2 Meaningless Words

First, I apologize for missing last week. I had a bit of a writer's block as well as some projects I've been busy with. Now, let's begin with this week's topic. When you're talking about your game, there are two words you should avoid using - "gameplay" and "fun".

First, let's talk about "gameplay". The word arose in the 1980s during the early days of video game development. It is used to describe the overall experience of playing a video game (usually excluding sound, visuals and other external factors). However, the word "gameplay" is too vague when describing a player's gaming experience. When I describe a game to someone, I don't use "gameplay". Instead, I just go straight to describing it's mechanics, purposes and goals.

Basically, describe the game with relevant details and then let the other person determine whether your game is fun or not.

My Game Design tutor even questioned the very word itself. He told his students that the word didn't make sense to him. It was like asking a person who had just read a book "so, how was the bookread?" In fact, my tutor told us that we were never to use the words "gameplay" and/or "fun" for the remainder of our time in tertiary school.

With that said, let's move on to the word "fun". When describing your game, never use "fun" because it's subjective. What I find fun may be boring to you or vice versa. Using this word shows that you're lazy and that you don't truly understand your game. The only times you should ever use the word "fun" is when you're the player.

When you want to describe your game, take a look at it and ask yourself why people would want to play it.

• Is it engaging?
• Is it challenging?
• Is it addicting?
• Does it bring nostalgia?
• Does it evoke a certain emotion?
• Does it encourage mastering skills?

Remember that one of the things you need to keep in mind when developing your game is your target demographic. If you're developing a hardcore real-time strategy game, you're going to work on things that challenges the player and/or requires them to master certain micro/macro skills. So when you're describing said game, you wouldn't just say that the game is fun, you'd say that it's challenging and skillful so your target demographic will understand.

Well that's it for this week. Thanks for reading and see you all next week!