Should we redefine "Video GAME"?

I didn't see this topic discussed before, so I hope I'm not retreading on old soil.

We all know the criticisms that video games face as a new medium: "They're for kids", "They are basically expensive toys", "Video games can NEVER be art", the list goes on. So after watching an episode of Extra Credits, they mentioned that perhaps one of the reasons to better overcome this criticism games face is through a reclassification of the term, like how Movies became "Motion Pictures", Cartoons are now called "Animated Show/ Films", and how comic books are now refeered to as "Graphic Novels" (not by all). As a result, each of these mediums have gained a much wider cultural appreciation and respect, as being not something that wastes time or is for children but instead can be appreciated globally.

So should the term Video Game be renamed for a possible greater respect? And how should they best be titled? Personally I like "Interactive Digital Entertainment"

You are displaying abnormally high compulsions to over-analyze works of fiction and media. Diagnosis: TV Tropes Addiction.

Except they are games. 90% of the time, that's the most accurate description of them.

And I'm not sure where you got that rebranding thing from. They're still called movies, except when trying to sound impressive, most animated shows are still known as cartoons (usually if it's meant for children), and comic books are a different thing from graphic novels.

I think one of the issues is that games vary wildly from genre to genre. A RPG and a Fighting Game have very little in common. I believe games are art but at the same time it depends on the genre. Some are art, some not, and some are art but for different reasons than others.

"Videogame" is a very broad term.

Instead, I have learned a horrible truth of existence...some stories have no meaning.

Odd, people still call Motion Pictures "Movies" and Graphic Novels "Comics". Did I miss something?

As far as I can tell, video games were considered to be "kid's toys" ever since they existed. No new name is going to change the overall view of video games.

"Pancakes. Oh, I blew it." - Joel Hodgson Nobody better lay a Butterfinger on my 3DS!

How many normal people regularly refer to movies as motion pictures? Most people just call them movies, or films, and have no issue with doing so.

To me trying to redefine something to appeal more to ignorant people seems silly. Besides, the videogame age ghetto is dying down more and more(save for Nintendo, which still has that "for kids and granny" stigma to some extent) with the current gen anyway.

You want videogames to get more respect? Than you do so through the medium itself, not through superficial means such as changing the name or advertising a certain gamer image.

Interactive Digital Entertainment sounds ridiculously wordy anyway.

do videogames really count as a new medium at this point?

Yes and no. Yes, because it'd help lift the stigma of videogames being glorified children's entertainment, and no, because we shouldn't let any grounds to the naysayers that think "those childish videogames are way below our fine, refined tastes". It's what they are, and changing that would be to lose their integrity.

"Holograms are corrputing our children and making them stupid!" <— Me, 90 years from now.

edited 25th Mar '12 6:24:28 PM by ThatOneGuyNamedX

Video games will be a new medium until everyone who didn't grow up with them is dead. At that point video games will be old-fashioned and wholesome and gamers can have a moral panic about whatever the new entertainment medium is.

Compared to nearly every other popular medium, yes. They've only been around for half a century.

Hell, film is still considered a new medium, in academic circles, and it's been around for ~115 years.

edited 25th Mar '12 6:24:50 PM by BadWolf21

The reason I mentioned the need for a rebranding is that I don't think that there's anything fundamentally different than a video game that can't allow it to be classified and critiqued on the same level of sophistication or respect as film or books do. Truly the only thing that's differnt, I feel, is that video games can be played and "Play= For Kids". If we could redefine the term, it might signal a greater cultural change both inside and outside the medium.

Did it really take an entire generation before Film or Comics gained cultural respect as a serious medium?

Not to mention the continuing divide between literary scholars of "classic" vs "pop fiction".

edited 25th Mar '12 6:34:17 PM by Mattonymy

You are displaying abnormally high compulsions to over-analyze works of fiction and media. Diagnosis: TV Tropes Addiction.

Comics still don't have respect as a serious medium...

edited 25th Mar '12 6:33:54 PM by MrShine

comics are culturally respected?

but i thought the general perception was that only fat bespectacled freckle-bitch nerds read them. or all of the aforementioned except 30 years older.

you know, from people who dont read or like comics.

FYI though, i seriously doubt trying to change the name will help in any way. 1. no gamer would actually use it because (warning: overgeneralization) we're all lazy assholes, and 2. non-gamers not respecting games really doesnt have anything to do with the name. im pretty sure of that.

edited 25th Mar '12 6:37:16 PM by Tarsen

Perhaps, but I would say a majority of the population would consider reading a Graphic Novel superior use of one's time to playing an electronic game.

