To preface, I wouldn't really consider myself a dev, but I've dabbled in prototyping. I definitely notice little things, but how much it bothers me depends on the game. If it's a dialogue-heavy game, poorly edited VO would feel worse than in an action-romp, where juicy feedback is more important.

Dude, you are literally not engaging in the conversation, and I was being totally respectful towards you. My point is that words have meaning, and your point is that I shouldn't use a word because some people will insert an entirely different word in its place. It's just a weird hill to die on man.

That's really about the size of it.

I think there's plenty of games out there that say a lot in a short amount of time. Just looking around itch. io will net you some solid indie results that take 20 minutes to play through. I've played some profound and simple games by rooting around and playing for an hour at a time.

Sure, but I feel like it just reinforces illiteracy. If people read "ludophile" as "pedophile", then they're either dyslexic or need literacy education.

Well we use the term "cinephile" and "bibliophile" pretty freely, and personally I think it's ok to use a word for its actual meaning. I'm not gonna avoid a word just because ignorant people will make dumb assumptions. I don't think you're making the dumb assumption btw, but my point still stands.

"Hardcore gamer" always sounded dumb to me, but maybe "ludophile" is more appropriate or useful?