Saturday, June 06, 2009

Little Wonder

I know I don't need to say this, but online nerd communities need to stop finding and overusing dumb buzzwords.

The current target of my ire is the term 'IP'. When online game nerds use the term 'IP', they are referring to a game or game series. They will often use this when they talk about a game company creating new games or series. For example: "I was hoping Nintendo would reveal some new IPs at E3 this year". This term is idiotic.

Now, I don't know exactly where it originated, but chances it came from the mouth of a PR hack, like most buzzwords (for example 'casual/core', another one that gets my goat)and was picked up by gamers. So it is a marketing term, and for whatever reason gamers latch onto marketing terms. That by itself is reason enough to hate its usage: as a symbol of our continuing spiral into pure consumer horror.

In a marketing sense, it makes sense to a degree. To the people making money, acquiring copyrights (the 'Intellectual Property') is a good business decision, especially now that past experience has shown them that they need to viciously stake their creative claims for good, lest they end up like that Lovercraft fellow (Did you know any Joe Moron on the street can write books about Hastur and the man and/or his estate wouldn't get a penny? MONSTROUS!) But game nerds aren't the people who make money off of copyrights, so why would they adopt the lingo? Even worse, using a term like 'IP' to describe creative output makes it sound a lot more...soulless. They may, in the end, be consumer products, but the people who put their time and effort into making them deserve some sort of respect...most of the time.

Besides, I thought gamers wanted their hobby to be treated as art (I'm not one of them, for your information)? You don't see people describing the latest books an author's 'IP', nor do you see movie studios 'creating new IPs'. Even the most hacked-out works get some level of respect on the artistic level. So why can't games?

Of course, I completely overlook the fact that the term is short and catchy, and hey if everyone else is doing it...You know, the reasons why things become common slang. And why do I care so much? I can't answer that; I honestly don't know my own motives.

I'm just a bitter person. That is all.

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