Support NeoGAF

[More_Badass]

I tend to think of it how one medium started as "moving pictures" before evolving into what it is today. And while motion picture is a term still used (and as a venerable and/or historical marker i.e. the MPAA was formed in 1922), film and movies tends to be the norm nowadays.

However this medium has retained that original title of "video game" since the 60s, even as what's available has expanded and experimented beyond the bounds of the "game" part, something we see today in the common inquiry when a title like Gone Home or Edith Finch comes up or the argument that a win condition, failure state, etc is needed to qualify when considering experimental works

That kind of debate is a near certainty with "game" in the name of the medium; titles bring with them expectations and assumptions, and if we're still having that "is it a game/not a game" today, perhaps that's a sign that "video game" isn't an adequate name for the medium as a whole.

 

[Glass Shark]

Definitely, but all the options I can think of aren't much better. "Interactive narrative?" It's a mouthful, and even that descriptor doesn't encapsulate the whole medium.

 

[James Scott]

It's not a good name but I don't think we'll be able to change it anytime soon.

 

[Drencrom]

Sony had a pretty good idea with "Interactive Entertainment" imo

"Interactive Software" could also work I guess

EDIT: Just realized that SIE isn't the first videogame company that uses the "IE" moniker (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for an example), but my point still stands.

 

[mokeyjoe]

Maybe people's definition of 'game' is too narrow.

 

[chrisPjelly]

Toys

Spoiler

Interactive entertainment sounds perfect

 

[titiklabingapat]

Games has become increasingly synonymous with it.

 

[Phediuk]

It's a shitty term but good luck changing it now.

 

[CaviarMeths]

Maybe people's definition of 'game' is too narrow.

Yeah, this is my thinking too. "Game" isn't any less mature or whatever than the word "movie."

Like

Sony had a pretty good idea with "Interactive Entertainment" imo

"Interactive Software" could also work I guess

"Interactive Entertainment" means game. That's what a game is.

 

[Danjin44]

Whats wrong with calling them "video games"? I prefer that over "interactive entertainment" or "interactive media".

 

[ViolentP]

I heard the last Bombcast too.

 

[JusDoIt]

Gone Home is definitely a game. It's a narrative puzzle that you solve by exploring the house.

 

[Glass Shark]

What we call "games" today aren't always necessarily meant to "entertain" though. In the same way that film or literature can address important ideas and be about something more than just entertaining the person watching or reading.

In fact, I think the very works that most inspire the question from the OP would be least likely to be accurately referred to as "entertainment."

 

[Arc Christelle]

Considering that in the art of video games, we must focus on the game design and convert that experience into a set of playable rules and visual cues, it's a good enough title, that covers a wide array of experiences. Because you're playing a video game.

 

[aradikus]

Interactive Entertainment is a good start, but maybe the 'entertainment' part is too limiting. Not everything is for "amusement or joy". I wasn't amused per se at the character arcs in The Last of Us or Hellblade for instance.

What else could work?

 

[More_Badass]

I heard the last Bombcast too.

Honestly, I don't even listen to that podcast. I just like thinking about this stuff

 

[TissueBox]

Though I agree, after thinking about it, it also adheres to how people can refer to it in the context of an action, in a way...

Like with film, you say you watch a film, or movie, or picture. Whereas you 'play' video games; it sort of represents the whole core of the medium... even if a couple feel more like passive experiences.

With stuff like visual novels, for instance, there's the camp that considers them games you play, and then there's the camp that sees them as interactive graphic novels that you read... the idea is that games as a whole probably fall under the 'electronic interactive entertainment/art' umbrella too, and often the lines between games, fun, and experiential works are very blurred.

So in the end I think all it really can do is stay, at least for the time being.

 

[LightofRohan]

Yes absolutely. It always annoys me when people call them, (I don't even like saying it) "Video game" (blehh). It's super reductive and limiting.

It's like if you called any moving picture a movie. Whats your favorite movie? Hmm, it's either between Gangam Style Music Video and No Country for Old Men.

It's all just weird. I'm a fan of interactive-entertainment ect. But I know it's not catchy.

 

[Vanguard771]

It's not a name that is perfect in a definition sense but it is an accessible name. Young children generally understand what the words "video" and "game" mean without much difficulty and just the inclusion of the word "game" will pique the interest of anyone who enjoys a bit of fun. I worry that the medium under a different name might not feel as open.

 

[phanphare]

no not at all. I feel like if you think "video game" is too narrow a title for the medium that's probably on you and what is likely too narrow of a view of what a game can be. nothing wrong with the title itself.

 

[Drencrom]

Interactive Entertainment is a good start, but maybe the 'entertainment' part is too limiting. Not everything is for "amusement or joy". I wasn't amused at the character arcs in The Last of Us or Template for instance.

What else could work?

I get what you're saying but even though you didn't find TLOU "amusing" doesn't make it not entertainment. It's a software title solely used recreationally, not for work or educational purposes. Most films and music is simply entertainment too, just like games.

 

[Elfforkusu]

Interactive entertainment.

