The Game Stash: A Question of Genre

[FinalHeart95]

Great article, very thought-provoking. Can't wait to see what else you have.

OT: On a certain level, there is a need for organizing games by their mechanics. I mean, I'm not a big fan of fighters because of the fact that the mechanics require button memorization and basically the way they are played. It's not that I don't like Mortal Kombat because I don't like the way the story of the game is, I simply don't like the mechanics.

That being said, there should be a separate set of genres for the way the fiction is. For example, Halo would be sci-fi. Call of Duty would be possibly "cinematic" (I'd hardly call it "realistic") or something like that. Operation Flashpoint would be more of a "realistic" game. Now, Halo would be a sci-fi FPS. Call of Duty would be a Cinematic FPS. Operation Flashpoint would be a Realistic FPS. You can combine both the genres it is in fiction and with the mechanics, making an even better form of organization.

I don't know, my two cents. You could probably come up with better categories for organizing the fiction part, but hopefully you get the general idea.

 

[elexis]

Yay, a new series of articles. If they maintain this level of quality and insight then it will be right up there with Experienced Points on the list of things I like reading on this site (a good thing).

When you mentioned "RTS have turrets" I immediately started trying to find some good RTS that don't. SINS? No. C&C(any)? No. Starcraft? No. Hmm, you may have a point.

WAIT! World in Conflict, Total War, DOW2 and some of the lesser titles: Gratuitous Space Battles, Neptunes Pride etc. Interstingly, none of these titles fit RTS very well. One of them is "BarelyRTS", there are two Squad RTS, and one that is both Turn based and real time.

Perhaps we need a 2+ word genera naming convention? Squad/4X/SciFi/Fantasy/Space RTS/TBS/FPS/RPG for starters. Mix/match/add where applicable.

 

[Mstrswrd]

What I'm always curious about is when some developer makes their own genre. For example, the Metroid Primes series actually were not classified as FPS's, but FPA's; First Person Adventure games, with elements from shooters, old adventure titles like Myst, etc. In the event that a genre type/name is created explicitly to describe what could not before be described (and yet, at the same time could), how do you differ between the two?

Anyway, nice first formal article, though I did notice you around a bit, I didn't quite realize you were new, so; welcome! Hope to see more articles such as this.

 

[Booze Zombie]

I don't disagree with you, but how do you convince developers than consumers aren't there to buy from a genre, they're there to buy a game?

I mean, I buy games based on if people tell me they contain this thing called "fun".
If it's a by-the-numbers affair, it's generally not fun, so I avoid it, because it has been designed from the ground up to be of the genre and that is pretty damn boring.

I think id are getting it right with RAGE "yeah, it's a shooter, RPG driving game... with crafting". That's blurring genre lines and that's what we need, stat.

 

[ConfusedCrib]

I must say that I completely agree with this article, not just because I read it, but because of my thought process prior to reading.

I was thinking about how mind blowingly awesome the writing in Portal 2 is, and wondered to myself why all......games couldn't be written this well. Fill the dots in with the genre. I was thinking of a first person shooter, but then I realized, "hey, this isn't a first person shooter, it's really a first person puzzler." Then I further realized, "wow this is also an adventure game, a new world they're creating."

I then tried to find other games that fit into my First Person Puzzle Adventure (FPPA) genre, and thought, "oh those parts of Half Life 2 that were puzzles were really fun" so now my favorite genre is First Person Puzzle Adventure Shooter - Physics Based (or FPPAS-PB). "But wait!" I thought to myself, "what about Mirror's Edge? That's also a FPPAS but no PB but with platforming." For convenience sake, let's call the genre of these 3 games FPPASP-OPB (or First Person Puzzle Adventure Shooter Platformer - Optionally Physics Based).

This is why this article is so great, imagine a friend saying, "hey should I try out Mirror's Edge?" Your response, to be as accurate as possible while conforming it to a genre would have to be "It wasn't my thing, but if you like FPPASP-OPB, than ya, give it a go."

