Should I call this a magic trick or a magic effect?
Keep in mind that this is purely contextual. It is generalising something that is not established so that you can better understand and express yourself when communicating for the first time within the magic community.
First and foremost, this is a matter of preference. Many times the word effect and trick will have the exact same meaning. Inside the magic community, effect is more commonly used because it better reflects a more thought out “trick”. Many times the trick will even be a part of the effect.
The effect is the final product and it includes the secret method, the patter and everything goes into creating the “magic moment”.
The word trick will be used to refer the secret or even a lesser, less developed effect that hasn’t been as developed. Learning a magic trick has become an almost trivial activity and so it’s a good way to differentiate between the process of spending 5 minutes so you can trick someone and developing a wonder to inspire amazement.
Henning Nelms, the author of the great magic book Magic and Showmanship prefered to distinguish between illusion and tricks.
Here is an excerpt from his book:
“We shall call anything a “trick” which challenges its audience to discover how it worked. We shall reserve illusion for those feats which actually convince the audience.”
As you see, there are no fixed rules on how to refer the product of the magician’s work. We only hope that from now on you have a better understanding of why the word trick will be many times avoided within the magic community.