The other day I had a conversation on Twitter with Adam Williamson about why I use the term ‘videogames’.
You, the reader, have probably noticed that every so often someone suggests
that we should use another word. The idea is that the word fails to adequately
reflect a changing medium and needs to be replaced by one that can handle the
job. Academics frequently use ‘digital games’’; Williamson has half-jokingly coined
the term ‘digic’; I once preferred ‘computer game’ because it sounded more
mature. Others have adopted ‘ractive’ from Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age, to the clear detriment
of humanity (or at least the English-speaking parts). But I use 'videogames', and here's why.