you go into the field yourself you can form your own opinions. I'm glad you learned something.

 

[ProfessorLayton]

No need to add more syllables to describe things for no reason... I actually just read George Orwell's essay Politics and the English Language last night and this is the exact thing he talks about. Why do we need to act like "gaming" is a bad term to begin with and what will fancying up the description do to change it?

 

[TehCookie]

I got ninja'd by Shakespeare. "What's in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet." Giving it a new name would not change the games itself and the new name would be associated with all the same stigmas the current one is. They are against the medium itself not the name.

If someone is ignorant enough to say they're toys for children because it has the word game in it, tell them a jellyfish isn't actually a fish even though it has it in the name.

 

[Kavachi]

It IS a toy...

what are you even doing on the escapist?

saying such things on a gaming-lifestyle forum seems like trolling to me

toy   
[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!

So music is a toy and all sports are toys? Don't you see how ridiculous that sounds

footballs, basketballs ect are and the same with musical instruments. We never said gaming is a toy which is the arguement you are trying to use.

what are you talking about? the reason for this conversation is because it was a response on someone saying that games are toys. Look back in the history, you'll see why you don't make sense right now.

 

[Kavachi]

It IS a toy...

what are you even doing on the escapist?

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.

I agree. The term toy doesn't really mean anything to me either. But alot of people will dismiss games as "just a toy" and that is what we are trying to avoid.

Why? What do we care? Why should we care? Whenever anything fun comes along there is going to be haters who hate it. Will make up blatant lies about it to define it as evil. SO you can either take the low road and feed the trolls or you can take the high one and ignore them and let things continue and enjoy it inspite them. Afterall they haven't had any effect on D&D, movies, music, or comics. Everyone of these things not only were called evil and demonized by a small number but evolved and grew inspite them. Everytime a gamer gets their panties in a bunch because someone dismisses games they are just feeding the fire not helping the evolution.

The reason we should care is because the people saying this are people with power. Look at australia. The government thinks games are toys, and bans alot of them. Many parents don't let their kids play games because it would be bad for them and ""just a toy" anyway. These kinds of things are why you shouldn't ignore it, and defend the artistic recognition of games.

 

[mjc0961]

First, do you agree with me that gaming needs a rename in order to be taken seriously like films and novels?

And second, do you like my suggestion for what we could change the mediums name to? If not what would you call it if you could change the name?

First, nope. Changing names isn't going to help anything. It's just going to make us sound like all those people who whine about how comic books aren't comic books, they're graphic novels. Shut the fuck up, they're comic books. There is nothing wrong with reading comic books (or playing video games), and giving them a new, pretentious name isn't going to make the people who are already too stupid to not immediately look down on the medium suddenly start paying it its due respect.

Second, nope. "Interactive entertainment" sounds just as pretentious as other "new" names people have given things (see graphic novel example above). Plus, it's not a name that applies only to video games anyway. Choose your own adventure books are "interactive entertainment." Board games are "interactive entertainment." You've taken a name that describes one specific set of things and suggested we replace it with something that encompasses much more than the original name did.

Since I don't think the name needs to be changed, there is nothing I would change the name too, hence I have no answer to your third question. Video games is a fine name.

 

[Archer666]

This is the Comic Books = Graphic Novels thing all over again.

 

[Kavachi]

It IS a toy...

what are you even doing on the escapist?

I apologise, I didn't realise gaming had to be super serious and manly and totally not a toy for people to enjoy it. My bad.

I never said it had to be super serious, but to say that it is just a toy after many people on thsi very forum tried to get it respected by others is just trolling in my eyes.

Call it whatever you want, as far as I see it, taking games too seriously and trying to get it'respected' and 'accepted' by other people is even more childish than just flat out admitting it is a toy.
It's like a fat guy sitting with his 'graphic novel' collection raging at anybody who calls them what they are, comic books.

There's more ways to be respected than by trying to be something you're not.

This is not about renaming it, I don't care for that, this is about calling games "just a toy". Yes, they are for entertainment, but so are films, music and other arts. Would that classify them as "toys"? And you can call it immature, but I live in a school in which I am one of the only gamers. If I would not stand up and say that games are more than just "toys" ,who else would? It might seem childish, but all media had to go through this fase. But if you stop caring, and just say that they are toys, than nobody will try to take it seriously, and that will harm gaming. I just think that that shouldn't happen, because games are emotionally engaging, and for a lot of people a big part of their life involves gaming (socially, emotionally and educationally).

