Changing "games"

Sounds oddly like the whole 'graphic novel' motif, except applied to games. I was thinking SOMEONE would think of it eventually.

"The word "game" has been used for decades"

Uh, yeah, more like centuries.

Whenever I read an article like this, it just smacks of insecurity. The entire motivation behind it seems to be that games are for kids so we should call them something else so that we won't feel embarassed playing them as adults.

So what do you call Chess? All the players I know call it a game. How about Go, which is even older? In fact, game theory is still one of the favorite subjects of mathematicians and it affects almost everything in life.

I'm gonna keep calling games what they are, thanks.

[agreed] I've never liked the whole 'graphic novel' idea of making sure everything has a non-kiddy name. Really dumb.

This is pathetic. I mean games are games. What else is there? Film. if its interactive its a game if there is no viewer input its a film/TV/whatever. What will call them? "interactives" whilst the other stuff becomes "non-interactives" or as the 'cool' kids will call them "innies"...

Who is this aimed at? those people with serious problems who can't say they are playing games? Jesus, how immature has a person got to be? I'm 20. I don't give a damn if I get out my DS and start playing some with mountains of gameplay like Animal Crossing or whatever. I don't care if they're called games or not. my parents don't care. nobody I know cares, apart from those wong-image-conscious scallies on their PSP's "cuz it has teh l33t racing gaems".

What is so wrong with keeping things the way they are? TV hasn't changed its name. Films haven't. There are film and TV shows aimed at kids but we don't say they're just for kids.

Whoever wrote this, whoever believes that games are strictly for kids and that the name should change really needs to get a big grip on reality.

Changing a world-wide term such as "game" must be hard, even harder than the US itself changing from Standard to Metric units of measurement. I don't like the idea of my hobby being treated as kid's toy, sure they're for kids but as this industry is growing, it's not much of a toy anymore. You don't see these games being sold in the toys sections of your local department store, they're in the electronics section. I'm supprised to hear that video games are still reffered to as child's toys, with all the controversy and whatnot. I guess we'll have to leave this to the industry leaders to figure out a new name for our beloved form of entertainment and the direction it will be headed in.

It would be neat if they had a new name, however it would really have to be a word with no more than two syllables I think, otherwise it would have absolutely not chance of catching on.

Personally I would kind of like it if the word had a nice ring to it. Perhaps the word could be applied to more mature oriented games, so "game" would be a generic term and whatever this new word could be a subset of "game". In other words, all "blanks" are games, but not all games are "blanks".

Mullinator:

I think that the point is being "Not-games", so you are right in almost everything, except I think that in this case, games should be a subset of "blanks", not otherwise. So all games are "blanks", but not all "blanks" are games.

"I'm going to buy some blanks!"

"You mean, some games?"

"No, blanks you fucking idiot. Games are blanks for kids."

"Ok, STFU already."

scrabble is a game, jeopardy is a game show, games aren't just for kids

I can't wait to go to my local InteractiveEntertainmentStop store and pick up some new InteractiveEntertainments for my InteractiveEntertainStation 4!

Seriously, if people don't see professional football or baseball "games" as a child's pursuit, I don't think the word is necessarily the problem. I tend to think the problem will take care of itself as the current generation of gamers grows up.

ridiculous. they always have been games, they always will be games. end of story.

i refuse to refer to them casually as anything else, especially something like "interactive entertainment". formally, yes. casually, no f'ing way.

i don't understand this NEED to seperate video games from their past.

Guys! Guys!! Settle down already. This has already been taken care of. They aren't called "Games" anymore, they're "Murder Simulators", remember? Now with that outta the way, let's not forget one important quote: "A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet".

Video games will always be fun, and Jack Thompson will always be a douche. No matter what name either goes by.

Yes, let's call them 'interactives' and the cool kids can call them 'innies.' We'll call other forms of media, like books and movies, 'outties.' Your preferred medium of entertainment will thus be decided by your bellybutton.

I'm glad my attempt at a facetious comment didn't escape you Chris. It was merely a piss take of what kids call things these days. Drinks aren't drinks anymore; they're brewski's. Usually originating from america or Liverpool, usually sad.

Maybe it's just me, but "Interactive Entertainment" sounds utterly pretentious.

I DONT WANT TO BE AN "INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENTER"

um... jay? how old are you, exactly?

because i NEVER heard ANYONE call a drink a "brewski" in real life.

Game: An activity providing entertainment or amusement.

I don't need to say anymore than that.

Keep it "Video Games". As another poster said, "interactive entertainment" sounds pretentious and way too long for what it is -- something fun to pass the time.

I don't want my games to become something for adults either. What's wrong with fun games?

Bring blue skies back in games!
http://www.ukresistance.co.uk/2005/11/blue-sky-in-games-campaign-launched.html

By the way...

"14. I DONT WANT TO BE AN "INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENTER""

You won't. You'd be the "interactively entertained"! Sounds even dumber.

Not only does "game" sound kiddy, but "video" sounds nerdy.

I've never heard anyone in real life call it a 'brewski' im going off what my sister watches, Sabrina and all that Nickelodeon crap. I don't venture outside of Manchester on a daily basis.

I'll bite.

