![]() ![]() Are these things that would ever be part of a traditional game like chess or baseball? So, even when the core element of a video game is based upon challenge and competition, two things that basically define the word game, there can still be many aspects that go so far beyond the simple of idea of what a game entails. Some of the major strengths of Dark Souls are its sense of atmosphere and exploration, the subtle implementation of world building and lore, and its gothic art style. Sure, the primary element of the game is overcoming the challenges and defeating the game, basically winning, but there is so much more to it than winning or losing. However, video games that can be described as nothing more than games are becoming increasingly rare.Įven something like Dark Souls, which is defined by its challenge, is still not adequately defined merely as a game. ![]() Those are the types of games for which the medium was originally named, because that is exactly what they are a game that takes place on a video screen. Then of course there are things like the recently released Resogun which has no other point than to challenge the player and incentive the attaining of high scores. There are two sides that compete directly against each other with one winning and the other losing. Pretty much all multiplayer focused games are the definition of a game. Of course, there are still plenty of games that are exactly what the term “video game” implies. Granted, both of these titles have their more game-like elements, but for most people that isn’t the reason the experience of playing the game stuck with them. Taking two of this year’s biggest games as an example, people didn’t enjoy The Last of Us or GTA V because they wanted the satisfaction of winning, but because those games created worlds we wanted to inhabit, characters we wanted to get to know, and stories we wanted to experience. ![]() Sure, you can “beat” a single player game and most of them have fail states (usually dying), but the point of most games isn’t to win, it’s to experience the content. When you call something a game, it creates the idea that it is something that can be won or lost, and that is simply not the defining factor of most modern video games. When I refer to the term game, I of course mean the traditional definition where the whole point is competition, like sports or board games. The word “game” comes with a lot of implications, but few of them apply to the majority of video games being released today. I believe this mentality results from a handful of factors, but primarily from the fact that the term “video game” doesn’t adequately describe what this medium has become or what it can be. Over the past few years, however, there have been quite a few video games released that have received a backlash amongst gamers and have been labeled “not a game.” Last year The Walking Dead was the winner of many game of the year awards (and was my personal game of year), but there was a vocal group of people claiming it was undeserving of game of year because it “wasn’t even a game.” The Walking Dead isn’t the only one either, with games such as Dear Esther, To The Moon, and Gone Home receiving a similar backlash. The term “video game” is one that has existed for decades, and everyone knows what it refers to.
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