| | Like...uh... it's a classic, eh?
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11-25-2006, 11:59 PM
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Sorry for the vague title, but one of the threads in GB News has gotten me slightly fired up. 
Is it just me in language rant mode, or have certain words in the English language become overused to the point of excess?
The thread in question over at GB News states that NWN is just a few patches away from being a "classic." Sorry, but in my view a game that has been out approximately one month is *not* a classic. Though, frankly, I'm not really sure the word "classic" should be ascribed to games at all, but I digress.
Another word that makes me cringe every time I hear it used as sentence filler is the word "like."
It seems especially popular amongst teens and pre-teens, and I don't understand the need to use it. It almost appears to be some kind of cultural manifestation as much as anything.. but I wince whenever I overhear a conversation into which "like" is interjected every few seconds.
Honestly.. there is a rich plethora of words out there, why do we insist on selecting a handful and using them repeatedly, and out of context?
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11-26-2006, 12:37 AM
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Originally Posted by dragon wench  The thread in question over at GB News states that NWN is just a few patches away from being a "classic." Sorry, but in my view a game that has been out approximately one month is *not* a classic. Though, frankly, I'm not really sure the word "classic" should be ascribed to games at all, but I digress. | I do agree here. While this part of the sentence doesn't irritate me, it does make me wonder why he used this word. He could have just said 'playable' rather than 'classic'. Quote:
Originally Posted by dragon wench Honestly.. there is a rich plethora of words out there, why do we insist on selecting a handful and using them repeatedly, and out of context? | Most probably is because not a lot of people know that many words (especially the difficult ones and words that are seldom used). Also, it will be a lot easier for people to understand if common words are used in either articles or through ordinary conversation. Not everyone is a grammar whiz, that's for sure.
As for me, I usually try to use different words whenever I type out an assignment just so that I don't repeat the same words over and over again. It will look strange to see the same word being used many times in an article.
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11-26-2006, 12:40 AM
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For some reason, most young reviewers seem to believe that style is more important than substance, and style unfortunately means sounding like a PR blurb. So words such as "classic" "innovative," "pulse pounding," and phrases such as "remake the genre like you've never seen it before!" are constantly thrust before our tired eyes.  If I see a review that uses any of these cliches in describing a game, I immediately consider the writer to be a PR zombie, and stop reading--unless I want to see just how bad it can get, much in the spirit of people who stare out of moving vehicles to look at pile-ups.
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11-26-2006, 01:30 AM
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"It's like a classic" is a sentence that definitely would annoy me. Especially for a game that is only one month old. Granted, things change fast in the software industry, but...
The thing that annoys me the most, comes from me being Danish: It is when reviewers or journalists have read "too much" English, and starts translating English idioms directly into Danish.
I rarely stop reading a review due to silly language, though. Usually, if you know what kind of person is reviewing, you can still get valuable information from him/her.
Last edited by Heksefatter; 11-26-2006 at 01:41 AM.
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11-26-2006, 05:04 AM
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What is really annoying me is that here in the Netherlands people more and more are writing compounds as seperate words (as in English; in Dutch they have to be written as one word). And that everybody writes 'sex' instead of 'seks'. And that a lot of people seem to have a problem with punctuation (like using a space after a comma and using only one exclamation mark at a time). 
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11-26-2006, 05:13 AM
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Up here, NWN2 was also reviewed as a "classic roleplaying game," whatever that means. The only thing vaguelly "classic" about it is the setting, as even the character system is "new edition D&D." To me a "classic" is something that has in a major way revolutionized the genre, and that sure isn't NWN2.
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11-26-2006, 05:47 AM
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Originally Posted by Moonbiter Up here, NWN2 was also reviewed as a "classic roleplaying game," whatever that means. The only thing vaguelly "classic" about it is the setting, as even the character system is "new edition D&D." To me a "classic" is something that has in a major way revolutionized the genre, and that sure isn't NWN2. | Used in that way, I read "classic" as meaning "old-school" or "made according to time-honored standards". That appears to be true to me (I haven't played it, so I cannot be certain of course, I judge from hearsay and screeenshots). Personally, I don't mind "classic" being used that way.
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11-26-2006, 07:25 AM
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Heksefatter wrote: Quote: |
Used in that way, I read "classic" as meaning "old-school" or "made according to time-honored standards". That appears to be true to me (I haven't played it, so I cannot be certain of course, I judge from hearsay and screeenshots). Personally, I don't mind "classic" being used that way.
| Well, we'll just have to disagree on that.  First of all it's an Action RPG, and in no way will that ever be "classic roleplaying." They may have enhanced the storyline and roleplaying elements a little bit more than the first one, but what it all basically still comes down to is opening doors and whacking monsters over the head. That's the only way to build your character, as you only need to develop your skills to be a better killer.
