Minimum Requirements to be a "Game"

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Crunchy English

Victim of a Savage Neck-bearding
Aug 20, 2008
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Due to the rage found over at the Zynga vs. Infinity Ward thread right now, you've got to wonder about this. Echo Bazaar is little more than bar filling, Farmville is the worst kind of persistence (the useless, lazy, pull-lever kind) and Rhythm games are just Simon-says with a beat.

But they're all "games". People might argue about the particulars, but Echo Bazaar won an Escapist Award, and few people will question the rush of 5-starring a Guitar Hero Track. Fewer people will want to recognize that Zynga's re-skinned abominations count, but they have rules and goals... sorta. So what is the minimum requirement to be a game? Is it just the definition of the word? Is it anything that we can have fun with? If a 5 year old turns a box upside down and pretends its a spaceship, he's playing, but is it a game?
 

mrfusspot

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May 19, 2009
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For me, a game is something that has visual stimulus and button pressing the corresponds to something you do on the screen.
 

Icecoldcynic

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Oct 5, 2009
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This is an interesting topic, and it probably doesn't have any set answer. I think for a game to be a 'game', it needs to have some kind of goal, or objective. For example, the goal of pong is to stop the ball from passing your puck.
 

Moonmover

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Feb 12, 2009
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mrfusspot said:
For me, a game is something that has visual stimulus and button pressing the corresponds to something you do on the screen.
You mean like an internet forum?
 

Delusibeta

Reachin' out...
Mar 7, 2010
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The question should not be "Is Zynga's stuff games?", but "Should Zynga be entered in a competition of game developers?", considering that Zynga is the only company in the contest that make solely Flash games. Dozens of Flash games are uploaded daily. If Zynga is allowed, why shouldn't (for example) Armour Games be entered as well?

It's the thin end of the wedge.
 

Pingieking

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Sep 19, 2009
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Basically, if it involves electrons moving, then it can be made into a game.
I dare say that some people think trolling forums is a game. A python simulation of a vibrating string is pretty fun to play around with.
 

Ricotez

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Jan 17, 2010
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The most important thing for me in a game is the following:

The gameplay needs to be fun.


Visuals and atmosphere go hand-in-hand, but with atmosphere comes story as well. Still though, with interesting visuals and a good story you don't automatically fix horrible gameplay.
 

gigastrike

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Jul 13, 2008
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It needs to be a shooter that includes blood and doesn't have motion controls! /sarcasm

I guess it has to be an interactive, simulated scenario that's designed for entertainment.
 

CheckD3

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Dec 9, 2009
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I think that a game is any form of interactive media. While there are different levels of the core of a game, from casual, to rhythm, to hardcore, and everything between. But while there are casual games that are nothing but crap to most, there are people who enjoy them and they are considered games, i just don't play them and don't give a flying fuck about them
 

SimuLord

Whom Gods Annoy
Aug 20, 2008
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zakski said:
It has to be fun
It has to have an explicit goal
Fun means different things to different people. I personally don't find JRPGs fun, but I don't contest the notion that they are games. You might be bored to tears by the games I enjoy, but calling them anything other than games would just make you look foolish (or worse, like a fanboy.)
 

Sephychu

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Dec 13, 2009
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Input to challenged output. That's what it is to me.

Otherwise, the play button on a film could bring it to game status.
 

reg42

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Mar 18, 2009
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I think it has to be fun to some extent, and it has to present to with some sort of long-term goal.
 

SonicKoala

The Night Zombie
Sep 8, 2009
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I'm not going to get into "games" in general, but in order to qualify something as a video game, there has to be a certain level of interactivity, and there has to be some sort of goal in which the player can work towards. "Fun" isn't a necessary element to a game, but it is an essential element of a good game.

That being said, Zynga does make video games, but take that with a grain of salt. Zynga makes video games in the same way that Michael Bay makes movies.