What is a video game?

[pkmin3033]

(Since there seems to be some interest in discussing this, I've made a dedicated thread.)

This might seem like a strange question to ask, but it's not an uncommon attitude towards certain genres where gameplay is minimalistic (such as visual novels, walking simulators, and "art" games where gameplay is secondary to the developer's intentions) and towards the mobile market in particular, where games are often free-to-play and have built-in wait times, microtransactions, and focus around single repetitive tasks. Often this attitude seems to stem from personal dislike of the genre, but as video games as a medium have branched out and evolved significantly over the years, it's worth asking the question of what a video game actually is in this day and age.

Everyone has different standards, so let's discuss. What makes a video game a video game? Are there any genres that you wouldn't consider to be video games, and if so, why?

 

[Bulky Ledian]

What is a video game?

Aren't you the mod of this Video Game sub-forum? If you're asking that question are you really qualified?

visual novels, walking simulators, and "art" games where gameplay is secondary to the developer's intentions

Visual Novels, CYoAs and the like aren't video games. While some may include puzzles and video game elements to try to escape an imaginary stigma they still aren't video games.
Walking Simulators while closer to games lack any defining gameplay. There's a world of difference between something like Gone Home and opening up cp_orange_v2 in a server with no players.
as far Art Games I'm just going to assume you mean some hipster garbage that gets tossed out onto itch.io and is swiftly forgotten.
The Mobile Market is capable of producing actual games, but there are many mobile games that exist solely to milk money from gullible children/teens and people with addiction issues (See: The FGO thread). Those skinner boxes are generally reviled by people with standards.

as video games as a medium have branched out and evolved significantly over the years

If anything they've devolved in recent years, as mass appeal and inflating budgets cause developers to focus on profitability more than passion or making something good. As well as fan bases becoming more devoted and slavish toward their favored brands, blocking out much-needed criticism.

 

[mgriffin]

Visual Novels, CYoAs and the like aren't video games. While some may include puzzles and video game elements to try to escape an imaginary stigma they still aren't video games.

Why not? CYoAs, even in book-form clearly aren't books in the traditional sense of that word. They're interactive, have rules, have goals. IMO they're games. And so if you port a game to run on a computer, surely that must be a video game?

 

[Palamon]

In my opinion, anything that has you control something (digitally) or make choices is a video game. Yes, even cookie clicker. I know that's just an idle clicker, but I do consider it enough of something to be a video game. There isn't really any genre of video game I wouldn't consider one. I think mobile games, just because they're free to play, doesn't lower their creditably as video games.

Just because visual novels are just stories told on a screen doesn't make them less of a video game. You still make choices in them that lean towards different outcomes.

 

[gimmepie]

If it's interactive entertainment in which your actions can change the result (ie. success or failure,) it's a game. If it's that but digital, it's a video game. Seems simple to me.

 

[Soaring Sid]

Interacting with visual and/or audial stimulus for a range of results. That's what I think it is. Welp this means Discord is a video game XP

Mmm adding in the word 'entertainment' makes it more sensible. Interacting with computer-based visual + audial entertainment and receiving a range results. This is what a video game is. Example: Tetris and even Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age: Definitive edition. Or maybe Doki-doki literature club.

 

[pkmin3033]

Interacting with visual and/or audial stimulus for a range of results. That's what I think it is. Welp this means Discord is a video game XP

Mmm adding in the word 'entertainment' makes it more sensible. Interacting with computer-based visual + audial entertainment and receiving a range results. This is what a video game is. Example: Tetris and even Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age: Definitive edition. Or maybe Doki-doki literature club.

I have to ask: if you're not entertained, does that mean what you're experiencing isn't a video game?

I like this definition. It gives me solid grounds for saying that Persona 4 Golden, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Pokemon Sword and Shield - to name but three major grievances I have - are not video games. xD

 

[Soaring Sid]

I have to ask: if you're not entertained, does that mean what you're experiencing isn't a video game?

I like this definition. It gives me solid grounds for saying that Persona 4 Golden, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Pokemon Sword and Shield - to name but three major grievances I have - are not video games. xD

XD
This is a problem. Okay, let's see: Any form of Video+Audio that makes you interact with it leading to some progress, is a video game. But wait, online classes aren't video games.
Meaning video games are fictional video + audio that make you interact with them using certain fixed programmes/mechanics to achieve progress.
And they can be called 'Entertainment' because that's what they're supposed to achieve: entertaining anyone who plays them. But alas, entertainment is subjective. So a good definition needs to exist to prevent video games from being stripped of their identity in case they don't fulfil their purpose

Am I missing something?