The boomer shooter post a few days ago got me thinking: some video game genre names just suck.
My least favorite is “character action”. There are much better fitting names for the genre that have been tossed around the internet, like spectacle fighter or stylish action. All action games have characters, so the name has the vagueness of “Role playing game” without the genre itself being vague. And if I see someone use it, I instantly know that that person has either not been on the internet enough to hear the better names, or just doesn’t care.
On the other hand, “Mascot horror” fits its genre like a glove. I generally don’t like the actual games in the genre, most of them just feel like cashing in on a trend, but there is the occasional one that has some good creative ideas. But the name itself practically tells one everything they need to know about the genre: Marketed towards kids, featuring a main mascot, and everything in that game being centered around that mascot, which becomes scary enough that it looks spooky but not enough that kids won’t play it.
Also the -likes just suck. All that they tell you is that a game is like other game. I don’t even think that a tenth of rogue like fans have actually played rogue, which is understandable since the genre has spread out so much.
So, what are yours?
(Edits cause I sounded like a prick)
I like the term boomer shooter. The reason is the alliteration. But more importantly…
- Rookie Level 1 Gamer: “They’re called boomer shooters because they’re old like baby boomers”
- Veteran Level 20 Gamer: “Baby boomers thought Doom was satanic, that’s a stupid term”
- Enlightened Level 60 Gamer: “They’re called boomer shooters because of the huge debt they owe to the original Doom modding scene and therefore “Boom”, one of the first limit-removing source ports”
- GigaChad Level 80 gamer: “Who cares. My ego isn’t so delicate as to have my sensibilities offended by whatever the fuck you want to call it. If you think something like ‘MyHouse.wad’ is something that is for “bOoMeRs” (a.k.a. anyone old enough to know that it’s called a “VCR,” not a “VHS player”) then you’re the one missing out… not me.”
Credit to @smart_boy@beehaw.org and @133+.pk3@geocities.ytmnd.com
I think you mean the rhyming?
The short definition of alliteration is “the repetition of sounds, not just letters.” In this case the oo…er, oo…er. So I said what I meant.
What is a boomer shooter?
I started to use the Japanese term “search action” rather than Metroidvania unironically, sue me.
Yeah, it sounds silly, but it’s descriptive and feels less limiting to me than “a game that looks like Super Metroid and Symphony of the Night”. I love those two, but lots of games do the big interconnected map with ability gates, and they’re not that close to them.
Some of those even don’t have a map made of blue rectangles! Only like 90% of them.
Really, if we can do with genre names that are not built like that in general, all the better. I’m not going to the library to read a FrankenDracula or a DuneFoundation or whatever.
Big agree on roguelike. It’s both annoying and entertaining how a whole genre of somewhat popular titles are only described in reference to another basically ancient title.
And some of them have gameplay that doesn’t compare all that well to Rogue, but are similar to something else that was considered roguelike! It’s just this vague descriptor with a constantly shifting definition depending on who is using it.
No hate intended towards the titles or the players, just language being funny 🤣
You mentioned the -likes ones, which I really don’t like, but “Soulslike” takes the cake and I absolutely loathe using it. Might be a bit biased here because I think Fromsoft’s Souls games feel very bland and I really enjoy Team Ninja’s versions of this genre, instead (had an absolute blast with Nioh and Wo Long, and am currently addicted to Stranger of Paradise)
