when does a game stop being a game?

[Atrer]

The main reason games try to have moral messages more nowadays is primarily to shut up those psycopaths on the news going on about games being either violent which somehow causes kids to go insane and shoot up their school or in the words of Yahtzee "child corrupting boobstravaganzas."

 

[mGoLos]

When you don't feel like playing it.

 

[crepesack]

games stop being games if you play for over 5 hours a day if its not ur job to do so oooorrrrr you stop laughing when you die from something stupid orrrrrrrrrrr your mom brings you hot pockets and a porto potty for you to take a crap int orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr you name your child after the game for example.
"It's a boy!"
"Ill name hims F. M. Snake

 

[Solytus]

When a game becomes a movie, it stops being a game

*glares at MGS4*

Even though I played and loved the game myself, I really have to agree, the cutscenes were a bit overdone. The ending cinematics/"fight"/credits ran for 2 hours alone if I remember properly......

Anyway, A game stops being a game when it works too hard to deliver the moral or message, and forgets about the game part.

 

[Woe Is You]

When they dont have a define goal at the end.

IE: The Sims and all those hypothetical 'do whatever you want games' things those kids keep comming up with

Nah, The Sims is a game. It doesn't exactly say that you have to do this, this and this to beat the game, but it encourages you into achieving short-term and long-term goals (getting a better job so that your character will get more money so that you can get better stuff).

When does a game stop being a game, then? When it's not a rule-based activity involving challenge to reach a goal. The Sims certainly has rules on how to do things, so do Oblivion and GTA. They also offer ways to measure your progress: in The Sims, that house rife with spangly items is the probably the result of your progress in mastering the mechanics of the game.

Second Life falls might at first fall into the gray area: it offers a lot of things games do in the form of a world that you can interact with in various ways. But Linden Labs doesn't really gives you rules, nor do you have any progress you can measure. All the goals achieved are goals the players themselves set. They might, for example, create a game inside the world. But Second Life itself is not a game.

But, my answer is what I stated in the first paragraph. A game stops being a game, when it stops being a rule-based activity involving challenge to reach a goal.

 

[tobyornottoby]

Fun is not enough to define a game. Fun and play do not intrinsically define something to be a game. This is why the Sims does not count as a game in its strictest sense.

Who decided that?

A lot of ludologists

 

[mrnelsby]

To quote Sienfeld, "When the nipple first makes its appearance."

 

[Telekinesis]

Around MGS4.

Generally, when the game relies on its PLOT to save itself.
[Usually due to bad gameplay. Again, games are about the actual gameplay, I hate those little kids who've never read a book who think plots in video games are "brilliant"]

 

[TheDean]

a game stops being a game when it is no longer enjoyable: see N+

 

[Madaxeman101]

a game stops being a game when you don't leave the house for days and play the same damn game over and over again and don't spend time socialising with real people like my neighbour does

 

[Intellectual.Osmosis]

When a game becomes work or tries overly hard to push a message on you, it stops being a game for me. Currently for me, this means MMORPGs, who not only demand ridiculous amounts of time and grind, but money as well... and another issue, which I'll resolve in a review later.

 

[NeedAUserName]

When its a jar. (the box)

BAH-DUM-TISH

 

[Casca_O]

I would like to say something. Just because you don't like a game doesn't mean it isn't one. I hate Rap, Hip-hop and Pop music, but as much as I would like to think otherwise, they are still genres of music.

Something I wish more people understood.

When a sport has no rules it's a game
When a game has no rules it's politics.

So very true

 

[PhoenixFlame]

Games stop being games when they become chores. Case and point: MMORPGs.

I think I can see that, mostly because of the fact that some MMOs actually market and design based upon keeping their players on a leash to do a second job just to "keep up" with the best of the best. Everquest and WoW are two such games, as is FFXI.

However, I do think that the player does need to take responsibility themselves for realizing that their hobby has become a non-paying second occupation. MMO designers try to make pits for easily addicted players to fall into, but players after a certain point need to understand they've fallen in. I had to realize this myself after finishing the highest raid dungeon in WoW prior to The Burning Crusade. It just wasn't fun anymore.

Games stop being games when you have to force yourself to play them. That can be for any number of reasons, from it being like another job to trying to play with friends even if you're not into it, and a variety of other reasons. When games stop being something you do in your spare time and become more than just entertainment, they stop being games. Some of this is, as I said, designers' fault, but players need to recognize the difference and frankly be more selective with what they play.

 

[Emperor Inferno]

Ive noticed alot of people saying games should have moral messages. Actully ive noticed that many people say this about entertainment in general.

When a game starts to serve a high meaning I belive its stops being a game. I belive games (and infact all form of entertainemnt) should exist for simply the sake of existing.

Id like to to hear every ones OPINION about this.

And can we please keep this clean, I dont want any trolls or flame wars here. Remeber were just discussing opinions so no one is correct becuase this is enterly subjective.

I completely agree with this assessment. My motto, when it comes to gaming is: the purest essence of the purpose of gaming is fun. Games serve no purpose other than to entertain, and there's nothing wrong with that. A game also stops being a game when it forgets to be fun to play in lieu of things like story. A game that focuses almost solely on story is an interactive movie, not a game.

 

[onikage567]

i guess a game stops being a game when you stop playing.

 

[Fallensky7]

When you use real money to buy fake virtual money.

 

[SimuLord]

when does a game stop being a game?

When its EA Sports?

EA Sports is the pure essence of a game. No cinematics, no story, no bullshit, just play until someone wins and someone loses.

I'd go so far as to make the argument that any game that does not have a defined set of rules leading to a competitive result is not a game. This includes just about all RPGs (PvP in MMORPGs being the only "game" element in the entire genre), any single-player interactive movie such as Metal Gear Solid or Devil May Cry, and anything that isn't a strategy, sports, fighting, or shooting game.

In Rise of Nations, I capture your last base. I win, you lose.
In Counter-Strike, you shoot me. You win, I lose.
In Madden, my Patriots beat your Giants 14-10 on Asante Samuel's late fourth-quarter interception and order is restored to the universe.
And in Mortal Kombat, I knock you off a platform and see you impaled on a bed of spikes; I win, you lose.

In MGS, what exactly do you "beat"? A boss? If you lose to the boss, you reload and try again until you accomplish an objective. The game itself is not otherwise affected in any way. And don't even get me started on The Sims (tremendous fun, but not a "game" element to be found anywhere.)

 

[Radelaide]

Games stop being a game when people start defending them to the death. Case in point: Halo.