Stop using these words to discusss video games

Games are and always will be extremely derivative and 90% of the time completely unoriginal in terms of core design principles, themes, styles and concepts. It makes complete and utter sense to compare every single one to that which has come before if the comparison is accurate. This is how normal people talk about games, deal with it.

@Dany: Telling people what to do makes you sound like a twat.

@Hailinel said:

@Doctorchimp said:

@Hailinel said:

@Simplexity said:

@Dany: But.. It is Zelda-like though.

The perfect description of Darksiders is a "mature" Zelda with a portal gun.

What's actually mature about Darksiders, again? Because it has blood and is all edgy with its hroseman of the apocalypse protagonist and the end of the world? The creators couldn't even be arsed to use two of the real horsemen and had to come up with the idiotic Fury and Strife.

People need to stop using "mature" to describe games with bloody violence, foul language, and sexual content.

EDIT: I should add, it's like they were getting ideas from the same fourteen-year-old's notebook as the Dante's Inferno team.

There's an M on the box for "Mature"

And that's a pretty important distinction because Nintendo would never make an M-rated Zelda.

It's like saying a movie is an R.

Yes, that's the ESRB rating, but there are vast numbers of M-rated games that are anything but mature. The rating only states that the game is for mature audiences based on the amount of sex and violence present regardless of how emotionally or intellectually mature the subject matter is.

The ESRB has nothing to do with the content of the game....

When a game is "meant for Mature audiences" it is not passing judgement on the game. It never has. It is simply stating the individual should be mature in age.

@Gaff:

How about I continue to use all of those because most of them are perfectly fine and fitting descriptive words for video games.

Cinematic

Movie-like

etc etc

Games are not movies

No.

As a hardcore gamer I find this topic-ass topic casually dudebro.

No.

@Dany said:

I'm talking about the GB crew and you folks out there. It devalues any argument you are attempting to make for a video game and makes you sound like a twat.

• Hardcore
• Casual
• Dudebro
• gamer
• mario-like
• zelda-like
• God of war-like
• COD-like
• anything-like
• It has the map from skyrim, the action of fable, the look of WOW
• action is like Ninja Gaiden, the look is bayanetta but not as linear
• It is the X from this game, the Y from another game
• It is a blank-ass blank game

Discuss

You're doing a good job trying to sound like a twat. Almost everything you listed is valid when used in proper context. If a game is like Zelda and you call it Zelda like then everything you say has no value?

Stop trying to control my mind, man.

Whatever. Games are just games.

Stop using discuss to give your thread conversation

I am definitely agreed with "hardcore" and "casual". Because there should not be a differentiation. Back in the NES era, did Nintendo Power ever use those terms? Well, maybe hardcore, but back then it would have been applied to Ninja Gaiden and whatnot.

@Galiant said:

@Dany: Some of those are actually valid ways to describe a game. You sound like a twat.

This. It devalues nothing. It means I'm not wasting several minutes describing things like, "You collect collectibles on a 2-d plane and there's cartoon graphics." I don't have to say, "You fight on a 2-d plane in an enclosed arena one-on-one until one of you gets knocked out." Nobody knows what Rayman or Crysis are, and describing them in detail would be time consuming and confusing. Meanwhile, COD and Super Mario Brothers are culturally iconic.

@Gaff said:

Overall, this list is a mixed bag - what it lacks in depth and intricacies, it makes up with simplicity and pick-up-and-play qualities - but fans of the genre will certainly find something to like. While promising, the lack of polish and design flaws ultimately hurt the end-product, making it suffer from a lack of direction. In the end, your mileage may vary.

Holy crap! It's like a whole review, except that it says absolutely nothing about what it's reviewing! That's kind of impressive in a really disgusting way.

@Dany:

Why would we ever stop using these words to describe games ? They work. I guess your first four items are valid, but the others work really well.

Visceral!

Compelling!

@Gaff said:

Of all the video game journalism clichés that should be banned, you pick these? Hm.

