Sunday Symposium: What Is A Game?

[FatherJack]

Anyway. This is the conclusion I came to while pondering in posting the question. Nobody ever accused a game they liked of not being a game, they only ever used the question as a veiled accusation to insinuate that the object of their dislike wasn't worthy of the attentions of gaming blogs.

I don't use it as an accusation, I enjoyed Walking Dead and didn't dislike Proteus, but I wouldn't say "game" entirely describes them. Sure they are on the spectrum of Gaming, but they kind of deserve a new title. Interactive story or experience sound a bit poncey but they're the best I could come up with. A positive reason for calling them that is to widen their audience to people who feel the word game has negative or childish connotations.

[Dog Pants]

Have you ever offered the opinion that they aren't games though, as opposed to offering the opinion that they are something else? It seems like quibbling over semantics, but "this isn't a game" is rather negative compared to "this is an interactive story."

[FatherJack]

Have you ever offered the opinion that they aren't games though, as opposed to offering the opinion that they are something else? It seems like quibbling over semantics, but "this isn't a game" is rather negative compared to "this is an interactive story."

Kind of, when I played them (and some other similar titles) I was conscious of how little I was actually doing to influence events and at some points thought "is this even a game?" but I guess that is kinda negative. It was when I decided they must be something else that I enjoyed them.
Certainly it was negative when I thought that about a Lego Racers game from the mid-90s that the kids had: we discovered that steering actually had no effect, it was designed to be easy for kids, but actually just tricked them into thinking they were great at it.

[Dog Pants]

That sounds like it probably deserves the negativity, since it was being deliberately misleading.

[Joose]

Certainly it was negative when I thought that about a Lego Racers game from the mid-90s that the kids had: we discovered that steering actually had no effect, it was designed to be easy for kids, but actually just tricked them into thinking they were great at it.

I would argue that this isnt a question of whether it is a game, or even whether it is a good game. When you have realised that the steering is borked, its no longer fun, so it is no longer entertainment. What kind of entertainment it is isn't the issue, the issue is that it fails to be *any* kind of entertainment at that point.