Audio Products

I would like to say that even though it is obscure, "Audioplay" is the best term that I see. "Radio" and "podcast" are mediums, and while any English-speaker would recognise them, they would likely not associate them foremost with fiction (which is what we are focusing on). "Audioplay" is tied with theatre plays, which are always fictional.

I'm not very familiar with media of this kind, but I'd be in favor of Audio/ or AudioPlay/ as the namespace for audio-based media.

(Speaking of which, I do have a sandbox for an audio drama series by David Near, it's called The Morgue Files. I think that, although there are illustrations, it's still viable for an Audio something namespace since the story's carried with the audio, but I'd like to be certain.)

"Audio Play" is scripted, linked by its title to stage plays, and would previously have been called a "Radio Play" (or "Radio Drama"). They are likely to be an original creative work, or an adaptation of a work first presented in a different format. Examples of the latter are the "Star Wars" radio dramas, or versions of "The Lord of the Rings" or "World War Z" audio plays.

"Audio Fiction" would emcompass readings of novels or collections of stories first issued as print or electronic books. (I think "Audio Books" would include both fictional and non-fiction books in audio format.)

I would think it makes more sense to use "Audio Plays" and limit it to scripted, original or adapated works in audio format.

I don't know a great deal about podcasts, but many are focused on news or discussion of non-fictional subjects. They aren't "plays", though they may have available transcripte (usually made after the podcast has been recorded.)

Some web original works do have an audio-only version available (for instance, "Critical Role" D&D gameplay sessions can be viewed online or listened to online.

Audio/ is simply too broad, unless we're planning to fold Music/ into it as well. AudioPlay/ seems like the best suggestion to me.

Fair point. Count me in on leaning towards just AudioPlay/ then.

That'd exclude unscripted works, like improv comedy.

According to Audio Play:

Are there any works of unscripted improv comedy audio that we need to include?

What we're talking about here is basically the audio version of a play, film, or TV show. A script is assumed although perhaps it'd not completely essential — maybe there are some creators like Wong Kar-wai who create them without ever really having a script, who knows. But there're definitely a story, and there are actors playing the different characters.

Something like stand-up comedy but only audio would not count.

Edited by Eievie on Apr 24th 2023 at 3:20:16 AM

My Brother, My Brother and Me is a "people talking" podcast that involves improv comedy.

Other tropable non-Audio Play audio-original works include:

• Actual Play works
• some audiobooks and Dramatic Readings

Edited by Twiddler on Apr 24th 2023 at 3:44:48 AM

Those are good examples of things that are not the same media type as audio plays, and where it's right and proper that they be kept separate.

As someone not well versed in this topic, my worry with AudioPlay\ is that, to someone unfamiliar with our site's definition, it sounds like the audio equivilent to Theatre, and while most tropable audio-only works that aren't music would fall somewhere in that domain, it's not immediately obvious, especially because "play" implies a substantial duration.

How so?

(Some other possibilities that haven't been suggested yet: AudioTheatre/, AudioBook/, Broadcast/, VocalPerformance/, VocalRecord/, SpokenWord/)

(...really if we were going to be at all consistent with medium namespaces we'd have to rely on some kind of matrix for "how does the artist create it, and how does the audience engage with it" - written, spoken, sung, performed, illustrated, programmed; passively, interactively, collaboratively, destructively)

I think I hear what you're saying: the name suggests something more theatre-related, like for example the BBC radio rendition of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, a preexisting work originally written to be a stage play.

If you have any name suggestion you think circumvents that, I'm all ears. But, out of all the names suggested yet, AudioPlay still seems to be the best we've come up with so far.

As for "'play' implies a substantial duration", I have thought about whether there should be a distinction between episodic and one-long-thing audio plays, like there is between TV series and film. For the time being, I think there's few enough audio plays overall that making such a distinction would just be splitting hairs.

Edited by Eievie on Apr 27th 2023 at 8:43:39 AM

Ok, let's talk through those ideas:

• AudioTheatre is just as theatre-y as AudioPlay, if not moreso. I'm not seeing any reason it'd be better.
• AudioBook is a different media type from the one being discussed here. Moreover, I'm hard-pressed to imagine a scenario where the audiobook is sufficiently different from its written counterpart that it would need it's own page separate from the Literature page.
• Broadcast, VocalPerformance, and VocalRecord are all overly broad, the same issue with AudioFiction discussed earlier in this thread.
• SpokenWord suggests Spoken Word Poetry, which is again, a different type of media from the one being discussed here.

Edited by Eievie on Apr 30th 2023 at 10:15:01 AM

The problem is that, as far as I can tell, there isn't a single accepted term used to describe radio plays, podcasts, and audio dramas, that also excludes music and audio books. If we want a term that's instantly recognisable, we will have to settle for either too broad or too narrow and all we can do is refine it as close as possible.

I still favour AudioPlay/ and I'm somewhat confused by what the drawbacks are supposed to be from the association with theatre - which is already broad enough to include skits and improv - but since there was concern about that I thought I would come up with some other options.

(Also, while I'm sure you're right that audio books are almost universally adaptations, I would be hard-pressed to distinguish a book originally released in audio form from an audio drama.)

Edited by Noaqiyeum on May 2nd 2023 at 7:44:37 PM

We've now done a couple rounds of proposing other namespaces, and landing back at the initial option, AudioPlay. Is this sufficiently discussed now? Are we at a point now where we can say "AudioPlay is the right namespace to use for this media type" and go forward?

Edited by Eievie on May 2nd 2023 at 6:42:04 AM

Probably so. I appreciate the efforts, Noa, but I'll echo the sentiments that they aren't any better and I don't have anything better myself.

Ok, so Audio Play is the name!

Next, defining it clearly and setting the boundaries. To get started, I guess I'd say something like:

Eh? I'm pretty sure we still need a crowner to decide names...

Yeah, we can't do this unilaterally without a crowner or a mod call. I am not sure if we are ready for a crowner or not but if people think we are, I (or another mod) can set one up.

Edited by MacronNotes on May 3rd 2023 at 3:07:11 PM

Well, now that I think of it, let's wait until the Trope Report goes up to see if it brings any other opinions.

I personally don't listen to enough audio-based works to have a solid opinion on this, but as with other changes to namespace scope, I think it would be good to have a list of works that would be affected by the cleanup so people have a clearer idea of the work that would go into it before voting.

Edited by Synchronicity on May 3rd 2023 at 2:58:22 PM

That's what I'd like as well before definitively siding with anything.

AudioPlay/: Covers all audio works that can't neatly fit into Podcast/ or Radio/ like audiobooks (that aren't adaptations of written work)and audioplays.

Radio/: Anything originally broadcasted on the radio.

Podcast/: Covers well, podcasts. However, there's this line on Podcast:

That suggests that it can cover the same area that AudioPlay/ currently covers. I originally thought it was for every work that labeled itself a podcast but that's probably not accurate.

I think we can leave radio alone and just figure how to handle the overlap between Podcast/ and AudioPlay/.

Edited by MacronNotes on May 3rd 2023 at 4:32:25 AM

Podcast already had a folder called "Audio Dramas" which at least theoretically should contain most of the kind I'm proposing moving. There's also Science Fiction Podcasts which seems mostly fictional and scripted.

Edited by Eievie on May 3rd 2023 at 4:27:11 AM

~@Macron Notes I'd like to request a crowner now, since it seems like no one has anything else to say