Is what we do “gaming”? When we're writing a design or programming some code or creating visuals, are we “gaming”? I always thought “gaming” was what they do in casinos, but I had to give up that fight years ago. I'd pretty much given over to the notion that “gaming” could also be used to refer to the act of playing digital games. So what do you think? What does “gaming” include in all its permutations and usages?

Interesting question. Perhaps a way to start the discussion is to build a Venn diagram of the different kinds of relevant activities, and then attempt to assign labels to the different areas. I think we might find we don't have enough words to make nuanced distinctions. Lets start by listing entries.

• Gambling at a casino. This is something people do primarily for the thrill of the real-world consequences of winning and losing. Personally I consider that completely distinct from “gaming”.
• Playing poker with friends for fun. Mechanically this is the same as the one above, but since there are no consequences and the motivation is very different, it becomes a separate class of activity. Is “gaming” the right word? It seems to have more in common with playing boardgames for fun, that going to the casino.
• Playing esport games professionally. Mechanically this is definitely “gaming”, but also has a significant overlap with the casino-entry, since playing a professional game is primarily about the real-world consequences of winning or losing.
• Playing a multiplayer esport or arcade games for fun. That is probably one of the purest forms of “gaming”?
• Playing a boardgame for fun. Definitely gaming.
• Playing a singleplayer game for fun. This seems to be a spectrum, with one end being pure “gaming" titles (where the reviews will focus on gameplay etc.), and at the other end being interactive stories the user walks through with little or no gameplay (where the reviewers will focus on whether the character rooster contains all the required combinations of skin color, gender, and preference in sexual activities…) Personally I don't consider the pure story title to be “gaming”, and we could use a new word here. Titles don't really reach the far end of that spectrum yet, as there's always some element of shooting or puzzles, but it's not an invalid type of entertainment and I'm sure we'll see them.
• Interacting with a “toy” simulator or game-mode, like Minecraft creative mode. Personally I don't think “gaming” is the right word, as the focus is on creativity and there's no obstacle or classic gameplay.

Very nice analysis, Brian. You didn't include developing games, so when we're writing a design or programming some code or creating visuals, you wouldn't say that was “gaming,” I take it?

Also I think I misspoke when I said I always thought “gaming” was what they do in casinos - actually, I hated it when I heard casino ads talk about “gaming” as a pre-empted word (stolen from our field) to make gambling sound like innocent fun.

Tom Sloper said:
So what do you think? What does “gaming” include in all its permutations and usages?

Being born in the time where the internet and phones were always around, my connotation of “Gaming" is exclusively for playing video games. I think 99% of others my age (I'm 18) think the same way. Meanwhile my brother's age range (13) almost exclusively has the connotation of it being for playing video games, but people like my dad and grandma have a connotation more mixed between playing physical and video games. I think the younger a person is, the deeper of a connotation they will have that gaming = playing video games.

To me it sounds weird/wrong to call someone playing a board game to be “Gaming”.

Tom Sloper said:
Is what we do “gaming”? When we're writing a design or programming some code or creating visuals, are we “gaming”?

In my opinion, gaming definitely couldn't mean making games. As I said above, me and my generation have a deep connotation of “Gaming = Playing video games”, and I'm also new to making games. So maybe that skews my connotation of the word more than older and more experienced people.

For me, “gaming” has always meant gambling.

This is clearly the historic meaning. Organizations like the {Nevada/New York/Etc} Gaming Commission, the North American Gaming Regulators Association, the Canadian Gaming Association, and the International Association of Gaming Regulators aren't looking to regulate Halo or World of Tanks.

Looking at the word history in Google, it has meant gambling in English since at least the 1750s.

There is a modern trend to playing video games as “gaming", but I'd say this is recent. Google's word analysis suggests similar, a huge uptick in the past few decades that almost certainly has little to do with gambling.

I'd say that modern use (e.g. anyone under about age 30) it can mean either. Anyone older than that, and anything with legal, government, or regulatory use, would mean gambling only.

I also still correct people, also pointing it out: “It isn't gaming, gaming means something else, the Nevada Gaming Commission isn't going to come after you for a faulty number generator.”

This seems like may be generational. I'm in my 30s now and “gaming” has only ever meant “playing video games” to me. I didn’t encounter the word being used to refer to gambling until I was in my early 20s, when I heard that a local video game bar was prevented from opening on time by some liquor license paperwork that assumed “gaming” meant gambling. But when I say “gaming” I never mean gambling. I assume this is the case for anyone younger than myself as well.

Developing games is also not “gaming” in my mind. When I need a shorter form of “game development” or “making games” I use “gamedev." That term encompasses a lot more than just playing the game under development, although that IS involved. Playing the game under a gamedev context isn't “gaming”, either, though, because “gaming” just covers doing it for leisure.

https://www.siga.ca/

taby said:

https://www.siga.ca/

And you shared that URL because…?

The G in SIGA is for Gaming. But really, this is a deflection of guilt. The G should stand for Gambling, but the Indians do not want that stigma.

As for gaming laptops, one can play all kinds of video games, including Gambling apps made from Unity, or playnow.com for instance. AFAIK, there is a class action lawsuit against Epic for Gambling using childrens’ time and money as the fee, in Fortnite. Yeah, let’s raise a generation addicted to Gambling by the time they’re old enough to use a laptop. that’ll work.

Even the government calls it Gaming, instead of Gambling. What a farce. https://www.slga.com/