Beat vs. Finish

Now I know that this is exactly a deep topic, but this stuck me while I was listening to a podcast. One of the hosts declared that they had beaten Batman: Arkham City. It made me think about how when I was a kid, every game was "beaten". Now I don't really think like that. I always say that I finished a game. I started to think about why the terminology switched in my mind, and I think it has to do with how games are structured nowadays (more story driven). So anyway, how do you describe completing a game? Did you beat it or did you finish it? Leave your comments below.

It's game to game, you finish a story, but something like Joe Danger is beaten.

There aren't a lot of games these days that can be "beat".
 
You could "beat" most arcade games back in the day. Games, now, are meant to be "finished". You want them to be easy enough that almost everyone can complete the game/story if they've invested the time, rather than if they've built up the skill. So, while you might "beat" Donkey Kong, you "finish", say, Alan Wake. The same way you don't "beat" a book, movie, or album.

Ummm neither. Well.... Finishing a game is seeing the title from start to.... wait for it..... FINISH. Beating a game means there's nothing left in the title to challenge you, so the game goes unfinished, but you BEAT IT.

There is no rigid one or the other, and yes it's possible to do both.

@Buzzkill: Wait, you are a little contradictory, but I think I get what you're saying. You can finish finish a game, but not beat it? I guess I can get onboard with that.

I beat games as in "I beat my wife"

Finish I guess...

For the longest time I would have argued on behalf of "beat", but this got me thinking. It's not that simple anymore with the addition of Trophies and Achievements. One can't just beat a game and be done, now It's finish. There is so much more to do after the story has ended if your into that kind of stuff.

@chicubs223420: When you've got a game figured out, you've beat it, even if you still haven't finished it. Then you can continue onto finishing the title to claim you've both beaten and finished the game. Once the game no longer poses a challenge for you anymore, you've Mastered the game.

In my head, finishing is just getting through the main story, whereas beating is doing all the side stuff, getting all of the achievements/trophies ect.

@CottonWolf: Good point about the trophies/achievements. That definitely factors into it.