Why are multiplayer levels called "maps"

[Mortem]

Is there a more appropriate term than that ?

[Mortem]

Originally posted by chacmool:

Arena makes it sound like an arcade game.

XD yup

[Profile Name™]

Probably for the same reasons that the process of creating maps is called mapping and the programs that you use to create the maps are called Map Editors. You can call them levels and Level Editors too, but using the word maps is more popular. I mean mapping makes more sense than leveling, and it is easier to say than level creating. The words maps and mapping have been around for as long as PC gaming has been around. So I think that it is safe to just stick to that terminology.

[tmwfte]

Originally posted by Cyanide Muffins:

Also on the same line why is it in some games some areas where you must do certain tasks as a group are called dungeons when they're actually not actual dungeons?

Someone can probably give you a more specific etymology, but they come from naming convention in the earliest MUDDs and MMOs. Dungeons & raids were specific types of group activities. At that time, though, taking place in dungeons or raiding an endgame boss's "lair".

[tmwfte]

Originally posted by Cyanide Muffins:

Ah....... OK just I see that term still used even in open world games.

Yeah, it just continued through for modern parlance, similar to maps. Oft times newer games will have their own terminology (like SWTOR with flashpoints and operations), but many still use the older terms.