Poll: Videogames or video games. Which is it?
by Christopher Grant 
{ Dec 14th 2005 at 3:45PM }
Linguists unite! David at buzzcut has just stirred up a whole hornet's nest of cultural confusion. We've all seen both, and maybe some of us have even made up our minds one way or the other, but a decision has to be made. It can't be both. Is it videogames or video games?
He explains his choice this way: on the one hand we have motion pictures, graphic novels, and interactive entertainment, but we don't use tele vision, air craft, the Inter net or joy stick (or joy stiq!). He continues, "I like the single word because it helps clarify the world of videogames as a certain type of game, and not just a qualified class of games like puzzle games or word games." So…
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
gmrc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
This is a great, and tough, question.
**NOTE: I voted for Videogames.
For me, strictly speaking, it *should* be Video Games. Like Board Games and Outdoor Games, they are Games of the Video variety. So it *should* be Video Games .... but it's not.
For some reason it just can't be Video Games, it must be Videogames but I'm not sure why.
Cool factor? Just one of those things? Buzz-wordy-ness? I dont know now.
But the word is Videogames, just like Basketball and Baseball.
Jay @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
I don't call them video games at all. I just call console/PC games as 'games' and real life board games 'board games'. but that's just me. I would not join the 2 words together. That's stupid.
Dimitri Plabato @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
Videogames cause gamers are too lazy to put a space. We're all to busy playing to worry 'bout spelling.
910do @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
The correct answer is Nintendo games.
Chad @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
I can't believe this is even a question! I'm kind of betwixt myself with anger and disbelief. Video Games. it's two damn words.
Rich schaefer @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
its close
Zoe @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
Never have I seen a post that defined the term "filler" to a more extreme extent than this one.
Maybe if you've got nothing to write about... hmm... don't write anything? Yeah.
Benny @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
Neither, videogames/video games sounds wrong to me anyway when describing them. I call them computer games or such.
Probot @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
It's video games. Always has been.
But I agree with what some others have said. Video games sounds too childish. Maybe that's just the societal stigma it has developed. But a name change always helps get rid of some of those stigmas, look at Creationism and Intelligent Design as an example.
Then again, I wish Role Playing Games were called something different; too many people try to take the name literally. But I doubt that will ever happen.
ck @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
As an English major, it has to be Video Games. First of all, it just looks really bad when you mash those to words together. Secondly, Television & Internet are a mashing of two words (Tele is not a word by itself and Inter is just a prefix. So to compare video games to these words is wrong). And finally, gmrc is right, they're STILL games, just used through the video, there's no need to make a new word.
Unless in the future someone comes up with an intelligent sounding word to describe video games, keep the two separated.
DG @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
Oh my. What type of game is it? Video. This is basic grammar. Even asking the question has made us all dumber.
Seriously, do you drive a redcar? Do you drink chocolatemilk? Is this question verystupid?
MiThRaZoR @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
Video Games because Videogames can't be a word. Aircraft is different. You wouldn't say Air Craft cause the craft is more like a suffix. You wouldn't say Tele Vision because tele and vision just don't make sense. Video games because it's two different words. If you're saying Videogames because there are a variety. Then umm, I'm sorry to say, what variety. There's only one thing when you say Video games. Video and games are two different words. You can't mix in 2 words into one. That's like mixing you're first and last name together.
SuicideNinja @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
What a silly issue; as if the English language didn't have its problems to begin with! "Video Games" seems to be more appropriate.
A game is a game. The type is rightfully a separate adjective. Instead, how about firstpersonshooter or roleplayinggame? I didn't think so.
So when writing about games, would it be more appropriately 'games or v-games? That will evolve into Vigs? No thanks.
Adam @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
How about video-games? Like Spider-Man. Are there any other pointless iterations?
Jeff @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
"I call them computer games or such."
But you're not playing them on a computer, strictly speaking. (Technically, consoles are computers, but obviously we need to differentiate them in speech or there would be mass confusion.)
I understand the point made in the main article - that we don't say "air craft" or "joy stick", but I don't think that's really the same situation. In those cases, those are words that have taken on a very specific meaning - say "aircraft" or "joystick" and everybody gets a specific image in their heads immediately (even if it's not the same one for everyone). "Television" is altogether different; "tele" is not even a word in itself, and the word "television" was created artificially basically as a marketing ploy. It didn't develop organically through usage.