Before genres become less important, no true development of a new genre can come to fruition, because who wants to market a FPPASP-OPB game anyways?

 

[oktalist]

Completely agree. A tag like FPS, RTS or RPG is better thought of as a medium than as a genre.

 

[The Random One]

I'm not saying every game has to be Moby Dick

That's a good thing - I'd hate for every game to stop every ten minutes to give me intrincate detail on how a whaler works.

On topic. Games have genres in a different way than other media because it's different from other media. Books, movies and etc. all intend to tell a story; that's their primary goal, so that's how they are categorized. Games' primary goal is to provide an interacitive experience; so the nature of the experience they provide is how they are categorized. Case in point, music. Bands and songs are not categorized by what songs are about. They are categorized by what they sound like, because that's more important than the 'story' they tell, which, like in games, is optional. (Sure, there are things like 'love songs' and 'heartbreak songs' but I think few people would like a country song and a heavy rock song just because they both had 'my girl dun dumped me good' as a central theme. Unless they had just been dumped.)

That said, I do agree that the tail has been wagging the dog. Developers haven't stopped asking what set pieces work in their games and instead just remove them when it gets in the way of the gimmick du jour. I mean, after Halo did auto-recovering health every other FPS came out with it as well without bothering to change the game design for what is by all means a radically different experience; I guess even we gamers would be blind to conventions that have been along ever since before games were 3D to challenge them.

The cure for this is a big dose of post-modernism, but gaming is still way too young for that, so we can just wait for now.

Also, cool stache bro.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

When you think about it, Moby Dick was sort of a genre piece for its time. Melville wrote a bunch of really similar (and better selling) sea-faring adventure novels and Moby Dick was one of them. It's remembered for doing much more than any other book of its time, but it still existed within a genre. If Portal is still considered a classic 100 years from now, it might be forgotten that it was technically "a puzzle game."

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Meh it is we that define the sub types and fan boy around them like some do with consoles.....

I use genres to try and define how much action/thinking/depth is involved in a game these days RPG is a misnomer so you can't expect it to bring any depth to a title anymore since things have gotten so watered down.

I like plants vrs zombies, L4D and warcraft/RTS as well as fun yet balanced shooters and action games since RPGs have pretty much fell to be lite action titles(looking at you DA and FF13) or stuck in the mud grind fests with little balance or fun in the game.

I guess I just hate games I mean every other title I get (hated/annoyed at BS,FO3,DA, kinda liked dark sector and gears of war even tho damnation was the better game gears was the ebtter film exp)is so underwhelming and all I mean I dunno......with age comes apathy and hatred of all..... LOL

PS:MMOs suck

 

[MinishArcticFox]

I read most of the editorials on here and I have to say that this one was one of my favorites. It was intelligently written and raised a very good point I hope there's more like it to come.

 

[LadyRhian]

RPG is the worst example of a definitive genre.

The main issue is what fulls under the category of "role playing" since in the case "JRPGs" have next to no character creation, but then again the same can be said for most games... games that aren't RPGs.

Then there's the "RPG elements" given to such titles like BioShock yet this involves purchasing and upgrading, something common it, lets say strategy games. JRPGs could be turn-based or adventure games with "RPG elements". These so called elements are found in many genres, thus it's a redundant phrase.

Also welcome.

And what about Mass Effect, where no matter what you make your character look like you're still playing Commander Sheppard and the story still unfolds the same, regardless to your choices.

Or Oblivion, where you have complete authority over what your character looks like, fights with and works for, yet you're still closing Oblivion gates and crowning Martin Septum king of the land.

We can even take this into the realm of the tabletop. You can create any character you want, but once you pick your alignment you're stuck playing the game a certain way. A lawful good character won't steal bread for a starving family because the law is absolute.

There's no such thing as absolute freedom in an RPG, and people need to stop looking for it. Unbridled freedom, especially in a videogame, leads to an unfocused narrative and waters down the entire experience.

