With the rise of Twine to create interactive media, there has been debate over what is and isn’t a “real game.” Although I see Twine media as something akin to a game, there are others that believe otherwise. For sure, when many people discuss games and even genres of games, many games of specific mediums or platforms tend to be left out in these discussions due to the fact that they believe those games of a certain type “do not count”. What can and can’t be defined as games have always been fuzzy. Is it the amount of visuals involved? The amount of interactive freedom given to the user dictated as the “player?” The competitive component? Many media classified as games can be negative for one of the above questions (i.e. Detroit: Become Human lacks a competitive component), and media that are debated to be games can be positive for all of them (as per the Twine example, many Twine-based RPGs are positive for all three questions). In my opinion, if the creator believes that what they have created is a game, then it should count as such.
In addition, while some media are classified as “games”, they are seen as inherently inferior based on the medium or platform of the game. Games designed to be played in browser or mobile platforms are often looked down upon as only for “casual” people and games of good quality cannot be found there. Although, as someone who frequents these platforms, I would debate otherwise, as I have found many enjoyable games through those platforms.
The desire from groups of people to count out media as “real games” and the exclusion of “inferior” games in discussions seem synonymous with Lorde’s accounts in “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference.” She discusses her experiences in the Black community where lesbian women are seen as anti-Black because lesbianism is seen as a “white women’s problem” (Lorde, 8). This can be seen as synonymous to some people excluding Twine games as “real games” as well as the exclusion of games of certain mediums and platforms, such as browser and mobile games, in genre discussions such as indie games. While these games may be different from the popular definition of games, it is still important to include them in gaming discussions to include a new point of view.
Sources:Lorde. Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference. Sister Outsider.
