"interactible" or "interactable"

Question

I came across this when developing a computer system in an object-oriented way. That is grouping data and functionality which relate to each other into objects and give those objects names.

Now, currently, I work on the only a part of the system which provides mutable state in the form of objects one can interact with, in a domain-specific sense. I was about to call them Interactables, I realized, however, that this is not a well-defined word.

The question is, is there an alternative noun for thing you interact with in the english language. And if not, what would be the preferred way to spell this word: Interactible or Interactable?

Answer 1

You have two problems: interactable isn't a common word and if it were, it would be an adjective, not a noun.

Fortunately, the first problem is easily solved.

Interactive adjective

1 : mutually or reciprocally active

2 : involving the actions or input of a user

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/interactive

As to the second problem, interactive is certainly much more often an adjective, but you can find it used as a noun, especially, as Wiktionary says, as "a feature (as in a museum) that can be interacted with."

For example:

Given how rapidly technology, delivery platforms, and interfaces are changing, it's not surprising that today's teens might find interactives in the museums outdated and pretty boring

Shivers Down Your Spine: Cinema, Museums, and the Immersive View

There has been a slow trickle of research...on the use-value of interactives within museum environments and art galleries.

Museums in the New Mediascape: Transmedia, Participation, Ethics

Those are clearly different uses than the one you're proposing, but they illustrate that the word's meaning is likely obvious enough that a new coinage will be easily understood.

Answer 2

Google corrects "interactible" to "interactable", so to me, that's a definitive answer that it's spelled "Interactable" with an "a".

Urban Dictionary has a definition for "Interactable" with an "a": https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Interactable

An object that you are able to interact with, to manipulate.

So although it's a user-defined word, it shows that there are people who use the word "interactable", which is enough to make it an official word, right?

But using that logic, you can find a lot of other people who use "interactible" with an "i", which makes that version also a word, and therefore also acceptable.

IMHO, I'd say the version with an "a" is better, because it contains the word "able", which is a key part of the meaning: "able to interacted with".

The word is "Interactable" with an "a".

Answer 3

I can find references to both interactible and interactble used as nouns to talk about objects in video games; however, "interactable" with an "a" appears to be more common.

For interactable:

• Fandom page about Interactables in Risk of Rain 2
• Official tutorial video about Interactables in Unity VR Toolkit
• GameRant article about Interactables in Diablo 4
• Documentation about Interactables in Spatial IO

For interactible:

• Fandom page about Interactibles in The Evil Within
• Game Design online course with a series on Interactibles
• Documentation about Interactibles in VRE for Unreal Engine