And I should add, that no matter what character you play, you are going to pick the adventure/module/story that the GM chose to GM that night you are playing- analogous to no matter what character you create for an RPG game, you are still going to play pretty much the same story. JRPGs, where you don't have a choice of character customization have their analogues in the GM passing out pre-made characters at a tabletop RPG- you have to play these characters, but you are still playing *a* character. which is what a RPG to me is.

And yes, I realize that all computer games are "RPGs" by that definition- even if you are playing "faceless combat marine #382" in some shooter. The difference to me is in what the game focuses on- it it combat, or playing your character? The second comes closer to being the RPG. There usually is combat in an RPG, but it's not the sole and exclusive focus of the action.

 

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

The axe man snippeth.

Almost exactly my interpretation. I approve.

Also, Mr. Butts, welcome to the Escapist. I look forward to more articles from you.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Very good article there, man. Especially the bit about MMO's, only recently Global Agenda was ruined by changing the way equipment was earned and by doing so, completely breaking the game.

 

[Taninger]

Niiice first article. Interesting timing too, I'd just noticed something similar today, at my local games shop.

I was waiting for a friend, and looking for a game. Eventually I settled on the new Ace Attorney game, because I like the series so far and several friends recommended that particular game to me. Before that, though I looked over almost a dozen other titles whose names and box art did the job of grabbing me. Some of them looked like they might be interesting, and I intend to look those I can remember up now that I'm at my computer.

The reason I didn't buy a different game? None of them had anything catchy on the back. Lots of images, a nice big ESRB label, and a few sentences about what you'd do. Things like "Control a band of knights through a dungeon on a quest for justice" or "Utilize the touch screen to BLAH BLAH BLAH". A single sentence of rough plot at best and a bunch of talk about what sort of controls and mechanics the game would use.

I don't know. Mechanics are important, but at least three of the games had no real information about what it was about at all, escept what you could derive from the title and the genre information. It was disappointing. Maybe it was the DS's small packaging, but I remember a time when they'd have a short paragraph at least detailing a rough story, with a few bullet points about the mechanics. Now it seems almost the other way around, by and large. Even on the RPG titles where you'd think the story ought to be the focus...

 

[kementari]

Excellent article, excellent moustache. Keep up the good work!

 

[mikespoff]

Great first article and welcome to your new unruly readership!

I agree with your central thesis, and I also think that in order to make any progress we would need the developers to stop thinking entirely in genres. When every RTS involves the same issues of resource management, technology upgrades and micro, that can become more important (as a determinant of whether a player will enjoy the game) than any of the thematic or story-driven differences between Warcraft and Command and Conquer.

Modifiers (much like "sci-fi action movie") may help with the problem a lot, but will lead to messier and looser categories which sharply dressed corporate executives and marketing folks will hate.

Left 4 Dead and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter and Borderlands are all fundamentally different games, although all three are 4-person co-operative shooters. In three games we have three co-operative shooters, one survival horror shooter, one modern wartime tactical shooter and one sci-fi shooter with RPG elements.

 

[Altorin]

Game Stash.

that's a great name for a great Stash

 

[Zenode]

I dont generally see genres as something that purely defines what is in a game, its more a broad categorisation, it doesnt mean that all the games are the same, just that they "fit" under the broad categories.

I do agree about the SW:TOR though, just because its in a certain genre doesnt mean it HAS to have those elements.

 

[iLikeHippos]

Nice article, but it feels that we, the readers, are suppose to make an argument about it.

Sad to say, I don't have the time to discuss away, but in my own opinion, I see that genres are a way of filing the games.

They aren't very advanced, and precision is sometimes that of a drunkard trying to avoid pissing in the hole, but it's a tool.

A tool I deem acceptable. I'd gladly mix Dragon Age and Mass Effect into the same Genre as they both have something in common; a RPG.... But of late, the "Role Playing Game" part has started to wither away as you're not really role-playing. They've become more of a "Group Combat SIM"

I miss D&D...