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11-26-2006, 08:34 AM
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Originally Posted by Heksefatter I rarely stop reading a review due to silly language, though. Usually, if you know what kind of person is reviewing, you can still get valuable information from him/her. | Each to his or her own, really. But as far as I'm concerned, if in a few short sentences a reviewer has spewed forth several PR cliches about a game that make no sense in context, I don't see why I should bother analyzing their subsequent comments for useful content. Chances are that they'll get facts wrong, as well, since their critical sense is so incredibly poor. There are always other sources available, if you really want to find details about something you wish to buy. But it seems that computer games are one of those fields that generates a lot of "faux reviews," because the audience is frequently young and inexperienced enough to be largely uncritical. Don't get me wrong. Foolish reviews get written in all fields, though in most, they comprise a distinct minority, because the readership simply knows better than to swallow a lot of cotton candy and think it's steak. That doesn't apply in computer gaming.
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Last edited by fable; 11-26-2006 at 09:26 AM.
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11-26-2006, 10:13 AM
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Originally Posted by fable Each to his or her own, really. But as far as I'm concerned, if in a few short sentences a reviewer has spewed forth several PR cliches about a game that make no sense in context... | Not to quibble or taking the thread off-topic, but to me, the "classic"-example is more an example of bad English than undigested PR-hype. The word "classic" still implies age in most contexts, and age is not a connotation developers want associated with their recent games. These days, age is BAD! But I admit that if the reviewer does spew out phrases that were obviously pulled from an ad, I could end up stopping reading in disgust. Unless it was bad enough to be amusing in a masochistic way.
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11-26-2006, 10:26 AM
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Originally Posted by Heksefatter Not to quibble or taking the thread off-topic, but to me, the "classic"-example is more an example of bad English than undigested PR-hype. The word "classic" still implies age in most contexts, and age is not a connotation developers want associated with their recent games. These days, age is BAD! | Age is "bad," but in the US, "classic" is...well, classic PR hype. It's been used for at least a couple of decades, usually in the form of, "destined to be a classic," or "a classic before its time!" or "already a classic, and IT'S ONLY BEEN OUT FOR 3 WEEKS!!!!!" In short, the timeline to reach classic status has been telescoped, thanks to PR, into a single moment of advertising. It is yet another victim of our oxymoronic age, wherein the consumer industry turns soimething into its exact opposite. Thus, classic, which always required years to evaluate properly, becomes instead immediate recognition without any use of critical faculties, whatsoever. This is poor English, of course, but it got that way thanks to PR campaigns that deliberately misaligned the language. If you can make black into white, down into up, and any word into whatever else you want, you can control the way a largely uncritical public thinks and buys.
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Last edited by fable; 11-26-2006 at 10:30 AM.
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11-26-2006, 10:33 AM
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Originally Posted by fable Age is "bad," but in the US, "classic" is...well, classic PR hype. It's been used for at least a couple of decades, usually in the form of, "destined to be a classic," or "a classic before its time!" or "already a classic, and IT'S ONLY BEEN OUT FOR 3 WEEKS!!!!!" In short, the timeline to reach classic status has been telescoped, thanks to PR, into a single moment of advertising. It is yet another victim of our oxymoronic age, wherein the consumer industry turns soimething into its exact opposite. Thus, classic, which always required years to evaluate properly, becomes instead immediate recognition without any use of critical faculties, whatsoever. This is poor English, of course, but it got that way thanks to PR campaigns that deliberately misaligned the language. | Well, I've never noticed "classic" but I agree that it's scary. Well, I guess that is just one more thing to be depressed about concerning what's happening to language.
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11-26-2006, 10:39 AM
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11-26-2006, 11:05 AM
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Well, I guess that is just one more thing to be depressed about concerning what's happening to language.
| Well nobody 'invented' or copyrighted language either, it rather tends to re-invent itself. There are so many words that have slightly different meanings if you just go back fifty years.. less even.
It happens.
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11-26-2006, 11:29 AM
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Originally Posted by Tricky Well nobody 'invented' or copyrighted language either, it rather tends to re-invent itself. There are so many words that have slightly different meanings if you just go back fifty years.. less even.
It happens. | I know only too well. But I reserve the right to be grumpy about it. | | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | | | | | Display Modes | Rate This Thread |  Linear Mode | | 
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