I do take your point and it's a fair criticism. It can almost feel like a marketing ploy to piggyback off of the popularity of another game, such as Stardew Valley-like, considering a lot of the time those games have since developed a genre, like for FPS instead of Doom-like.

I would also add, though, that using Doom-like/Doom-lite would still be appropriate to define games that are closer to a Doom type game than your CoD or Counter Strike. You could make a similar argument for the style of play Stardew Valley offers compared to literally Farming Simulator 20XX.

But you could also argue it gives the reader/consumer a quicker understanding of what to expect from the game. Especially in the case of this article where there isn't a way to clearly define/ label what to excpet from the game.

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

My dislike of it stems from the marketing ploy aspect. It feels like clickbait; authors trying to get hits from people looking up (or "interested in") a certain game even if it may not be an accurate description.

I think the Doom-like FPS's are getting called "Boomer Shooters" now, lol...but we're ironically in a situation where we need a new term again. Or we would be if that genre were popular in the mainstream.

I think describing the game in the article as a "Management Sim inspired by Theme Hospital/Bullfrog" would get across the same concept, for example. I don't think it's difficult. I think it's just becoming a popular thing for gaming journalists to do

[–] nuggsy@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

I can see where you're coming from and I agree at times it feels like it's being used for the marketing since it's easier to say, using the article as an example, "Bullfrog-like". They could have taken an extra moment to be a bit more descriptive, such as with your example, and say “Management Sim inspired by Theme Hospital/Bullfrog”, for people who may not be familiar with "Theme Hospital" or a Bullfrog game.

Just to circle back to your initial comment, "I got to the word “Bullfroglike” and stopped reading", I can definitely see where you are coming from, but I did disagree with your approach.

I also just wanted to add that I hope this isn't taken as an attack upon yourself.

I do like the alliteration for "Boomer Shooter" but I don't think it's the right demographic xD. I think it's still somewhat common, but I also don't think it's as mainstream as say your Battlefield or CoD.

RetroSlayer FPS? I have no idea, lol