 

[AyreonMaiden]

It IS a toy...

what are you even doing on the escapist?

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.

I agree. The term toy doesn't really mean anything to me either. But alot of people will dismiss games as "just a toy" and that is what we are trying to avoid.

Why? What do we care? Why should we care? Whenever anything fun comes along there is going to be haters who hate it. Will make up blatant lies about it to define it as evil. SO you can either take the low road and feed the trolls or you can take the high one and ignore them and let things continue and enjoy it inspite them. Afterall they haven't had any effect on D&D, movies, music, or comics. Everyone of these things not only were called evil and demonized by a small number but evolved and grew inspite them. Everytime a gamer gets their panties in a bunch because someone dismisses games they are just feeding the fire not helping the evolution.

The reason we should care is because the people saying this are people with power. Look at australia. The government thinks games are toys, and bans alot of them. Many parents don't let their kids play games because it would be bad for them and ""just a toy" anyway. These kinds of things are why you shouldn't ignore it, and defend the artistic recognition of games.

In that case, I think what people need to do is get some patience instead of "defending" anything or trying to move a fortress with our bare hands. The generation that hates on videogames will die, and soon the Earth will belong to those who know better. Trust me, the "revolution" will come to fruition, just not tomorrow or next week.

 

[Legendairy314]

It IS a toy...

what are you even doing on the escapist?

I apologise, I didn't realise gaming had to be super serious and manly and totally not a toy for people to enjoy it. My bad.

By saying it IS a toy you implied it was nothing more. As such you made it sound like video games are nothing but toys and anybody that considers them as a career choice or as more than a hobbie are in-turn playing with toys. People here don't like that.

As for the OP I'd say it's a mixed issue. Video Games sound like a very negative term if you try and justify yourself as someone who plays them or if you're someone who considers themselves a gamer. I think the easiest solution is to create an alternate title that's easier to swallow but not to abolish video games as a whole (because many are just that in the simplest form). Books have novels, movies have film, I think we could come up with something for the more extraordinary games out there.

 

[MisterMaster]

For fuck sake, if gaming deserves mainstream respect and acceptance, don't you think that it should be able to get it on its own? If something deserves respect, then it would get it. If you need to go around and preach about the unacknowledged art that is video games, then you simply deserve to be ridiculed along with the medium you're propagating.

Re-naming it to something as ambiguous as 'Interactive Entertainment' just makes it look pretentious, as many have already pointed out.

And seriously, the word 'gaming' has no real stigma attached to it. At least not anymore. Gaming culture has exploded and it IS accepted and respected as a viable entertainment medium. We, gamers, are the ones that are sabotaging our efforts to have video games recognized. How? Merely by having the mindset, that the mainstream public still views and will always view video games as toys, unless we tell them otherwise.

If you want gaming to be taken seriously, then gamers need to stop being the ''fat guy that calls his comic books graphic-novels''. So yeah.. I don't support renaming it.

 

[squid5580]

It IS a toy...

what are you even doing on the escapist?

saying such things on a gaming-lifestyle forum seems like trolling to me

toy   
[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!

So music is a toy and all sports are toys? Don't you see how ridiculous that sounds

footballs, basketballs ect are and the same with musical instruments. We never said gaming is a toy which is the arguement you are trying to use.

what are you talking about? the reason for this conversation is because it was a response on someone saying that games are toys. Look back in the history, you'll see why you don't make sense right now.

Yes it is a response to your post. I have been following along quite well. You might want to follow your own advice though. Playing sports is an action. Gaming is an action. The things required to do such actions are toys. A ball is a toy. A video game is a toy. Do you follow? Or do you need an english lesson on the difference between a noun and a verb? Or did you forget #3 already?

 

[SammiYin]

It IS a toy...

what are you even doing on the escapist?

I apologise, I didn't realise gaming had to be super serious and manly and totally not a toy for people to enjoy it. My bad.

By saying it IS a toy you implied it was nothing more. As such you made it sound like video games are nothing but toys and anybody that considers them as a career choice or as more than a hobbie are in-turn playing with toys. People here don't like that.

As for the OP I'd say it's a mixed issue. Video Games sound like a very negative term if you try and justify yourself as someone who plays them or if you're someone who considers themselves a gamer. I think the easiest solution is to create an alternate title that's easier to swallow but not to abolish video games as a whole (because many are just that in the simplest form). Books have novels, movies have film, I think we could come up with something for the more extraordinary games out there.

