Do video games need a new name?

With some of the negative connotations associated with "game", implying it's just for kids, and the image that most people have with video games and all the various controversy surrounding it, is a new term needed?

Games have come a long way since Pong, since the SNES era, since so many other consoles and games that previously garnered controversy like Mortal Kombat, that they are an art form, and the amount of work, programming and imagination put into creating a video game... not enough people know this. Just how difficult it is to program a great game, to check for bugs, all the beautiful environments, music, etc etc.

Now, video games still sort of sound like a hobby for young children to some, and perhaps not take as seriously. While many are used to the term and don't think twice about it, what about a different name for this ever changing, ever evolving medium?

Yeah, maybe 'interactive movie' like MGS 4 :P

Yeah, maybe 'interactive movie' like MGS 4 :P

eccentric_view

Heh Intermovie isn't half bad. Though the abbreviation IM could be mistaken for instant messaging.

Perhaps a better name would be video entertainment medium. That lets you press buttons.

I'm quite fine with video game. What does it matter anymore...

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. It doesnt make a slight bit of difference.

If you suddenly re-brand video games, I think most people will catch on to the fact fairly quickly -- and so the negative connotations and controversy will just follow the new term. Besides, I am a grown man, and if somebody thinks that I'm immature just because I am passionate about video games (read: games), then so be it. People who make fun of other people's passions are often not passionate about anything themselves, and so find the entire concept too exotic and nebulous for their liking. Such things are easier to ridicule, in their minds.

how about Alan?

I say no. They are video games. Very few titles do something to where I'd say they are bordering on not being games anymore. The only one that comes to my mind is Heavy Rain

It's like "graphic novels". They are comic books for people who are ashamed to say they read comic books but not ashamed to the point where they'll stop reading them. I'd rather people had more backbone for their hobbies than come up with some new name to try and hide it.

If you suddenly re-brand video games, I think most people will catch on to the fact fairly quickly -- and so the negative connotations and controversy will just follow the new term. Besides, I am a grown man, and if somebody thinks that I'm immature just because I am passionate about video games (read: games), then so be it. People who make fun of other people's passions are often not passionate about anything themselves, and so find the entire concept too exotic and nebulous for their liking. Such things are easier to ridicule, in their minds.

RiskAverseStock

Nope, proud to have my title be "Gamer"

Whoever says the term "video games" is aimed at children is out of touch, thus their opinion or statement fails to matter.

Although if you wanted to, you could rename them to "Modern interactive audiovisual entertainments".

I'll stick to video games and go with the fact that anyone who thinks the term is aimed at children is shy a few brain cells.

Whoever says the term "video games" is aimed at children is out of touch, thus their opinion or statement fails to matter.

Although if you wanted to, you could rename them to "Modern interactive audiovisual entertainments".

I'll stick to video games and go with the fact that anyone who thinks the term is aimed at children is shy a few brain cells.

Jorlen

I think it gives us an inside joke to laugh at.

Whoever says the term "video games" is aimed at children is out of touch, thus their opinion or statement fails to matter.

Jorlen

Well, video games just rolls off the toung, unless someone can find a term that rolls of the toung, sounds mature, and doesn't sound like some sort of joke about things that we will have in the future than we sould consider a change.

[QUOTE="Jorlen"]

Whoever says the term "video games" is aimed at children is out of touch, thus their opinion or statement fails to matter.

reason58

Can you elaborate?

The name will never change. Every country that has video game present in their respective society are called video games. Good luck trying to convince the world to start calling it something else. The second issue I see is that people who have negative opinions on the hobby gathered those opinions just because they found what it's called and all of a sudden a million assumptions jumped into their heads. Instead, they shape their opinion on the subject based on what they read, see, and hear that coalesces with their own belief system. You can call video games anything you want. It's not going to change a thing. I have a good example. Take how wars are called conflicts these days. Conflicts sounds better, sure, but there are still a lot of people, most people I would say, who ignore the word conflict and call it a war instead.

if people want to connotate a pejorative meaning to that term, it only projects their envy and fear of the unknown. It doesn't mean that term in particular is harmful.Daavpuke

Indeed. That's just the way things are with young entertainment mediums like this. Changing the name wouldn't fix that. All that would do is create some confusion while people adjust to whatever the new name would be. Sort of like the transitional period that occurred after the reveal of the "Wii" moniker after calling the system "the Revolution" for so long.

[QUOTE="reason58"][QUOTE="Jorlen"]

Whoever says the term "video games" is aimed at children is out of touch, thus their opinion or statement fails to matter.

Jorlen

Can you elaborate?

I'll elaborate: Politicians are the mouthpiece of society, and there are many, many, many people who still believe that video games are little more than computerized toys and therefore they are for kids. Many of these elected officials are given their postitions by these ignorant people and then try to put themselves into a position to be chosen by them again the next time an election comes around. if their constituents believe video games are bad for children, they will push that angle as well. And while many video games are in fact bad for children (or at least not something they should have access to), the fact that these people can't comprehend that video games are in fact media akin to movies (andare rated as such) and not simply toys want all the games that are targeted at older audiences to be banned.

So, while there are many people who are "out of touch", it doesn't make them irrelevant. Just having the word "game" in the title sends the wrong message to these people. The suggestion of "interactive movies" is ok, but since many games are not like movies at all, the term "interactive media" makes more sense to me. And I love the question "how do you abbreviate that?" because it seems like we as a society have to have a shorthand for everything these days. I agree that we are already gamers and it would be tough to start calling ourselves something else (interactors?) but I think games have become much more than games.

Digitainment.

Naw. Like someone said earlier, the mistaken opinion that video games are for little kids would just follow the new term.

I think that people who think that all video games are for little kids are just ignorant and/or uninformed. I don't really blame them. If you ask a person who has never touched a video game before to name 2 videos games, they will probably respond with Mario and Pokemon (or some butchered pronunciation of it). Will they have heard of games such as God of War, Mass Effect, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy, Grand Theft Auto, etc? Probably not. Those names may be common amongst the gaming community, but those names are basically unknown outside of it.

Mario and Pokemon have both become much more than just video games. They both have TV shows, movies, comics, toys, clothing lines, etc. Most of them target the younger demographic. Clothes especially. Where do you typically find clothes with Mario and various Pokemon on them? The Childrens section. This is where people who do not play video games learn about Mario and Pokemon.

Another video game that people who don't play them may have heard of is Doom. You can imagine what their thoughts on Doom are. "Oh, that video game is dangerous and poisonous to our children and should be banned." I'd hate to see their reaction when they see a Call of Duty or Unreal multiplayer match. Voice Chat included.

Although I don't think the opinion that video games are for little kids is going to go away anytime soon, I think it will be lessened as video games reach out to more and more people. I know of some people, who had never touched a video game in their life, who went out and bought a Wii for Wii Fit or a Wii/360/PS3 for games like DDR, karaoke games (probably butchered that word), and Rock Band/Guitar Hero.

Ok, I rambled on because I was bored at work. I just feel strongly on the topic because I've been told to grow up because I play video games. Personally, I don't think video games, for the most part, are for little kids anymore. In fact, I wouldn't let a little kid touch 95% of them with a 100-yard pole. (By little, I mean really little. I mean before they can understand what is really happening when Headshot! pops up on the screen.)

Interactive electronic distractions works for me.