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Preferred term

video and computer games  

Definition

  • An ever-expanding category, the term, computer games, may refer to almost any recreational activity that can be performed using digital technologies and may include games played on self-contained machines within an arcade space, games played on self-contained platforms (Nintendo, Sega, X-Box, Sony PlayStation) attached to the television set, games played on the personal computer, games played online, and games played using portable handheld technologies. An inherently imprecise category, the term collapses distinctions historically drawn between games, sports, toys, play, stories, and role-playing.The first games were played on computers within the programming community starting in the early 1960s, but they did not reach the commercial marketplace until 1971 with the introduction of the first arcade technologies and in 1972 with the release of the first home computer game consoles. [Source: Encyclopedia of Social Theory; Video and Computer Games]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/video_and_computer_games

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