Should 'Metroidvania' Be Abolished? (The Jimquisition)

Knowing Jim it's satire on some level but also to get us thinking. Like who really does care, should we care, if we shouldn't care what should we care about? Sometimes all you need is something to get your mind moving.

I honestly cant tell if this is satire. Who could possibly care?

Flamie

There's an assumption that terms like 'side-scroller' or 'first-person shooter' are any more meaningful to people unfamiliar with gaming lexicon in the first place. 'First-person shooter' is probably the most self-descriptive, but I can still imagine a neophyte scratching his or her head asking for additional clarification. By contrast, I might take a stab by offering, "Have you ever heard of Doom? It's like Doom." Or insert your descriptive FPS of choice. I think from an outsiders perspective, its actually more helpful to describe a genre of games based upon better-known titles. There's a disconnect when the title that's been borrowed hasn't seen publication in decades - rogue-likes - but even so, it's easier to find a common ground with a similar game the non-gamer HAS played than to try to describe the nuances of the genre.

Alyena

If there's a game genre term that needs to be changed it's "MOBA". Multiplayer online battle arena?! Really? You mean like Quake? Or like Unreal tournament? Or even call of fucking duty? Half the games in existence are battle arenas and being multiplayer and/or online is common too. There's NOTHING in that term that even describes specifically what a moba is. It's a shit term invented by shit people who didn't like being compared to DotA...

David Bodor

I look at a term like 'Metroidvania' as being something comfortably tied into video game history and explaining it to newly interested people has given me the opportunity to explain to them some of my most beloved games so..... no, I think it's fine. I find the word has a certain gravitas, too.

Trevor Bond

First I've heard about people actually hating the term, but it is incredibly undescriptive, it doesn't do a good job at explaining itself, so I have to explain it to others all the time. I think that part of the reason for our terminology problems in video games is that academic study of video games is still just in its infancy (or, really, conception). My time at university taught me how surprisingly many of our categorisations and knowledge are trickle-downs from academia (often outdated in actual academia by the time they have trickled down, but still). Sadly, the process is slow and study has barely even begun, so firm, clear language is probably decades off. And even then, nothing is guaranteed, maybe we'll just get used to our convoluted, but established terms. In the meantime, we'll have to hope someone establishes a better term that is also catchy enough to spread. Personally, I'm not sure how much I care, but as someone with a linguistic background it's certainly interesting to follow, especially constructions like metroidvania with its many levels of meanings and origins.

Hansbert Emmer

I'll agree with Roberts that Metroidvania is an ugly, unwieldy word. A lot of portmanteaus are. Metrovania would sound better, but probably would be even less easily understood than Metroidvania.

Ben L.

First: Thank god for Jim Sterling! We should be celebrating terms like Metroidvania. It's something that's naturally evolved out of the history of video games. There's no rule that we have to create the most-accurate genre label. When someone says "What's a Metroidvania?" It's an opportunity to describe the qualities and the spirit of these games. That's part of our history. We should be defending that term. It's an opportunity to describe what we appreciate in a game, and not about what exact box it falls into. After all, other mediums have odd genres. Like what the hell is "Alternative" music? At what point will modern music like Britney Spears be considered classical? (Remember that episode of Doctor Who?) This is our culture. We can celebrate a term like metroidvania. All though it is funny to say anything challenging that requires patience and practice to be a Souls-Like. lol

I bet mario-like would have caught on if they stuck to 2d platforming without combat. 3d platforming is a vastly different beast but very descriptive. I love language and how it changes over time. Metriodvania is a 2d platformer with combat, items unlocking regions, backtracking, and a meaningful death system. You can game over. There really isn't a condensed way to state that. Even switching to 3d would change the genre. BTW, I never knew you could play a frames per second. That leads to a sentence like great fps on the fps and no one has a clue what that would mean.

Benedict Holland

If metroidvania gets abolished then I'll have to find something to replace the category in my Steam library I gave that name.

Part of the issue also is something you touched briefly on: we're still using the broad categories that were created in the 80's & 90's, despite the fact that games have evolved and become harder to put into a single "bucket." What is an "Adventure" game when so many games have a strong story element now? What is an "Action" game when story-based games have twitchy parts? What is a "Role Playing Game" when so many titles allow you to somehow customize your character as you play? Just go to Steam and see how many titles show up in multiple categories for a snapshot of the problem. I know a few of us library science gamer types are looking at how to address this issue, but adoption of any solution will be tough because people are used to these "classic" categories, even if they don't really work anymore.

Ed

To use "accessibility" in this context seems like trying to conjure strife and drama where none exists. Taking thirty seconds to describe walking to someone in a wheelchair isn't going to enable them to walk, nor is describing traffic to a blind person going to help them much in crossing a street. Telling someone that a game is being likened to its predecessors explains "Metroidvania" just fine, and possibly leaves the person better able to appreciate the game. ...Though it is kind of funny that, arguably, the original "Castlevania" wasn't a Metroidvania.

Kraken

This was a cool look into the language gamers and the industry use. I liked the accessibility perspective and agree that using such a specific term can be off putting. I know I've received the 1000-yard stare in the past when trying to explain a game like Hollow Knight. And heck, the conversation went from "Metroidvania?" to "Action platformer?" to... "It's like Mario." and that was the reference the person understood. Your discussion about "Mario-like" was spot on Jim. 😃

Perpetual Noob

Culture evolving language? Ew.

Emil Johansen

Linear Tool Management? Either way Temtem up!

kesseldarkfire

I think a major difference between the terms "metroidvania" and "soulslike" is that there are plenty of great metroidvanias not made by Igarashi or Nintendo, but there are no great soulslikes from companies other than Fromsoft.

NeverRanBefore

"but that's how words work" - yes, that's my main issue with criticism of the word "Metroidvania" in a nutshell. The argument "you don't know what the word means if you don't know the word's etymology or don't have context" can be applied to almost any word in almost any language. I fail to see the problem.

Michał Sporzyński

Also, after having played Hollow Knight nothing else within that pot of games feels good enough anymore. HK is so much better than anything else ever made. I guess some people will say that Dark Souls is a better metroidvainia but they can stuff it.