4 ms·

Isn't this just normal evolution of language? Like how terms like "uppercase" have meaning even though we don't keep letters in cases (most of us anyway!). It's

Isn't this just normal evolution of language? Like how terms like "uppercase" have meaning even though we don't keep letters in cases (most of us anyway!). It's not like every domain extension has to match a game genre, but if, by fluke, it became what happened for "io games" ... That's how words get their meanings. Which is a long way of saying I disagree that it's strange!

Danihan 9y ago
I suppose I'm arguing against the adoption of such a vernacular. It's just a web game.
- 21 9y ago
  There are millions (ok, maybe not) of web games. How do you describe a particular genre? The one obvious thing this particular kind of games had in common when they appeared was the .io domain, thus the name. Go to cursors.io, agar.io and slither.io. Now find a short phrase to describe all three.
  - Danihan 9y ago
    Multi-player browser game.
    - rrobukef 9y ago
      Plenty of multiplayer browser games that differ in style and gameplay from these three. Care to try a minimal description?
    - 21 9y ago
      Quake Live is also a multi-player browser game. Same for Travian.
- lotyrin 9y ago
  It's a specific genre of webgame though, something is or is not an "io game" it's more than where it's hosted, it's more than whether or not it's an HTML5 game or multiplayer. A genre is precisely a collection of artistic attributes that occur and are repeated mostly as a historical accident (usually after a pioneer explores the space and follow-ups revisit) and are shared among a collection of works -- they are hard to concisely label with precise descriptive terms so their audience seeks a fairly arbitrary label to describe the collection. "io game" seems reasonable enough to me. Just the same as (made up example) "Up-tempo minor-seventh-key highly-distorted guitar arpeggios with four-on-the-floor beats and legato vocals" gets called "wailcore" or something, the kids playing these aren't going to say "HTML5 games with an emphasis on large counts of concurrent players, with gameplay arising from emergent behavior of players instead of a large investment in story, art, or game mechanics." a hundred times to their peers -- even if they could consciously notice these attributes and articulate them that way. They'll start saying "you know, it's kinda like agar.io" "I haven't heard of that is it like <whatever>.io?" "Yeah, exactly" suddenly you have a community of players of "io games". I don't really understand how anyone would expect anything else here.
  - Danihan 9y ago
    Sure, you're right overall, I just didn't think the *.io game arena was large enough or unique enough to merit that term being used. Also it's just a bad name in general, since those style games can be hosted anywhere.
    - lotyrin 9y ago
      Genre names never are any good. You can't usually distil the detail of what makes a genre into a formula, and you can't distil that formula into a short enough descriptor. "Rock" for instance.

Danihan 9y ago

I suppose I'm arguing against the adoption of such a vernacular. It's just a web game.

21 9y ago
There are millions (ok, maybe not) of web games. How do you describe a particular genre? The one obvious thing this particular kind of games had in common when they appeared was the .io domain, thus the name. Go to cursors.io, agar.io and slither.io. Now find a short phrase to describe all three.
- Danihan 9y ago
  Multi-player browser game.
  - rrobukef 9y ago
    Plenty of multiplayer browser games that differ in style and gameplay from these three. Care to try a minimal description?
  - 21 9y ago
    Quake Live is also a multi-player browser game. Same for Travian.
lotyrin 9y ago
It's a specific genre of webgame though, something is or is not an "io game" it's more than where it's hosted, it's more than whether or not it's an HTML5 game or multiplayer. A genre is precisely a collection of artistic attributes that occur and are repeated mostly as a historical accident (usually after a pioneer explores the space and follow-ups revisit) and are shared among a collection of works -- they are hard to concisely label with precise descriptive terms so their audience seeks a fairly arbitrary label to describe the collection. "io game" seems reasonable enough to me. Just the same as (made up example) "Up-tempo minor-seventh-key highly-distorted guitar arpeggios with four-on-the-floor beats and legato vocals" gets called "wailcore" or something, the kids playing these aren't going to say "HTML5 games with an emphasis on large counts of concurrent players, with gameplay arising from emergent behavior of players instead of a large investment in story, art, or game mechanics." a hundred times to their peers -- even if they could consciously notice these attributes and articulate them that way. They'll start saying "you know, it's kinda like agar.io" "I haven't heard of that is it like <whatever>.io?" "Yeah, exactly" suddenly you have a community of players of "io games". I don't really understand how anyone would expect anything else here.
- Danihan 9y ago
  Sure, you're right overall, I just didn't think the *.io game arena was large enough or unique enough to merit that term being used. Also it's just a bad name in general, since those style games can be hosted anywhere.
  - lotyrin 9y ago
    Genre names never are any good. You can't usually distil the detail of what makes a genre into a formula, and you can't distil that formula into a short enough descriptor. "Rock" for instance.