Ever picked up a game that wasn't really a game?

[BoneSnapDeez]

^ this.

In Guitar Hero, PaRappa the Rapper, Space Channel 5, etc., you win or lose, obtain a high score, etc. In Electroplankton - as with the KORG "games" for the Nintendo DS - you simply create music as you would with any other musical instrument. Calling Electroplankton a "game" is akin to calling a piano a "game".

But you play the piano don't you?

[BogusMeatFactory]

Want to record your music made in ElectroPlankton? 1/8" male to male audio cable. Pop it into your headphone jack and then into your microphone jack on your computer. Recorded.

@AlienJesus Have you played Electroplankton? I owned it the moment came out and have spent a lot of time using it and the majority of the games can be controlled by you. Only instances of a lack of control are Volvoice (it's just a voice changer) and Hanenbow (the leaf stage you see in Smash Bros. Brawl). With Hanenbow you can still make music, but it is really difficult to control how the tadpoles bounce off the leaves. Even there though, it is a game as the goal is to get every leaf to turn read and get the flower to bloom and it has different leaf layouts.

Want goals for Electroplankton? Make music. Mario Paint? Make art. Even with Mario Paint you have mini-games with scores.

Other games like Dear Esther and Proteus it is to experience something...anything. Interactive fiction are games as there is a level of interactivity.

Even if a game lacks an "end-game," doesn't mean there are goals, as there are tons of arcade games that have no real end-game.

The Sims have no real goals and have no end-game, yet those are clearly games.

@isiola

A 10 part documentary may not be a blockbuster film, but it is still considered a film. It is a genre, much like videogames have genres.

[alienjesus]

Want to record your music made in ElectroPlankton? 1/8" male to male audio cable. Pop it into your headphone jack and then into your microphone jack on your computer. Recorded.

@AlienJesus Have you played Electroplankton? I owned it the moment came out and have spent a lot of time using it and the majority of the games can be controlled by you. Only instances of a lack of control are Volvoice (it's just a voice changer) and Hanenbow (the leaf stage you see in Smash Bros. Brawl). With Hanenbow you can still make music, but it is really difficult to control how the tadpoles bounce off the leaves. Even there though, it is a game as the goal is to get every leaf to turn read and get the flower to bloom and it has different leaf layouts.

I own the game. Yes, you do have a modicum of control in the music you make, but it's limited. Take trapy for example - you draw a line, it follows it adjusting pitch based on the line you drew. OK. It'll then loop. Is there away to make it so it doesnt loop? Nope. Is there a way to make individual notes? No, not really. Can you make conventional music in any sense - not as such.

How about that one where they follow the arrows? Your plankton move at different speeds, but there's no real way to customise these - they all move at a set pace, and you can't modify that pace. You cant make them stop and start when you want to. You can't make them play any note you want to - only one of the 4 notes available to either side of the node you've just passed. You can't even change the key of the music.

How about that one where you spin the plankton. There's almost no customisation there. You spin, it makes drones on what I think is a chromatic scale. That's it. No way to change anything.

You make music, and you have control, yes. But you can't make any music you want. You can;'t really write convention melodies and harmonies, you cant even make simple chord structures. It's limited. It's great, but I wou;dn't call it a game or an instrument. It's an art piece or a toy. Probably both.

[Violent By Design]

Most visual novels have some type of gameplay even if it is tiny, usually puzzles of some sort.

A visual novel with zero gameplay (click to just turn the page being the only exception) is just a digital comic

[BogusMeatFactory]

I always get annoyed by this argument as all we are doing is overclassifying or underclassifying something to fit our own personal definitions. Is this even necessary? Who cares if Electroplankton is a game or not? Will it being considered one, rock your perception of reality or something? It seems like a lot of people spend a lot of time having this discussion and it accomplishes absolutely nothing, but the continuous pissing contest that people have to define who is right and who is wrong.

[Violent By Design]

I always get annoyed by this argument as all we are doing is overclassifying or underclassifying something to fit our own personal definitions. Is this even necessary? Who cares if Electroplankton is a game or not? Will it being considered one, rock your perception of reality or something? It seems like a lot of people spend a lot of time having this discussion and it accomplishes absolutely nothing, but the continuous pissing contest that people have to define who is right and who is wrong.

Well, it does undermine the point of genres if one cannot classify what is part of what.

[BogusMeatFactory]

I always get annoyed by this argument as all we are doing is overclassifying or underclassifying something to fit our own personal definitions. Is this even necessary? Who cares if Electroplankton is a game or not? Will it being considered one, rock your perception of reality or something? It seems like a lot of people spend a lot of time having this discussion and it accomplishes absolutely nothing, but the continuous pissing contest that people have to define who is right and who is wrong.

Well, it does undermine the point of genres if one cannot classify what is part of what.

Movie is not a genre. Game is not a genre. Music is not a genre.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I always get annoyed by this argument as all we are doing is overclassifying or underclassifying something to fit our own personal definitions. Is this even necessary? Who cares if Electroplankton is a game or not? Will it being considered one, rock your perception of reality or something? It seems like a lot of people spend a lot of time having this discussion and it accomplishes absolutely nothing, but the continuous pissing contest that people have to define who is right and who is wrong.

It isn't a pissing contest. It is a perfect example of the type of discussion and intellectual exercise for which these forums exist. Moreover, Stark invited the discussion when he wrote, on the first page:

This could lead to a discussion as to what makes a game, a game, which would be a much more interesting discussion.

[Violent By Design]

I always get annoyed by this argument as all we are doing is overclassifying or underclassifying something to fit our own personal definitions. Is this even necessary? Who cares if Electroplankton is a game or not? Will it being considered one, rock your perception of reality or something? It seems like a lot of people spend a lot of time having this discussion and it accomplishes absolutely nothing, but the continuous pissing contest that people have to define who is right and who is wrong.

Well, it does undermine the point of genres if one cannot classify what is part of what.

Movie is not a genre. Game is not a genre. Music is not a genre.

They aren't? If I go to a store and buy Casablanca, will it be under the movie section, music section or video game section?

Just because they are broad, does not mean they are not genres. Entertainment is cut up into genres. They are genres of entertainment.

[flojocabron]

A few months ago, I bought Phantasy Star Online Episode I and II for the old xbox.

It was a game once. Now its just a fancy anime coaster in a green case.