I thought this was a good idea until I tried to come up with an acceptable alternative term. It's....uh....erm..aah...Fnarp! That's it. And we are all fnarpers. Now Gamestop just has to change their name to FnarpStop...Gamespy needs to change their name to...oh, who the hell cares about Gamespy, really?
You get the idea. Come one, everyone, hop on the bandwagon!

--Branewalker

Well, I think all the comments so far go to show just how attached people are to their existing terminology. Sadly.

Personally, I'd like to see a new term created to separate the more...meritworthy titles. Just as "movie" and "film", "comic" and "graphic novel", "indie" and "pop", etc etc TEND to refer to the low and highbrow respectively, I think games should be no different. And please don't take offence at that, I emphasise the word TEND. But yes, I do think it would be helpful to have a separate term to differentiate between Ico and Madden NFL 2005, just as we find it helpful to have the separate terms "MMORPG" and "virtual world".

For those people who are saying Chess and Scrabble are also games, etc etc, if you can't get past Jennie's choice of words, then how about "video games" instead? I would think that the vast majority of readers would agree that the term "video games", deserved or not, has a stigmatic association with mindless, time-wasting fluff. So how do we differentiate those rare, cherished artistic accomplishments like God of War from "video games"? In my opinion, it would benefit us all if we did so.

Incidentally, at least within gaming circles, I don't know if the term would need to be 'snappy' enough to stick. I mean, "MMORPG" is a hideously unwieldy term to use in conversation, but WE all know what it means. So perhaps acronyms are worth considering. Although if the point is to extend it beyond gaming circles and into the mainstream vernacular, then some catchiness might be a good idea. The 'best' acronyms end up entering the common vocabulary, such as "laser" and "radar". If it can work for them, it can surely work for anything.

Adults never play card games. Card games are for kids because it has the word "games" in it.

If Millionare Athletes can call their work Football games, Baseball games, Hockey, and Olympic games, I don't see why we should change. No Matter of fact check that; this false elitist attitude makes it that we don't even belong in their category. Do the people who want to change the name to "Interactive Entertainment" feel they are on par with an Olympian or any pro sports star, I doubt it but they need some sort of reasures they are better than children right?

This is sad and the fact that we play into it and give them attention(Me Included) is sad. I won't be manipulated by some low self esteemed prententious starved for attention fool who is trying to give him/herself a title to make themselves feel superior over a ten year old. You want to feel better about your gamer talents and abilities, pick up a controller and own them at it. If an Olympian can admit to he/she is playing a game, I think me sitting on my sofa pressing A and B to make another character jump and Run can be ok with the term. By the way Chess is also a game, Kings and Nobles used this as strategic war games. I guess they should have renamed it to "Simiulated Agressive Offensivee Deployment Situations."

Video games will always be known as video games. Why would a gamer be called anything else?? Even a person who does casual game downloads will agree.

But we don't call them "Olympic Gamers". The back pages of the newspaper sections aren't devoted to "Games". If you ask a professional footballer/polevaulter/whatever what they do for a living, they won't say "Oh, I play games and stuff". The very reason we use words like "athlete" and "sport" is to differentiate all of these things and set them apart from one another.

It might be semantics, but it's a necessary construct of language and society in general. If we didn't have words for athletes and sports, discussing them would be very complicated. Currently, we DON'T have the same kind of words for video games, and that's the problem.

That's silly. Whether a movie is a kid's movie, a grossout comedy, or serious drama it's still called a "movie" in each of those cases. Why would video games be any different?

Besides, it's an uphill battle to get our whole society to change it up to a different word.

I think all the parties associated are looking too much into it.
They are games, because you play them. No need to start calling them computer simulations. Sure, Toys'r'us sells em, but they sell dvds too these days. I find it convenient. And, if they were marketed to kids it the past, then of course there will be some associations. So? You can't erase your roots. Just let it be.

I agree that games are games and I don't see it changing any time soon, but I'm not hearing too many posters that show they understand why the change could be good.

By using the word 'game', video games allow themselves to be considered something that is suitable for children. Using a different form of wording might get some people off our backs, like a Jack Thompson for example, because the 'game' we're playing is marketed and categorized as some form of adult-only entertainment.

For example, take pornography. It is taken on good assumption that the term refers to media that is targeted and sold to adults who know exactly what they're buying, and even 'child pornography' has a market of adults. We've even come up with a word to refer to a pornographic movie; we call it a 'porno'.

The only problem with the word is that it's not always a very neutral term. Quite often the word 'porn' is given a bad rap and considered a lower form of entertainment and you wouldn't want to do that with mature-themed video games. We'd have to come up with a term that shed these games in a positive light.

Would there still be fanatics that bash mature-themed video games and blame them for real-world violence if we changed the name? Yes, I'm sure there would be. But if you get the mainstream press and the everyday Joe to get in a mindset that these games as adult-only media, it would be very hard to enfore any kind of legislation other than age verification for purchases which I think most of us who are over 18 would agree is a good thing for our industry. I don't care if someone checks my ID before I buy a game.

And before anyone else asks about this, yes, pornographic material still gets in the hands of our youth, mostly young teenage boys. However, when was the last time you heard that some 16 year old boy raped his date at the drive-in and they blame the magazines under his bed for giving him the idea?

Also, I've been calling video games, 'vids', for quite a number of years so, for me and my friends, we have long had a different name for video games that doesn't include the word games.

SMACKS OF INSECURITY!