It's time to rethink the term "computer game"

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Features by Adventure Game Hotspot staff
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How much "game" does there need to be in a computer game? What even IS a computer game? Can a computer game be art, or is it really just a toy? The answers probably depend on who you ask, but most would surely agree that games are a kind of interactive entertainment with inherent rules and rewards and clear distinctions between winning and losing. Oh, and a lower kind of artform, if they qualify at all.

But does that need to be the case? Does the terminology we use to discuss them even matter? Not in the grand scheme of things, no, but if it's cause for a video essay by the Space Quest Historian, then we're all for exploring such questions.

SQH, like many gamers (there's that word again) enjoys virtual stories that "don’t always have to be meaty chunks of time-killers." Titles like Gone Home, What Remains of Edith Finch and The Stanley Parable are prime examples of stellar puzzle-lite experiences that have commonly come to be known as "walking simulators" – no longer the intentionally derisive term it started out as, but still hopelessly reductive.

As great as they are, can they – SHOULD they – still be considered "games" if there's hardly anything to do but walk around and occasionally click stuff? Probably not, SQH suggests in his own uniquely amusing "rambly" way, and proposes that a rebranding might be needed to separate these types of experiences from general expectations of a "game."

While never quite arriving at any definitive solutions, the Space Quest Historian takes us on a fun and thought-provoking ride to get there. So click, enjoy, and happy gaming! Wait, make that, happy interactive thinging!

The Space Quest Historian is part of the Adventure Game Hotspot Network, a collective of talented, dedicated content producers who work entirely independently but have joined forces to promote each other’s efforts. All opinions expressed belong solely to the original creators.