Along with the rise of video game development in the 1980s, the term "gameplay" was used only in the context of video games. Now its popularity has started to be used in the description of other, more traditional, game types. Generally, gameplay is about the general experience of playing a video game. It doesn't include other things like graphics and sound. Game mechanics, on the other hand, is the set of rules in a game that are supposed to make an enjoyable gaming experience. Academic discussions often use terms like "game mechanics" so they don't have to use "gameplay". This is because "gameplay" is too general for academic discussions.