Forced acronymisation of game titles

[Veho]

Okay, I've never been a fan of forcing everything into an acronym; I'm fine with it if it's the name of a standard or company or product or anything that has been an acronym from the start, but I'm very much against it when it happens to already existing titles. It's okay with WoW, I guess, that one is fairly unmistakable, or SSBB, you can't really be a Temper and not know the dreaded SSBB (usually followed by "does it work on PAL"), but some things are just too much, and I'm sure some of you at least will agree. It's fine if the game name has been mentioned somewhere in the thread already, and in the rest of the discussion you can just write the acronym, but if it's a part of the title, it takes an almost arcane knowledge of gaming to know first try which game a particular combination of letters belongs to.

And the title that perfectly illustrates that acronymizing really can go waaaay overboard:

"Character art for DQS:TMQatToM and TOSotNW"

Say no to rampant acronymizing!



Discuss

 

[Urza]

The game names wouldn't have fit.

You should say no to developer's making long-winded game titles.

 

[Destructobot]

SDSSV14:TJKDS:GTJ,FJN,OJN,FJ,FJN,CJ,OJ,OJN,OTJ,K

 

[xJonny]

I think anything more than 5 characters is too long for acronymisation.

If necessary, pick out the words or phrase that would allow it to be recognised. e.g. ToS: Dawn of the New World

It also helps because the beginning part might be a series name which is easy to be acronymised

 

[VVoltz]

Another episode of late night thinking with my hero: vveho!!

Well, on topic, some times it works wonders, I mean, who is going to pronounce: The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth, and that my friend is the first game, don't let me start on The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-King (TLRTBMTRW, just with the big words.)

I also think that games like F.E.A.R. and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. are over using the right to acronymize.

Those were my to cents, back to you vveho.

 

[DarkAura]

SDSSV14:TJKDS:GTJ,FJN,OJN,FJ,FJN,CJ,OJ,OJN,OTJ,K

Lol I thought you were joking.

But I even use acronyms for like Jump Ultimate Stars, JUS and even Mario Kart/Mortal Kombat, MK. Guess I'm just lazy that's all.

 

[jumpman17]

LAWL! I knew you were talking about my topic as soon as I read the title.

The names were too long and the only way they'd fit was to butcher them into an acronym.

 

[VVoltz]

LAWL! I knew you were talking about my topic as soon as I read the title.

The names were too long and the only way they'd fit was to butcher them into an acronym.

jm17, you are correct.

 

[Veho]

LAWL! I knew you were talking about my topic as soon as I read the title.

The names were too long and the only way they'd fit was to butcher them into an acronym.

Well, your title was just an example, I was referring to the general state of things. You had to put it as an acronym to fit it into the title. But people do that to game titles (well, all titles, to be exact) all over the place, and in places where it really wouldn't hurt them to write a whole title (like gaming magazines, I just love how they start the article with "AKJtHoFG is getting an expansion, or so rumors claim", and I spend the next half-hour online trying to figure out what game they are talking about).

QUOTE(VVoltz @ Feb 22 2008, 01:52 AM)Well, on topic, some times it works wonders, I mean, who is going to pronounce: The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth, and that my friend is the first game, don't let me start on The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-King (TLRTBMTRW, just with the big words.)

I don't know, I mean, okay, maybe pronouncing long game titles can be a harrowing task, but if the title is really that long, I usually omit half of it and just say "the latest Lord of the Rings game" instead of even trying to pronounce the acronym. I think the acronym itself takes longer to pronounce than the actual title (tee el are tee bee em tee are double you... you know, I don't know anyone who would actually read the acronym out loud, they are usually only written down), unless you want to call the game "Lohtar: Buhfme 2: Rothwik" or however you choose to read that jumble, and hope the other guy gets what you're talking about.

 

[VVoltz]

LAWL! I knew you were talking about my topic as soon as I read the title.

The names were too long and the only way they'd fit was to butcher them into an acronym.

Well, your title was just an example, I was referring to the general state of things. You had to put it as an acronym to fit it into the title. But people do that to game titles (well, all titles, to be exact) all over the place, and in places where it really wouldn't hurt them to write a whole title (like gaming magazines, I just love how they start the article with "AKJtHoFG is getting an expansion, or so rumors claim", and I spend the next half-hour online trying to figure out what game they are talking about).

Well, on topic, some times it works wonders, I mean, who is going to pronounce: The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth, and that my friend is the first game, don't let me start on The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-King (TLRTBMTRW, just with the big words.)

I don't know, I mean, okay, maybe pronouncing long game titles can be a harrowing task, but if the title is really that long, I usually omit half of it and just say "the latest Lord of the Rings game" instead of even trying to pronounce the acronym. I think the acronym itself takes longer to pronounce than the actual title (tee el are tee bee em tee are double you... you know, I don't know anyone who would actually read the acronym out loud, they are usually only written down), unless you want to call the game "Lohtar: Buhfme 2: Rothwik" or however you choose to read that jumble, and hope the other guy gets what you're talking about.

True. good games have short names, like Diablo, Mafia, Tekken or Lair... well, not always but I guess, like Hollywood stars (Cher vs. Lindsay Lohan) they always follow trends one way or another. =)

 

[Jdbye]

I agree, although I'd say ToS is a pretty easily recognizable acronym (but DotNW isn't

)

xJonny's idea is pretty good. You should all do that.

 

[Psyfira]

I wouldn't recognise ToS or SSBB. Both very popular titles but I've never had anything to do with either of them. It's tricky to come up with a rule for it, you could say use acronyms for the common names but in the Castlevania series it's the other way around, people cut down the subtitle. CPOR would just be silly.

 

[pkprostudio]

We should just abbreaviate everything. For example, Diablo would be D.

 

[Playset6199]

We should just abbreaviate everything. For example, Diablo would be D.

Shit that would be awesome.
Excuse me while I go play some E.

 

[VVoltz]

We should just abbreaviate everything. For example, Diablo would be D.

Shit that would be awesome.
Excuse me while I go play some E.

Hell I was paying that not too long ago!, are you up for another match?, or we can play MK.