Definition of games

[Ben Armstrong]

On Thu, 2006-02-02 at 01:34 +0100, Miriam Ruiz wrote:
> I've just filled an ITP for pyKaraoke (#345897), and was wondering if that
> kind of program (a karaoke) could be considered a game or not. I've also have
> StepMania (a dancing game) packaged for my own (it cannot enter debian until a
> new theme is developed, current one is so similar to Konami's DDR that there
> might be some copyright problems with it).
> 
> I was wondering, would those kind of programs be considered games (for me they
> are, I wouldn't be asking this otherwise). Can a karaoke program be considered
> a game, and should I add pyKaraoke to the games team or not?

Karaoke is an amusement, but not a game.  It fits some of the criteria
of a game (i.e. it can engage the user actively to have fun) but it fits
the "Sound" and "Viewer" categories better because it is very similar to
plain audio players, with the small addition of words synchronized to
the music.  Karaoke, like other viewers, can be passively watched and
listened to without actively engaging the user.

The precedent in Debian is to put karaoke players (e.g. kmid) in
"sound", although since there is a visual component too, the distinction
is somewhat blurred.  Indeed, the same could be said of xmms which
handles media types other than sound, too, yet is classified under
"sound".  The Gnome menu has it right, I think, in having a single
"Sound & Video" menu.

The dancing game is also an amusement, but one which I should think is
more legitimately considered a game because its primary purpose is to
engage the user in an activity with the purpose of having fun.  Again,
you could just watch and listen to the dancing game, but I doubt if many
people use it that way.

All of this is a perfect illustration of why debtags is a superior way
to classify software.  A single hierarchical structure of classifying
software is too rigid and limiting, failing to consider that software
can have many uses and be classified many different ways, depending on
the user's particular point of view.  It's nice to have default places
in the menu to put things, but they are really only best guesses at how
most users will see the software and are always prone to letting down at
least some users with a different perspective.

Ben