If there is anything I remember from my 9th grade English class, it is to avoid using vague and undefined terms at all times. Unfortunately, these words are seen commonly here and are oftentimes the basis behind many threads. Words like “Big”, “Hardcore”, “Flop”, etc. I have seen this problem for as long as I can remember here, but it's been more frequent lately as there have been many threads questioning which is “bigger” between Gran Turismo and Halo, now that GT5 has outsold Halo: Reach.
The use of words like “Big” or “Hardcore” does nothing but distract from discussing actual points and causes unnecessary confusion. For example, when using the word “Big”, there can be various definitions for that term. For instance, when you first think of Grand Theft Auto and Madden this generation, you may think that Grand Theft Auto is obviously much bigger than Madden because it has the bigger franchise. However, someone else may say they are more equal because Madden’s multiple installments have caused the franchise as a whole to sell more.
This disagreement of key words causes a disconnection in communication. As the discussing goes on, it starts to become clearer that there’s an underlining misunderstanding that keeps the different parties from communicating effectively. Eventually, this could result in a long drawn out debate on definitions and semantics. This could be interesting if you enjoy those kinds of debates, but I don’t think that’s the case for most people.
Nothing's more annoying than seeing someone post "Game A is bigger because it has a larger audience", only for someone to respond with, "But Game B is bigger because it made more profits!" Trying to measure the "Bigness" of profits and audience size? The perfect example of apples and oranges. If these sort of predicaments were necessary, then I would live with them; but they're not and con easily be avoided. That's what makes them so annoying.
Instead of using these cloudy words, people should only use words with concrete definitions and easily identifiable criteria. If using certain indefinable words is a must, then explicitly state the criteria for the word upfront and be as precise as possible. For example, instead of saying, “which game is bigger”, say “which game has the larger audience.”Unless you’re curious about profits, then you should change your sentence accordingly. Now, you have people talking about the specific principles that were meant to be discussed, rather than having a semantics war. Using such terms simply aren’t worth it when more we can more clearly state what we want to discuss.
