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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   741 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 5, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Pedantry warning.

Sometimes game developers will release a full game, then a few months later release a few additional missions or scenario sold separately from the base game. For decades, the standard term for such content was "expansion pack" or "mission pack". If the expansion pack can be played without having previously bought the base game, it would be referred to as a "standalone expansion/mission pack".

At some point in the 2010s (?), around the time that physical media began being phased out in favour of digital releases, "expansion/mission pack" was deprecated in favour of the new term "downloadable content (DLC)".

This term is stupid.

Any PC game purchased via Steam or similar digital storefronts will be downloaded to the user's PC: it is entirely accurate to describe any base game as "downloadable content" by virtue of it being content which one can download. Likewise games purchased via the PlayStation Store. Even if you buy a PS5 game in a DVD case from a brick-and-mortar shop, it just contains a slip of paper with a download key.

"DLC" is an idiotic term to replace a perfectly descriptive and useful one. The only kind of video game content which can't be accurately described as "downloadable content" is video games released via physical media (discs, cartridges etc.). Bring back "expansion packs".

"DLC" and "expansion pack" are not synonyms. Rather, "DLC" encompasses all optional add-ons, while "expansion pack" is reserved specifically for major optional add-ons.

Victoria 2 and Victoria 3 are good examples.

  • Victoria 2's DLCs are easily divided into two categories. The two expansions, A House Divided and Heart of Darkness, were major, linear upgrades to the game—you can play V2, V2 + AHD, or V2 + AHD + HoD. Additionally, there were several cosmetic, non-expansion-pack DLCs, mostly "sprite packs"—e. g., American Civil War Sprite Pack—plus a music pack.

  • Victoria 3 currently has a smorgasbord of DLCs. They are marketed with several different names, from "music packs" and "art packs" at the minor, purely cosmetic end to "immersion packs", "mechanics packs", and "expansions" at the high end.

Likewise, for The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, the infamous Horse Armor Pack was merely a minor DLC, while Shivering Isles was an actual expansion.

Also, you didn't ask a question.

I wish they'd used a more descriptive term like "additional content" or "extra content". "Downloadable content" is just stupid.

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