On the other hand, we don't have words like "walkingstick" (another kind of stick) or "boardgame" (another kind of game), and I do think video games and board games are exactly the same in what the terms represent, i.e. a sub-category of GAMES. I kinda doubt many people here have studied any game theory but the point of it is all games are fundamentally the same; the only difference is content (i.e. "features") and medium. So if you're going to use "board games" - i.e. two separate words denoting type and sub-type, then you've got to use "video games".
The example at the end up there - of differentiating between "videogames" and "puzzle games" or "word games" also does not apply, because you're confusing genre and medium. When you say "puzzle game", you're giving a genre of "game" and the medium is implied by context... but if you wanted to say it properly, you'd say "puzzle video game". There's no confusion involved with having separate words for genre, type and sub-type. You can have two or three or more words. But you couldn't ever say "puzzlevideogame". They need to be separate.
Honestly, though, I've never seen anyone in the US write "videogame". Maybe they do it in the UK or elsewhere, but I don't think it's even really a question here.
(Of course, people here in the US also put punctuation inside quotation marks, which I flatly refuse to do as it makes no logical sense.)
metaly @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
Sort of tangental, but: I was amused when I saw an Italian movie use "un videogame" since I had previously heard Spanish speakers say "video juego." It raised a lot of questions for me about how other languages adopt foreign terms, and might marginally strengthen the argument for "videogame" being the proper term, if that's what form is being exported. Then again, it could just be a testament to that infamous Italian laziness.
Roger @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
Games played on a PC or Mac aren't called 'computergames.' Games played on a console shouldn't be called 'videogames.' They are 'computer games' and 'video games,' respectively. And since we're being linguists here, I've used single quotes ('), to denote the word, rather than double quotes ("), to quote something that was said or uttered.
DG @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
Roger, are you from the UK? Single quotes over the word in American English is incorrect. We only use single quotes for quotations inside quotations.
By the way, American English grammar is indeed a hodgepodge of silly rules and customs, but please. Saying "video games" instead of "video games" because it looks right isn't a sound basis for grammatical choices. "Video" is the adjective. "Games" is the noun. Joystiq is the pain-in-the-ass (compound adjective, therefore hyphenated) weblog that made an issue out of nothing. This is very similar to Fox News and their Christmas nonsense.
dan @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
Personally I have always seen "video games" as 2 words, but I recently had a debate with a friend over wether it was "website" or "web site". So I let google decide, just type in each word and see how many hits are returned. You need to put dubble quotes around video games so google will find the two words consecutively. The results are as follows:
video games: 127,000,000 hits
videogames: 8,990,000 hits
So a lot of people do use "videogames", however about 16 times more people use "video games".
Adam Blinkinsop @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
FTA: "It’s not tele vision, air craft, the Inter net or joy stick."
As is noted above: "Tele" is a prefix. "Craft" is practically a suffix. "Inter" is definitely a prefix, and "joy" is being used as a prefix.
I think the only good example there is the joystick, and even that is pretty iffy: there isn't a large class of sticks that we talk about, but there is a large class of games.
A better example would have been: "it's not board games, role-playing games, or computer games" -- oh, wait; it is.
Adam Blinkinsop @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
In other words, I'm with Jeff.
Nolan @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
According to MSWORD, both are correct...hmmm?
Jody Anthony @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
it is walking stick over walkingstick just like its joystick over joy stick
but i believe its broomstick, not broom stick.
I hate english.
Joost Schuur @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
Video games:
http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=videogames&word2=video+games
Pope Benedict XVI @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
If you find the matter uninteresting then why post?
Einhanderkiller @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
I was wondering this exact thing today!
Voted for "videogames".
Sergio @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
#18 dan: I hope you chose "Web site". Having a lower-case 'w' is now acceptable also. ;)
skibble @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
I think it's terribly pertinent to mention that pop totally kicks soda's ass.
/making a point
Face it, in the end, it's all down to personal preference. For instance, someone mentioned above that it is written in Spanish as "video juegos", though my high school Spanish teacher, a native speaker, taught it to us as "videojuegos". Different dialects may view something in a different light, and as in this case there's no chance of confusion caused by using one or the other, it's not a big deal.
Of course, none of this kept me from voting for "video games" as the easily more logical option.
jpmullet @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
Foranyonethatvotedfor"videogames"pleasegooutand
getyourselfsomeprofessionalhelp.Thanksinadvance,
Acollegegraduate
Chris @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
is it e-mail or email?
