Load vs. Restore

arj0n · Mon 01/02/2016 14:23:09

load vs. restore...

I was wondering:

For many games, the main menu or in-game menu often shows a 'Load' button, but the actual 'Restore' GUI often shows a 'Restore' button.
The related functions (like 'show_restore_game_dialog') have also 'restore' in their naming, instead of 'load'.

So, is there some sort of rule what naming (load or restore) to use in what situation?
And what is the exact difference between these two terms (if there are any)?

Any thoughts?

Radiant · Mon 01/02/2016 15:23:48

Sierra traditionally used "restore", whereas Lucasarts traditionally used "load". I'm pretty sure they're synonyms.

Personally I prefer "load" since this allows you to use the keyboard shortcut L for that, and R for restart.

m0ds · Mon 01/02/2016 19:37:21

Heh, Sierra...

Restore is an over-Americanized term for Load.

Restore is probably fine for US only territories, clearly American based games/products, or basically when the word Load is too good/too bad for you.

If you think about it, "restore" implies that you're fixing something and bringing it back into working order. Load just means you're loading something.

Could've been worse R words though - Re-activate, re-materialize etc...

MiteWiseacreLives! · Tue 02/02/2016 15:00:14

I might be wrong here, but I think Restore is a product of the old consol games. In those games if you died your game would be "restored" to a position at the start of the level. The game gets restored to a previous state, load makes more sense to me if there is an actual save game system.

NickyNyce · Wed 10/02/2016 01:12:43

I've always looked at restore as a quick way of placing you back into the action at a saved position that was created by the game, not the player...like a restore point.

And I always looked at the load button in video games where a player could load a previous saved game the player saved himself.