[casual_games] Origin of the term "casual games"

[Dave Rohrl]

I'm pretty sure that the term was already in use at Pogo by the time I
joined in 2000.  As I recall, the term was in use for PC games in the
family entertainment (and deer hunting) categories for some time before
that.

 

- DaveR

 

________________________________

From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org
[mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of Juan Gril
Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 3:22 PM
To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
Subject: Re: [casual_games] Origin of the term "casual games"

 

The first time I heard the word "casual games" was in a meeting with
Gabe Zichermann while he was at Trymedia (now Macrovision) and I was at
Yahoo!, back in april/may 2003. I was using the term "coffee-break
games" internally, and Gabe mentioned "casual" as another possible term
to name the downloadable games we were offering. 

Gabe, do you remember where you first heard of? 

I think at the same time Joel Brodie heard it from somewhere else.

Hope this helps!

Juan



On 2/27/07, Wade Tinney <wade at largeanimal.com> wrote:

 

An histor ical/etymological question that a writer recently posed to me;
what is the origin of the term "casual games "? When was it first used
to describe this particular industry/genre? Perhaps some person or
company on this list w as the first? Did we simply borrow it from the
console/retail side of the business?

Note that the last thing I want to do with this question is provoke a
discussion about the definition of casual games, or how it 's not a
great name, et cetera. Beat that horse if you must, but I can assure you
...it 's already dead. 

Thanks!

Wade

 

p.s. If someone from Google is on this list, this might be a good
project to spend your abundant free time on. C reate a tool that would
allow someone to find the first time a particular word/phrase was
cataloged by Google. I would totally use it right now. 





Wade Tinney

partner, game designer

Large Animal Games, nyc

http://www.largeanimal.com

212-989-4312


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