Sendai @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
There really is no point to this article.
Besides, it should be two separate words. It's gramatically correct and it specifies exactly what kind of game you are talking about. Just mashing together two words to create a half assed compound word isn't correct anyway.
#29 It's email.
32_Footsteps @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
When modifying the word "game," you do not conjoin the modifier into one word unless it is a prefix without meaning standing on its own. And even then, you traditionally place a hyphen in there as appropriate (pre-game, not pregame).
A board game is a game played with a board. A card game is a game played with cards. A dice game is played with dice. And a video game is played with a video screen. As much as I like video games, they are not so appreciably different from any other variety of game to warrant breaking the rules of English.
32_Footsteps @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
And not that anyone on an English-speaking board cares, but the French keep it two words - un jeu vid?or les jeux vid?(not that anyone cares, but video games actually breaks the rules of French - the adjective does not pluralize along with the noun).
gmrc @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
Man .... I was post #1 and I nailed it - I covered everything you schmoes are talking about already.
And no quotes?! No one referenced my post?! What is this craziness?!?! ;-)
I think the public at large GETS that it SHOULD be two seperate words. Thanks for flexing your delighful and always excellent English skills everyone :| We're all impressed that you know it's really two different words.
But is it a game of Basketball or Basket Ball? I mean really.
NO WAIT! I figured it out!!
It's *not* playing videogames OR playing video games ... it's playing 'nintendo' PWNAGE!
I use no name facial tissues, own an xbox and drink pepsi .... But I ALWAYS say "Pass me a KLEENEX" "I'm drinking COKE" and "I'll be playing some Nintendo for a bit"
Discussion done. Videogames AND video games will hence forth be known only as "Nintendo"
That's what God always intended anyways.
Osiris @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
Well, i feel it is videogames, but video games should also be accepted.
I think it's like, as mentioned before, basketball. It was at one point Basket ball, and through its success and more common usage became basketball.
Gaurav @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
"As an English major, it has to be Video Games. First of all, it just looks really bad when you mash those to words together."
Way to go, english major.
Joshi @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
Well, it depends if "video" is being used as a noun or an descriptive prefix. Yes, "Video" is now commonly accepted as a noun ("I am watching a video"), but it is important to remember that "video" was FIRST a prefix. "Video" the noun is a shortened form of "videocassete."
When you say "Video games are games played on a video screen," "Video" is used as to describe games and screens. "Video" isn't being used like a noun, like as in "board games." If "video" was a noun, it'd be "videocassette games," which is something completely different.
I say "videogames."
Doug teh H-Nut @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
I voted "video games". That's what I've always called 'em and always plan to. Glad to see my choice is winning...
DG @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
My head's about to explode. It's not a preference! One is right! One is wrong! "Videogames" is not a word! If you think it is, you're stupid, and that's the only correct description.
scott @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
"Videogames" looks stupid. The only reason people spell it that way is because a lot of people are stupid. This just makes gamers look stupid. Fortunately according to joystiq's poll and web searches (not websearches), most gamers are not stupid. But, like someone else said, video games sounds dated. Computer games or PC game is what I use.
Mullinator @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
@DG
Incase you havn't noticed the english language is very dynamic. It is always changing. In fact it is one of the great strengths of english. The ability to add new words as they come along is a very good thing to have. Perhaps it isn't correct right now but give it time and perhaps it will be included into the dictionary.
Andrew @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
I struggled to answer this... :O
Pablo Gomez @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
"Sort of tangental, but: I was amused when I saw an Italian movie use "un videogame" since I had previously heard Spanish speakers say "video juego." It raised a lot of questions for me about how other languages adopt foreign terms, and might marginally strengthen the argument for "videogame" being the proper term, if that's what form is being exported. Then again, it could just be a testament to that infamous Italian laziness."
Actually in Spanish, the official term is videojuego.
Joe @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
Google *never* lies.
http://www.google.com/search?q=videogames
gjd @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
Alright (and with that you should now know what my vote will be), my two cents:
videogames
"Video games" just looks weird to me. It deserves its own word like newsstand, newspaper, flowerpot, thumbtack, or sandstorm. Website, too. But *NOT* noone, jeez that's confusing looking. Someone, anyone, everyone, but "no one" was left separate for a reason.