I think we need some really good 'video' games that are played purely with audio/touch to force a name change.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

I agree that video game is archaic and inherently flawed when describing the medium today. It still brings to mind true "video games" like Galaga, Pac-man, Mario Bros., Outrun, you name it. Not that any of those are bad - far, far from it - but we've come so far from interactive games that I don't think the term fits as an umbrella term anymore.

I mean, it's still recreation. But it's a lot more nuanced than, say, playing an electronic board game (although that's fun to do nowadays too!) Shadow of the Colossus is an artistic achievement, Mass Effect is a sprawling space opera that you can interact with, the Elder Scrolls series represent worlds to visit and lose yourself in.

It doesn't fit perfectly, but I think it's stuck the way it is.

 

[Jangowuzhere]

Yes, I thought about this years ago.

The negative stigma around the medium mostly comes from the name alone.

 

[aradikus]

We shall call them Play Shows.

 

[Grath]

Sony had a pretty good idea with "Interactive Entertainment" imo

"Interactive Software" could also work I guess

EDIT: Just realized that SIE isn't the first videogame company that uses the "IE" moniker (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for an example), but my point still stands.

Board games, card games, (pen and paper) role playing games are interactive and forms of entertainment.

Almost all programs from Word to Photoshop to Facebook are interactive and are softwares.

 

[Phu]

'Movies' is a waaay dumber title than 'games'.

To add, I think we're just used to the term 'movies'. Like, they're pictures that move, moving pictures, movies.

 

[Glass Shark]

'Movies' is a waaay dumber title than 'games'.

holy shit, I literally just realized where the term "movies" comes from

I'm a moron

 

[Tregard]

I could see just "Interactives" working

 

[TissueBox]

What if... what if we called games "ludies"?

o_o

 

[linko9]

Everyone I know calls them 'tronix these days, where you been?

 

[JusDoIt]

I could see just "Interactives" working

I'm down.

 

[Megatron]

Video games is fine. Stop over thinking it.

 

[PrimeBeef]

It obviously os too narrow of a description for everything today. However, with video games, you know it is something you will interact with via a video screen of some sort. Now the game part can be misleasing a bit but, IMO, video games gets the point across. As to the stigma, I get it but as a 42 year old man who has playes video games since 1979, I say to hell with what others think. I play video games.

 

[NipplesAndToes23]

Video games is fine. Stop over thinking it.

I'm with Thing.

 

[aradikus]

I get what you're saying but even though you didn't find TLOU "amusing" doesn't make it not entertainment. It's a software title solely used recreationally, not for work or educational purposes. Most films and music is simply entertainment too, just like games.

Can't dispute your reasoning. Maybe I feel like the word entertainment carries psychic baggage with me. I equate entertainment with fun, I don't enjoy Nine Inch Nails because it's fun. Classic paintings of horrible stuff isn't fun but is a reflection of the times and the beliefs or views of the artist(s)... hmmm Interactive Works or...

Maybe Electronic Arts?!

 

[Mivey]

I propose Audio-Visual-Interactive-Experience. Avie for short.

 

[Astral Dog]

Interactive entertainment sounds like a handful, like only nerds would come with it

 

[SatoAilDarko]

Video games is fine. Stop over thinking it.

This.

'Movies' is a waaay dumber title than 'games'.

To add, I think we're just used to the term 'movies'. Like, they're pictures that move, moving pictures, movies.

Also this.

 

[CaviarMeths]

I think this is really just a hang up for gamers. "What? Play? Games? Those are for children!" The problem isn't that the term is too narrow or limiting. It's that people are repulsed by the word, like story-rich games for older audiences are suddenly diminished by the acknowledgement that yes, they are games. Things can be masterful works of art and still be games. It's ok. The Last of Us is a game, and there's nothing wrong with that.

World class athletes that train for years are probably also ok with competing in the "Olympic Games."

 

[tuna_love]

immersive interactive sims

 

[TimeEffect]

Electronic Arts

 

[RoboPlato]

Yeah the name isn't reflective of what the medium is any more but it's so ingrained I can't think of anything that would feel like a natural replacement.

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

I think "video games" is here to stay, just as "movies" has stuck around even after terms like "talkies" fell out of fashion.

 

[aradikus]

Do you want to play an interactive computer narrative work challenge?

 

[random25]

That's what genre is for, I think. They are video games, but a different sub-group from what we are used to.

 

[Regiruler]

I think it's still perfectly appropriate, but then I don't care for anything that's really bound by the label in the first place.

 

[Luminaire]

I'm just gonna call it eSports from now on.

 

[Spring-Loaded]

Yeah the name isn't reflective of what the medium is any more but it's so ingrained I can't think of anything that would feel like a natural replacement.

Same, and I don't find it limiting or derogatory, so I think it should stay.

"Interactive media" can still be used as a catch-all for stuff if people want to use that, or something similar.

 

[mrkgoo]

meh, it can stay as video games.The term carries its own these days.

you know, like "films" even thought they may not be projected by film and so on.

I mean should we technically change some thing like TV? I know it's still appropriate, but it does seem a weird monicker when you consider how much we use them as broadcast devices - I mean a lot of the time, it's more like a monitor.