"Why has this clunky name stuck around so long?"
In this new featured blog post, game designer Robert Green playfully dissects the popular term, why we use it, and what terms might better suffice. Is it time to move on? Would a name that reflects the genre's basis in "unlocking worlds" be a better descriptor?
Read the full blog over at Game Developer.
Submit your blog to Game Developer here: https://reg.gdconf.com/blog-submission.
language evolves because people Understand it; any brute-force attempt to simply Invent a new term will only work if you have the power to shove it into the popular consciousness. Which is to say: release a really popular game that popularizes the term, or be a huge youtuber and be incessant about it, etc. AND be lucky and solid in your word choices
posting a blog to try and convince people to stop using an inaccurate term has roughly a 0% success rate in comparison
The thing is, "metroidvania" is just unplesant to say in the mouth, but "splore-em-up" is so fuckin good. You should call them "splore-em-ups" just so you have the opportunity to say such a good-feeling word!