If you believe its a toy then maybe its a toy to you. In truth, videogames used to have the stigma of being considered toys because companies like Nintendo and Sega marketed them to kids and teenagers. When Sony came they changed videogames from something for kids and teens to adults. Today consoles are essentially multimedia computers today. Thats why Sony expanded the industry beyond the path Nintendo set it upon.

Nope. I don't consider other people's hobbies toys or childish. :D I don't like using a word like toy to describe something that someone uses for fun. It's not a appropriate to use because some people would get insulted by the implication. Like fishing, metal detecting, camping, hunting, biking, diving, sky diving, ect.

Except millions and millions of people use computers for work, solving equations, sending rockets into space, designing buildings and vehicles...

That statement really makes no sense to me. Until you get architects and office workers using consoles there's a big difference. Though i'm not sure I'd call consoles a toy, atleast not since 2005. They're media devices now, a dvd player isn't a toy and consoles can play movies, listen to music, browse the internet. So no I wouldn't say they're toys. Though the Wii is borderline what i'd personally consider a toy. 

I guess I view a media device as not being a toy and a dedicated only plays games device such as the n64 as a toy. I'm sure many disagree with me though.

I disagree with you. I see a toy as something as what a kid has. If you want to use that logic,you can say that a computer,smartphone,T.V. are toys. I equate a toy=kids things.

They are toys, because their primary function is to play with it.

A computer obviously isn't, because even though there are similarities, a computer's primary function is to be a workstation. Smartphones aren't either, because their primary function is being a communicator.

They are literally computers. Specialized for gaming. Is a gaming PC a toy?

"But, a gaming PC is still a PC. You can web browse, photoshop, write word documents, etc"

And on gaming consoles, you can develop games (with an SDK), launch apps, and cure cancer (PS3 Folding@Home).

I'm not trying to get up in arms, per se, about it being called a "toy". But if gaming consoles are toys then my iPhone is a toy.

Would you see a console fitting in with Toy Story?


I thought so.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=toy

c.1300, "amorous playing, sport," later "piece of fun or entertainment" (c.1500), "thing of little value, trifle" (1520s), and "thing for a child to play with" (1580s). Of uncertain origin, and there may be more than one word here. Compare Middle Dutch toy, Dutch tuig "tools, apparatus; stuff, trash," in speeltuig "play-toy, plaything;" German Zeug "stuff, matter, tools," Spielzeug "plaything, toy;" Danish tøi, Swedish tyg "stuff, gear." Applied as an adjective to things of diminutive size, especially dogs, from 1806. Toy-boy is from 1981.

Yes

Your iPhone can indeed be a toy. Do you use it for entertainment purposes? 

Yes, I do. But the arguments being made here are for "primary functions". This case, iPhone being a "telephone". I use the Blu-Ray player in the front room for "entertainment purposes". Watching movies is its "primary function". Would you call a Blu-Ray player a "toy"?

If we stretch the definition to mean anything used for entertainment, and not just action figures, dolls, etc. then everything is a toy. A house is a toy. I use it to throw parties. An F1 fighter jet is a toy. Pilots like to fly up to 0 G and then do a bunch a loops, because it's "entertainment" for them. A pen is a toy. I twirl it around in class to keep me entertained because the teacher is boring. Etc.

If that's the case, I can accept that. Everything is on an even playing field. But we don't, pragmatically, define things like that. They are separated. A house is living quarters, not a toy. As such, a console is...well...a console like a DVD player is a DVD player.