User blog comment:Frostyflytrap/Miscellaneous Category/@comment-3060206-20151204200345

I always considered this to be our "miscellaneous" category, but perhaps it's time for one that's a little more defined. It would be a good place to put articles with major disputes on its categorisation, or that don't really fit into any category.

For the most part though, I'm not following the examples. The slimes from Flue pose a potential threat to the protagonist; does that not make them hazards? So shouldn't they remain in the Hazards list - even if they are enemies - because there aren't that many enemies to make an entire separate list for them? NOBODY's definition of enemies vs. hazards seems skewed; a lot of the distinguishments are within the games themselves. Like, hazards and enemies in Fat Cat could probably be distinguished by what the owl could destroy. Larger enemies take time, but with enough skill, the owl can kill them. Hazards can't be killed by the owl, though can potentially be destroyed with blocks in the case of turrets.

Generally, I think of enemies as hazards that have some sort of characteristic that makes them seem "alive" - facial features, legs, arms maybe. Thus enemies like slimes would be considered an enemy because they have a "mouth" - of course, there are probably many exceptions. Hazards don't necessarily have to cause damage - you can't "die" in games like Cave Chaos and Avalanche due to an enemy or hazard; their soul purpose is to hinder your progress. But they still pose a potential danger, because the goal is to make progress to the end, and anything that gets in your way poses a danger to prevent you from reaching that finish. If we were to treat these categories more basically as opposed to "enemies HAVE to have health, hazards HAVE to hurt you" then the categorisation should become more relaxed.

I don't know why barricadebots isn't an interactive object. The chiseler is interacting with the barricade bot - when the chiseler moves, the barricade bot will move to block its path. That's a form of interaction, isn't it? I don't know why we think interaction has to be "beneficial" for the player. I've always considered it as just an outermost category for most objects that either the player affects or affects the player. Hazards are interactive objects, enemies are hazards, etc. Interaction is very basic, simply a relationship between entity and the protagonist/player.

As for the auto-winch, I personally think it should be categorised as a "mechanic". It's not really hazardous, and it's something external that the player controls, used to add a puzzle element to the game. I know Nitrome calls it a trap; I wouldn't mind categorising it as a "trap" actually, since I guess the boy is stuck there until he gets out eh heh heh.

Locations articles often become redundant to the game articles, at least in the case of Nitrome. Additionally, when Nitrome doesn't give the location a specific name, then it seems the location doesn't have much significance and thus doesn't require an article.

sorry for long rant

tl;dr Loosen up (includes myself yes)