You are displaying abnormally high compulsions to over-analyze works of fiction and media. Diagnosis: TV Tropes Addiction.

I think you are mistaken.

I doubt it, quite frankly.

A few creators use different terms in reference to their video games. For instance, Simcity was called a "software toy," according to this essay from 1995. And except for the people in the visual novel community who are making complex games, most of today's creators use terms that make it clear that the player will be reading a story, and possibly making choices.

In the comics community, you can find people who use different terms to refer to their work. "Comix" was used by underground comics creators. According to Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, some people called themselves "cartoonists" to distance their works from the categories of superheroes or newspaper comics. Also, I remember how in the 2000s, some companies attempted to brand dozens of western comics as manga, regardless of the comics' origins or styles.

I suppose some people and companies will try to rebrand their video games. If they're trying to create something radically different from the current best-sellers, then they may want to create a simple, coherent term to refer to their work. But on the whole, I think people and companies will keep using the phrase "video games" for years.

So it's the companies that come up with the classification term NOT the audience or critics? Hmmmmmmm, how did Graphic Novel come about then?

Also, it seems like I'm going to do more convincing. Alright, think of how many times a comic book or graphic novel has dealt with serious social issues like modern day war on terror, violence, rape, torture and sexual discrimination and still got published. Now think of how many video games have done this.

Admittedly, even though I haven't read all graphic novels or video games, I can still guarantee the ratio is in favor of comic books/ graphic novels.

NOTE: I do admit that Graphic Novels have existed far longer than video games have, so I'm basing this not on the history of all comics but on the recent ones that have come out this past decade.

edited 25th Mar '12 7:11:42 PM by Mattonymy

You are displaying abnormally high compulsions to over-analyze works of fiction and media. Diagnosis: TV Tropes Addiction.

Again, graphic novels =/= comic books. A graphic novel is a novel told in sequential art form. Some graphic novels started out as a miniseries of comics (like Watchmen).

Honestly, in order for video games to not be primarily seen as kids' things, they'd have to overcome a fairly entrenched mindset, and I don't think calling them something else will achieve that.

...off the top of my head:

sexual discrimination: comics get a lot of flak for sexism from what i can tell.

rape: used quite often on both sides, and im willing to bet only a small portion of those uses on either side of it well

violence: ...seriously?

war on terror: from what i can tell, when a comic goes ripped from the headlines it gets called out on being insensitive and just done for shock value. games do it aswell, usually in shooters. lets see...

even the silly megaman battle network games include a fair amount of terrorism. just thought id mention that.

torture: again, you can see it in any medium quite a lot.

again, id like to mention megaman battle network. particularly 6, where apparantly a criminals punishment for any crime is pretty much: being electrocuted for a varying amount of hours. the only time mentioned in game was 100 hours. and then you later see what the room it happens in looks like. its clearly an electric chair

and im sure that: torture and violence and rape are not a part of why other mediums are respected at all.

edited 25th Mar '12 7:23:46 PM by Tarsen

Then, I guess, would I be correct in thinking that the stigmatization against video games are very similar to those facing cartoons? Even though Western Animation has existed for nearly a century, they still have trouble facing a more mature audience since the general theme is that All Animation is for kids? Albeit, this mindset is slowly weakening but not to the extent that perhaps it should. The simple redefinition of Animated Films doesn't obfuscate the mindset that they're still cartoons at heart.

You are displaying abnormally high compulsions to over-analyze works of fiction and media. Diagnosis: TV Tropes Addiction.

The fact video games are becoming less game like is a bit of a pet peeve of mine actually.

Then I bet you would love Flower.

edited 25th Mar '12 7:32:43 PM by Mattonymy

You are displaying abnormally high compulsions to over-analyze works of fiction and media. Diagnosis: TV Tropes Addiction.

^^^ Pretty much.

Personally, I question why it should matter about the reputation of video games (the reason for the rename idea, I believe). Shakespeare didn't write his plays to be pieces of High Theatre(tm) (because the -re spelling is always more classy ), he wrote them for entertainment (and probably to pay bills) and didn't worry about whether they'd be viewed as masterpieces or whatnot.

edited 25th Mar '12 7:38:15 PM by Nohbody

All your safe space are belong to Trump

This is something I've never understood.

Video games either are art, or they aren't. You can't go "X game is art, but Y game isn't, because Z" it doesn't work that way.

I mean, you wouldn't go and say "Well, I don't know what these Picassos are doing at the art museum. They aren't art. Pfft."

So if something like Limbo is art, then so is Call of Duty.

"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."