[arg_discuss] What's the G stand for?

[Andrea Phillips]

On 10/4/07, despain at quantumcontent.com <despain at quantumcontent.com> wrote:

> The term ARG may not be perfect, but it's the term that seems to have

> gained the most traction as far as i can tell.

>

> And I do think it helps to call it a game. That seems to put it into

> perspective for those people who immediately assume any attempt to mess

> with reality is a malicious hoax.


I have to admit, I've never been a fan of the name 'ARG.' But there's
a problem inherent with labeling anything; human nature. Once you've
picked a name, you want to start sorting things into what does and
what does not fit that category. And human beings get really
uncomfortable without a name to call something.

So maybe we should have gone down another path and just made up a new
word entirely. We could've called these experiences we love so much
'Jazzeroni' or 'Zoofle' or 'Mambananana.'

But you know, even if we had, we'd still be having these
discussions.... "Well, is 1-18-08 really a zoofle? I'm not so sure..."

But hey, we've got the name now, and for good or ill, we're stuck with
it. So instead of worrying about whether the name adequately defines
the genre, maybe we can pretend that the phrase is just a meaningless
construct like 'Mambananana,' and let the genre be itself, whatever it
is it wants to be.

-- 
Andrea Phillips
andrhia at gmail.com
http://www.deusexmachinatio.com
Words * Marketing * Interaction