Overall, this list is a mixed bag - what it lacks in depth and intricacies, it makes up with simplicity and pick-up-and-play qualities - but fans of the genre will certainly find something to like. While promising, the lack of polish and design flaws ultimately hurt the end-product, making it suffer from a lack of direction. In the end, your mileage may vary.

Followed.

Also, I love dudebro. I've been looking for that word to describe dudebros forever. You know who dudebros are. You've met them.

Translation of OP: I am 14 years old and have never played any of these games, and am too lazy to look up the generic playstyle of any of them. Please only use Mass Effect-like, Battlefield-like, and Halo-like. Even then, it is probably best you use an excess of words because I am a control freak/sentence structure nazi and this is the only real power I have over you. Also, I am most definitely a twat.

@Dany said:

• Hardcore
• Casual

I agree with most of these but especially these two. Only morons who want to sound more...I don't know, credible or feel like they need others to feel as if their opinions are more valid then others use these words. It makes them sound childish and petty.

@Ulain said:

Translation of OP: I am 14 years old and have never played any of these games, and am too lazy to look up the generic playstyle of any of them. Please only use Mass Effect-like, Battlefield-like, and Halo-like. Even then, it is probably best you use an excess of words because I am a control freak/sentence structure nazi and this is the only real power I have over you. Also, I am most definitely a twat.

Pretty sure lazy, 14 year old, grammar nazis don't exist. Those are kind of contradicting traits. Also, "anything-like" was in his list, so your second sentence makes no sense.

Did you try to translate it in Google or something?

@Anomareh: Way to take it too literally. I believe that's a trait of Asberger's Syndrome, might want to get that checked out.

Also lurk moar with your argumentative shitfest of posts.

I don't understand why people hate the word gamer.

• It is a blank-ass blank game

@Ulain said:

@Anomareh: Way to take it too literally. I believe that's a trait of Asberger's Syndrome, might want to get that checked out.

Also lurk moar with your argumentative shitfest of posts.

One sec, let me toss your reply into Google.

It spit out:

"You just pointed out how my post failed even more than the OP. That's not cool.

You should continue to not post frequently so you are less likely to point out how stupid my posts are in the future."

*shrugs*

Seems it's hit or miss.

This is a fucking stupid topic. Games borrow from other games, sometimes they downright copy exactly. And it's rare that games do something completely brand new, so why would I go into deep detail of a mechanic already seen in a dozen other games? I think it would be covering up the truth if we didn't compare the game to something already out, especially if it's taking mechanics to an absurd degree. I mean, which game are you more likely to buy:

Dante's Inferno is a fast paced action game. You upgrade weapons and battle through the depths of Hell.

Dante's Inferno plays almost exactly like God of War, but in Hell.

Quick, somebody tell movie critics that it's wrong to compare things.

@Dany: Stop using giantbomb.

@Nemeroth said:

Cinematic

Movie-like

etc etc

Games are not movies

Some games play out like movies. I would call Heavy Rain movie like.

AAA and (J/W)RPG are almost pet peeves at this point

I'd really like to see a review for Darksiders without a single mention of it being "zelda-like". I'm just curious how it could be done.

@Ulain said:

@Anomareh: Way to take it too literally. I believe that's a trait of Asberger's Syndrome, might want to get that checked out.

Aw crap. I knew this thread couldn't get this many hits without something bad happening. How could you be so stupid as to misspell Asperger's Syndrome?

@Landon said:

@Nemeroth said:

Cinematic

Movie-like

etc etc

Games are not movies

Some games play out like movies. I would call Heavy Rain movie like.

And I would call it dogshit, but that's neither here, nor there.

Also:

@Video_Game_King said:

@Ulain said:

@Anomareh: Way to take it too literally. I believe that's a trait of Asberger's Syndrome, might want to get that checked out.

Aw crap. I knew this thread couldn't get this many hits without something bad happening. How could you be so stupid as to misspell Asperger's Syndrome?

Yeah, what the fuck?

You know what I hate? People who pass off Asperger's Syndrome as something stupid or non-existent.

GDLK.

