i think the more narrow and specific use of 'game' is a recent thing; back in the snes era we were happy to call mario paint and sim city/ant/earth games. i think it's just a small minority of hardcore gamers who want to hijack the word for themselves, instead of keeping it meaning anything you play.
lolconspirocy
No one is trying to hijack the word "game". That much is a given considering everyone acknowledges that it has several meanings anyway.
The "activity engaged in for diversion or amusement" has, from the dawn of videogames, not been the meaning it's been about. It has always been the competitive one. (See for example how "videogames" is translated to other languages.)
If I start making music by smashing rocks together, insisting that it is "rock music", then surely, magazines covering "rock music" will take an interest in my music. Because there is absolutely no way two different concepts can be kept separate if it is possible to describe both of them using the same sequence of letters.
look at real-life games for instance: when kids say they're going to play cowboys and indians, you don't have some other kid jumping in saying 'that's not a game because there's no rules and goals!'
And when kids say they're going to eat spaghetti, you don't have some other kid jumping in saying 'that's not a game'.
or when they say 'let's play a game of catch', a game where you just throw a ball back and forth between each other. no goal, no rules, but it's still called a game.
No, yo, dude, that's the street, yo. There are no rules on the street. In catch there are rules and goals. FOR ONE THING IT IS A GOAL TO CATCH THE BALL.
The only people who don't understand rap music are rich people who have never seen a ghetto in their life. It's like a foreign language to those who've never had to grow up poor in the streets and worry about getting shot.
It's like a foreign language to those who've never had to grow up watching kung fu flicks.
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