Great points, Matt. Labels are convenient only so everyone knows what you're talking about. When you did your "The History of Computer Role-Playing Games, Part I", you had a very specific set of parameters that you followed for game inclusion. Looking in the comments to your article, some people wanted to incorporate games like "Adventure" and other titles that simply didn't fall into the same category(ies) of the games you were covering. That's where categorizations best come into place, in formal discussions such as that. When I came up with the category designations in my piece, I tried to be very specific and clearly delineate between differences in very similar categories. Also, I like the idea of establishing criteria for categories because that then heads-off uninformed discussions about "firsts". It's hard to say, for instance, that "GTA III" was the first "sand-box" game when even in my examples a game like "Elite" (and games like it) far preceded it.
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Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
(A PC Magazine Top 100 Website)
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*************************** Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
Great points, Matt. Labels are convenient only so everyone knows what you're talking about. When you did your "The History of Computer Role-Playing Games, Part I", you had a very specific set of parameters that you followed for game inclusion. Looking in the comments to your article, some people wanted to incorporate games like "Adventure" and other titles that simply didn't fall into the same category(ies) of the games you were covering. That's where categorizations best come into place, in formal discussions such as that. When I came up with the category designations in my piece, I tried to be very specific and clearly delineate between differences in very similar categories. Also, I like the idea of establishing criteria for categories because that then heads-off uninformed discussions about "firsts". It's hard to say, for instance, that "GTA III" was the first "sand-box" game when even in my examples a game like "Elite" (and games like it) far preceded it.
======================================
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.
(A PC Magazine Top 100 Website)
======================================
***************************
Bill Loguidice, Managing Director
Armchair Arcade, Inc.