'Gameplay' Sucks!

Do you watch your language when you talk about video games?

Warning: This is going to get nerdy. Like school-nerdy, not gamer-nerdy.





Today's secret word is "gameplay." Whenever anyone says the secret word, I want you to scream real loud, okay?


Or not, that's fine too.


There's some debate lately in the myriad of podcasts and blogs I
consume every week about that word, and whether it should be excised
entirely from the collective critical vocabulary.


One article
written a while back suggests that using the word gameplay is like
saying "bookread" or "moviewatch." It's a nonsense term that has no
meaning. That seems to be the brunt of the argument.


Rather than making up words to form my argument, I think an
appropriate comparison might be the word "get." The seemingly innocent
little word has snaked its way in place of so many of our verbs in not
only everyday conversation but in writing as well. It can replace
nearly any verb you can think of if you try hard enough. For any place
you can use get, there's always a better word.


The same thing goes for gameplay. If you write a sentence with the
word gameplay, there's nearly always a more informative word that will
create cleaner images in the reader's head.

Personally, I don't have any problem with the word. It's a good
shorthand for referring to the mechanical aspects of gaming. How you
control your avatar, how responsive your avatar is, how you interact
with the virtual world, those can all be lumped into that word. But
again, it's shorthand. When debating, criticizing, or even describing a
game, more detail should be used to make points clearer.


As a reader, I find the word more irritating than I do hearing it
in discussion. If I read that word, I always want to see more detail.
That said, even my most recent post here on our site makes use of the
word. It—like get—is a deeply ingrained habit that only irritates me
when I consciously bring my attention to it.


So now I ask you: What do you think about it? Do you talk about gameplay, or something else? Whether it's on our forums,
chatting with friends, or even writing on your own blog, do you worry
about silly things like this, or do you have some of your own habits?



http://www.kombo.com/article.php?artid=13241