Alternative games?

[AndyB]

Alternative games. Would that be a better name than "indie" games?

[Karimi]

  AndyB said:

Alternative games. Would that be a better name than "indie" games?

Freelance would be better. I prefer indie though. Sounds nicer.

[elmuerte]

Alternative games doesn't sound right for indie games. "Alternative" more implies that the gameplay is different that usual. Like instead of pumping bobies full with lead you suck lead from bodies to bring them back to life, that would be an alternative game.

[n0wak]

How about "grunge" games then?

A little more alliterative too.

[Spaff]

DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE

[Salka]

Obey.

[`GP]

Grunge, lol.

Indie is best though. It sounds cool and is what they are: Indipendant games.

[Jake]

How about "games"

[Twilo]

Well personally I'd take "alternative" to mean outside of the mainstream of Video game formats (eg unusual games like Katamari Damacy), and "indie" to mean independent of a major publisher (eg self-published stuff like Gish).

There's no real hard and fast rule to say what's a major publisher or not, nor is there a way to say that a game is definitely outside the nor but there's a definite distinction between the two. "Alternative" depends on the game, and "indie" depends on the developer.

[AndyB]

An 'alliterative' game > http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/typing-of-the-dead

[miffy495]

Oh christ, I remembered reading a preview for that. If I recall correctly, it was ported to Dreamcast, but required a special keyboard peripheral.

[AndyB]

Typing of the dead, is brilliant! I have a demo, and you can find the full version at HOTU (not that I'm reccomending it), or buy it on Amazon / E-bay.

[Nick]

Indie

[Simon]

Nahhhhh. 'Alternative' is just more confusing. It raises questions. Alternative because it's less popular than a 'mainstream' game, or alternative because the gameplay is something different? Possibly both, but it's still saying very little. Kind of like 'alternative music', which is a stupid way of describing/categorising music, to my mind.

Gaming probably doesn't need any more jargon than it already has. Aren't we already swamped in labels?

[Trithemius]

  AndyB said:

Alternative games. Would that be a better name than "indie" games?

What sets of attributes are these labels intended to describe? Are they worth describing using the existing terminology? Does "independent" status have anything meaningful to say about the game itself?

No more than 2,500 words, on my desk by Friday. 20% of internal marks allowance. No APA citations.