To me it is nothing more, you interact with it for pleasure, it's a toy, it just has different pleasures for different people, it's like action man, he's a toy, but you can play anything with him from gardening to screwing barbie, but the bottom line he is a toy.
I'm not using toy negatively, I'm using it objectively. We shouldn't be ashamed to call them toys or even pursue careers in them, do you look down on the people that design dolls?. The beauty of games is that anyone can play despite it's toy status.

The thing separating games from books or film is the interactivity, you PLAY with games, sure different ages like different things to play with [personally I hate that stigma, I enjoy games for all ages] but you are still playing for pleasure, which usually includes fun, and if I ever consider myself too old for fun you all have permission to shoot me in the face.

Snip

Basically what I just said, except for this, you shouldn't need to stand up and defend gaming as something more than it is, I'm not being defeatist and sure I care about the industry, but I don't care what other people think about me and my toys. I still have my lego and watch cartoons, does that make me immature? Probably, do I care? Hell no. Maturity can go hang for all I care, it's boring and depressing.
But if you really need some degree of mature toys, look no further than dildos. I don't see the people using them trying to announce them as something other than toys.

 

[nbamaniac]

Nah.. Renaming is so unnecessary.. "Video Game" sounds just fine. Just get over the fact that no matter how 'artsy' and 'engaging' a game could be, it could never be a movie or a book. The nearest point would be it 'simulating' a book/movie. Games were made for interactivity, you control characters and you bring them from point A to B. There are many good games out there that give a cinematic and immersive feel yet I will never have a problem calling them 'games'. People are just getting too serious on the stuff, just to have a sense of being a 'professional'.

 

[Ickorus]

Thing with the word 'gaming' is that it works, just like any other medium.

Moviegoer - Someone who goes to the movies.

Reader - Someone who reads.

Gamer - Someone who plays video games.

 

[NathLines]

Interactive entertainment? Might as well be a sex toy. I've never felt that gaming is in need of a new name. I can't really follow you when you say that gaming can't be taken seriously just because it's called "gaming". It makes no sense to me whatsoever.

 

[KingofallCosmos]

conkers? nobody plays that anymore.
Oh I know. Let's call it football. Cause you like, move the stick with your thumb.

 

[TrevHead]

Sigh... There's nothing wrong with the word gaming its totally descriptive like the word gameplay is. There are different sub-genres each with their own descriptive names eg japanese Visual Novel which is a basically an interactive storybook, although some having gameplay elements mixed in, most dont. (maybe the snobs who seem to hate gaming should go and play something like that)

I know gaming has an image problem with the imature COD kiddies, fanboys and how gamers in general act like braindead infants on the web. But not everyone is like that. Those of you who on this site who want to change the name of the genre because youre too embarassed to be publically labelled a gamer, I think you all should grow a pair and stand up for your hobby rather then allow the kiddies to take the spotlight, Itll also help give gamers a political voice rather than allow the big gaming corporations to get away with eroding our basic rights as retail customers and humans because nobody in Brussels or Washinton can be bothered taking the side of gamers since all gamers are just children who like shooting ppl in the head.

 

[Kavachi]

It IS a toy...

what are you even doing on the escapist?

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.

I agree. The term toy doesn't really mean anything to me either. But alot of people will dismiss games as "just a toy" and that is what we are trying to avoid.

Why? What do we care? Why should we care? Whenever anything fun comes along there is going to be haters who hate it. Will make up blatant lies about it to define it as evil. SO you can either take the low road and feed the trolls or you can take the high one and ignore them and let things continue and enjoy it inspite them. Afterall they haven't had any effect on D&D, movies, music, or comics. Everyone of these things not only were called evil and demonized by a small number but evolved and grew inspite them. Everytime a gamer gets their panties in a bunch because someone dismisses games they are just feeding the fire not helping the evolution.

The reason we should care is because the people saying this are people with power. Look at australia. The government thinks games are toys, and bans alot of them. Many parents don't let their kids play games because it would be bad for them and ""just a toy" anyway. These kinds of things are why you shouldn't ignore it, and defend the artistic recognition of games.

In that case, I think what people need to do is get some patience instead of "defending" anything or trying to move a fortress with our bare hands. The generation that hates on videogames will die, and soon the Earth will belong to those who know better. Trust me, the "revolution" will come to fruition, just not tomorrow or next week.

Hmm, I geuss you're right.