jan Misali made another video about Super Mario and specifically the question of what constitutes the “mainline” Super Mario series.
The whole video is an exercise in linguistic and mathematical pedantry (I do not say this as a criticism; as a former student linguist, I can pretty confidently say that the pedantry is the point), and part of that pedantry is picking apart people’s definitions of “mainline Super Mario game,” and how one seemingly sensible definition happens to include some Famicom Disk System software called I am a teacher: Super Mario Sweater. jan Misali relied upon a particular definition of the term “video game” in order to facilitate that inclusion, and I had some thoughts about that definition, which I posted to my Tumblr because I know jan Misali is active on that site and I sure as hell wasn’t about to post an essay in the youtube comments.
Anyway, I’m reposting those thoughts here because I want to know what you all think of them. Did I fall for an elaborate trick by responding to this proposition in seriousness? Maybe. But as we established earlier, the pedantry is the point, and I quite enjoyed being pedantic over this silly little question.
Hi jan Misali! I'd like to continue the argument concerning what constitutes a video game with you, because I believe the definition of "video game" provided by you in your discussion of "I am a teacher: Super Mario Sweater* is far too broad for the actual use case of the term "video game."
For clarity, the definition of "video game" that you provided was:
"Interactive software with a visual display for the purpose of entertainment."
This definition of "video game" (by design, I would imagine) is capable of encompassing a large number of recreational software experiences, up to and including I am a teacher: Super Mario Sweater. However, I think this definition is not fit for purpose, because I think "video game" and "entertainment software" are two very different things. The definition of "video game" put forward by you, in my opinion, is a far better definition for the term "entertainment software," because any definition of the term "video game" (and related terms, such as "computer game") must, I think, take into account the "game" part of the term. So in order to accurately define what constitutes a video game, we must first understand what constitutes a game.
A game is not simply any activity that can be undertaken for the purposes of amusement. If that were the case, then knitting in and of itself would be considered a "game" irrespective of the presence of entertainment software that helps to guide it. I think we are best served in this discussion by conceiving of a game as a planned activity revolving around achieving a goal or set of goals with conditions and limitations imposed upon its participants by committee, consensus or some other compulsion. And so by extrapolation from that definition, we can say that a "video game" is "piece of entertainment software that asks its players to achieve a specific goal or set of goals while imposing conditions and limitations on its participants defined by the software's internal rules."
So why does I am a teacher: Super Mario Sweater not fit the definition of a video game? Simply because while it does implicitly provide a goal, it does not provide any conditions or limitations upon the participant beyond merely asking that they own a copy of the software itself and the equipment required to knit a sweater. You are not asked to knit a sweater within a time limit or challenged to do so with a specific amount of wool, nor does the software grade your performance in any way, because it simply does not have the means to. All it does is provide a template by which one can create Super Mario-themed knitting patterns. To suggest that I am a teacher: Super Mario Sweater is a video game could be likened to suggesting that The Principles of Knitting: Methods and Techniques of Hand Knitting by June Hemmons Hiatt is a tabletop game because it is an "interactive physical object with visual and text aids for the purpose of entertainment." Neither definition holds up to scrutiny, and so neither are useful for the discussion here.
Though on the other hand, a definition that allows for "I am a teacher: Super Mario Sweater" being considered as a video game is pretty funny, so maybe it's okay.