We can look to other languages for evidence, as posters 15 and 32 pointed out. In both french and spanish, where the adjective generally has to agree with the noun, the adjective *remains singular* while the noun becomes plural. This indicates that our brain treats the two words as one semantic chunk. As such, it should be written that way.
Lastly, look at the way you say it. The stress is clearly on the first word, video. Now look at the difference in the way you say "green house" vs. "greenhouse," or "blue bird" vs. "bluebird."
Oh, and to number 14 -- That's not what "game theory" is at all. You said: "I kinda doubt many people here have studied any game theory but the point of it is all games are fundamentally the same; the only difference is content (i.e. 'features') and medium". Game theory almost always refers to it in the economic sense. It's an area of economic study that deals with different scenarios and strategies to maximize your payoffs.
Sean @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
GMRC said
"I use no name facial tissues, own an xbox and drink pepsi .... But I ALWAYS say "Pass me a KLEENEX" "I'm drinking COKE" and "I'll be playing some Nintendo for a bit"
Right on. I voted for videogames, given a choice between those two terms. My reasoning is thus:
1. Do you SAY I'm playing a _video_ _game_, or I'm playing a videogame? In speach the two terms are run together. Like "cannot" "playground," "joystick," or "basketball." Point is, it's a new term and it gets to evolve like all the old terms without the Language Police (Languagepolice?) telling us what to call them. If enough people can communicate using a given term, then it is obvioulsy a word. Being grammatically correct pales in comparison to criteria such as understandablility and linguistic usefulness.
2. I like making up new words! I find terms that do not yet exist for ideas that do exist. For example, "the next day that is like this day" is "nexterday." Said by the teacher to the class on Friday: "Study hard over the weekend for nexterday's test." Not that a teacher would ever say that, because it isn't a dictionary word, but that one could use it to be perfectly understandable.
3. This genre of game requires a new moniker. Sure, it is still a type of game (most of the time) but when a videogame merely incorporates interactivity into a narrative (Xenosaga?) then is it a video game? I would contend that "video game" could be used to describe other things as well that are games on video, like Game Shows. Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, The Price is Right, etc, are all games that are played on video. Not one is a videogame. Videogame is a special class of game that includes any interactive experience created to run on a computerized system whose primary output device is a video screen, and the purpose of the activity is primarily enjoyment.
Now, my final reasoning in this matter is this: we need a word to describe videogames that does not create a knee-jerk reaction from the general populous and pidgeon-hole everything into a single genre. We have "book" "movie" and "TV," So why "Video Game?"
When we take our medium seriously enough to give it a name of its own, then it is legit.
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, anyone?
DG @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
To gjd:
Proper grammar is not about "what looks right." It is because it is. "Videogame" is not a word and you're and idiot for thinking it is.
Lampbane @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
A lot of people are being childish here, really.
Personally, I prefer "videogame" because I think it looks better and is less cumbersome. Is it grammatically correct? No. But eventually the term may come into common usage, since over time videogames (or video games) are becoming further and further distanced from other types of games (board games, card games, etc).
And before people start pissing on me with their credentials, I am a college graduate and an editor. Though, I still write "video game" when talking about them at work. Like, I say, I only personally prefer 'videogames'.
Dan Choi @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
I also voted for "video games" over "videogames"; I'd prefer it to read "video-game" when modifying a noun (as in "video-game studies"), though keeping things as one word would stop most arguments about the dash in the adjective form.
Loved the example of "web site" versus "website" as well. I prefer the separated "web site" in a similar manner to the separated "video games" (with comma and period punctuation inside of quotes when called for).
I just wish everyone would adopt the dash inside of "e-mail"; check out an old rant I read about the issue here:
A Matter of (Wired News) Style
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,39450,00.html
Readers on (Wired News) Style
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,39651,00.html
Good ol' Wikipedia speaks on the subject
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:E-mail
So... what does the ol' Oxford English Dictionary have to say about all this? Languages and word usages change over time, of course, but it's good to know what's accepted by "the establishment" these days.
Brandon @ Dec 18th 2005 9:13PM
For anyone who said something retarded like "well, as an english major I would say", or "I graduated from college so it should be 'video games', and whoever doesn't agree is a moron", well here's my comment.
I'm a Yale graduate, and I say let's call them "videogames". English is a totally f***ed up language anyway, so don't argue grammar with me. I like "videogames", and I think it's time to put these words together.