This is a thread-ass thread, dudebro. It has the length of Skyrim, the pre-adolescent humor of Fable, and the pointlessness of WOW, with the downward slope in quality of Ninja Gaiden and the over-the-top eroticism of Bayonetta (but not as linear). Basically, it's the endless prattle from Metal Gear, and the insanity of Deadly Premonition. Unfortunately, I'm too hardcore to just skim it casually.

My addiction to this thread is downright Zelda-like. Against my better judgement, I hope it keeps jumpin' in a Mario-like fashion, lest somebody, in a God of War-like manner, makes another thread like this in an attempt to incur the wrath of the gods of good taste. I'd hate to see it annualized, COD-like.

... Gamer was probably not a very good film.

I know a casual-hardcore dudebro gamer that's into anything-like cod-like or god-of-war-like that would oppose these sentiments.

@GreggD said:

@Landon said:

@Nemeroth said:

Cinematic

Movie-like

etc etc

Games are not movies

Some games play out like movies. I would call Heavy Rain movie like.

And I would call it dogshit, but that's neither here, nor there.

No, Heavy Rain is pretty great.

Authors need to stop writing books with analogies and metaphors! Stop trying to convey information to us by associating what is going on with something else that we're familiar with and that explains what is occurring in a comprehensible context!

I think they are fine. I don't like the stigma some of them carry , but they are usually fairly accurate descriptions, if very general, of a game.

How about calling Resident Evil 6 dudebro or COD hardcore?

I'm talking about the GB crew and you folks out there. It devalues any argument you are attempting to make for a video game and makes you sound like a twat.

• Hardcore
• Casual
• Dudebro
• gamer
• mario-like
• zelda-like
• God of war-like
• COD-like
• anything-like
• It has the map from skyrim, the action of fable, the look of WOW
• action is like Ninja Gaiden, the look is bayanetta but not as linear
• It is the X from this game, the Y from another game
• It is a blank-ass blank game

Discuss

Sorry, but I really can't get on-board with this one. While I appreciate any effort to make video game discussions go generally better, you tell us to stop using these words without any justification why. If I may run through them...

• "Hardcore"/"Casual"- I think these terms get used in bad context a lot, but there are lots of words people like to use in flawed arguments, that doesn't mean we should just throw them out the window. One of the most basic facts about the video game industry today is that there is a side which likes more traditional games, and a side which likes more accessible, simple titles like you'd find on Facebook or iOS. I don't see how impairing our ability to describe the two fundamental markets of the industry helps us talk about the industry.
• "Dudebro"- If people were using this word entirely seriously that might be a little obnoxious, but nothing I'd tell people not to do. It doesn't seem like people are though. Sometimes misused, yes, but it seems a pretty harmless way to describe douchey hyper-masculine people, thematics or products.
• "Gamer"- I've heard the argument for why people don't want others to use this word. It's become associated with some bad stereotypes and if people wish to stop using it I can see why. That being said I don't think we should modify our language to cater to those who want to treat people as huge ridiculous stereotypes. I see no great evil in "gamer", just like I see no great evil in "moviegoer".
• "[Blank]-like"/" It is the X from this game, the Y from another game"- I don't see why we should abandon this. Sometimes games are very similar to other games. Does it really give our discussion of a game more value if we spend a significant amount of time describing the mechanics and aesthetics, dancing around the elephant in the room, when really we could just say a short sentence or a couple of words and have a basic picture already painted?
• "[Blank]-ass [Blank] game"- Again, not a phrase people are using seriously and a useful one too. It's a funny, practical phrase which lets us know a game is very true to its roots.

How exactly are these descriptions argument devaluing?

@Dany: Saying a game is like another game is constantly used in the entertainment industry. It helps people create a frame of mind in which to imagine this new-fangled contraption or idea that they're being told about. It is especially used during pitches, when creatives get the chance to pitch their ideas for movies/tv shows/games to executives/producers/publishers.

I appreciate your successful troll thread, and I slightly agree with you.

I'm pretty sure this has been said, but this is a Dany-ass Dany topic. 
 
But seriously, I disagree with you.

"makes you sound like a twat"

The irony is too much for me to handle.

• It is a butt-ass butt game.