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)

  • MrEUserEnglish
    7•1 year ago

    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 @[email protected] and @[email protected]

      • MrEUserEnglish
        7•1 year ago

        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.