"Beating" Games, or, Can You Win at Flower?

Editor's note: Why is it we use certain phrases when describing our game-playing experience, in this case “beat a game”? Alex explores the topic and discusses just when the phrase is appropriate, and many times it's not. I use it because, well, I always have. How about you? -Greg

Something has been puzzling me lately -- why do so many people say they "beat X game"? The game has no will of its own. It isn't (or shouldn't be) working against you.

In the '80s, when video games hated you and arcades beat you up for your quarters, this might've made sense. In board games, sports games, and multiplayer games, it works too.

Today, you can legitimately "beat" a few single-player titles -- Ninja Gaiden 2 beat me, and if you complete Demon's Souls, you could justifiably jump to your feet and shout, "Screw you, game! I beat your ass into the ground!" (Not in polite company.)

But can you beat Prince of Persia (2008 -- the easy one)? Or Flower? Even macho action games such as Halo or Gears of War are designed to yield to most players at all but the highest difficulty setting. They challenge, but they let you through to the next level.

Developers would like you to finish/complete/fully experience their game. Otherwise they've wasted their time, effort, and money on the final cut-scene. So they need to do what they can to let you see their names roll by in the credits.

Flower

Max Payne helped usher in a system in which games adjust their difficulty on the fly -- giving you health packs when you need them, or dumbing-down enemy A.I. as required. You think you beat the game but, really, it let you win.

Hard, challenging games like Braid do what they can to help you through. I didn't feel like I was competing against Jonathan Blow -- every puzzle made sense, and if I couldn't solve one, I could move on and come back later. Limbo came closer to frustrating me, but Playdead put a checkpoint every 6 inches, so I hardly ever had to repeat more than a few seconds.

Really, I don't care if you tell me you beat Lego Star Wars. I'm not a grammar Nazi -- I started a sentence with a conjunction back there. I believe people use this verb for a reason -- it's either a historical relic, or it betrays an attitude about the games we "beat."

So use the word if you want, but think about how accurate it is. Was your experience with a game antagonistic or not? Most of the time, it probably wasn't. When you complete a game, you and the developer win -- nobody gets beat.

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Lance Darnell

August 01, 2010

Great post with a good point! You raised a very interesting issue. If I were to start a book and then did not finish it, is that due to a weak story? Or my inability to finish the book? Does this type of thinking and logic transfer to games?

I do love the idea of saying I beat the developers! Yah!

Toby Davis

I really do need to try demon souls ... Then again , not many games now of days you can say you beat the developer

Ben Villarreal

Wow! What's wrong with sounding like an English teacher?! As one, I can say, there's nothing wrong with beginning a sentence with a conjuction ;-)

Good post!

Nick Nordstrom

Interesting point, and one that I've never thought of before. But I think saying, "I beat game X" has just become the standard colloquialism for finishing a game. I don't think people ponder (I didn't, until I read this article) the actual meaning of "beat" when they're telling their buddies they "beat" Halo or Mass Effect. I think that when they say "beat," they are referring to what you're discussing: that they've completed their experience with the game.

Interesting article. I'd also like to add that one of the most effective ways to start a sentence is to begin it with a conjunction. And that's all I have to say about that!

Alex Martin

August 02, 2010

@Lance If you can't complete a book then either you've picked up something that isn't for you, or the writer has failed. Same with games -- Ninja Gaiden 2 was badly designed for me (I liked the first one), or Team Ninja thought their first game was for pussies.

@Ben Nothing. But outside of the classroom, everybody hates that guy who tells you how to talk.

@Nick I actually did some corpus analysis (Googling), that would suggest "beat" is more common than any of the other verbs I could think of.

August 03, 2010

I can put down a book half way through just like a game. Either it wont catch my interest or does not grab a hold of me for to long. Then again I get those books or games where I just want to stay connected to it.