Gaming Basics: Game Genres Demystified

Videogames are typically grouped into genres based on gameplay interaction, but there's no standardized criteria for defining game genres, and the unofficial list is long, contentious, changing, and rife with crossovers. A syllabus for a game development course taught recently at Tufts University's Department of Computer Science named 26 different genre classifications under a "running list of popular genre nomenclature" while acknowledging the list was far from complete. There are, however, broadly accepted genres around which librarians can organize their game collections to give patrons a true sense of the variety of their holdings, knowledgeably create programming around genres, and augment collections based on genre popularity. Below are some of today's more popular genres, ones most serious gamers should easily be able to identify.

Action games require quick reflexes, timing, and decision-making skills. It's a broad category whose subgenres include Fighting (e.g., Street Fighter), Platform (e.g., Super Mario Bros.), and Shooter games involving combat with projectile weapons. A widely played Shooter sub-subgenre is First-Person Shooter, which Halo (Bungie, 2001) and Call of Duty (Infinity Ward, 2003) exemplify well.

These games combine quick action and combat with puzzle solving and storytelling (e.g., Legend of Zelda). Two Action-Adventure subgenres are Stealth (e.g., Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell), which emphasizes subterfuge and carefully timed attacks, and Survival Horror (e.g., Resident Evil), wherein players are immersed in a frightening, often blood- and gore-filled environment populated by zombies, monsters, and all other forms of nasties.

Adventure games started in the 1970s as text-based computer games similar to choose-your-own-adventure-type books. King's Quest (Sierra Entertainment, 1984) was one popular such game.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) are best epitomized by World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment, 2004), which currently holds more than 60 percent of the MMORPG market. These games can involve hundreds of players and take place in real time.

Currently a big hit in the world of videogaming, music games can be rhythm-based, pitch-based, memory-based, or sandbox-style and can require devices ranging from a dance pad to a replica drum set. The granddaddy of this genre is Dance Dance Revolution (Konami of America, 1998); other biggies are Rock Band (Harmonix Music Systems, 2007) and the Guitar Hero (Neversoft, 2005) franchise.

In role-playing games (RPGs), a player leads a character through a story, enhancing that character's abilities, skills, gear, and strength along the way. RPGs tend to be in fantasy settings, though sf and other environments also exist here. Final Fantasy IV (Square Enix, 1991) was the first RPG to employ real-time combat.

Simulation games allow players to duplicate everything from the construction and management of cities (e.g., SimCity) to "playing God" with the lives of virtual denizens (e.g., The Sims). The various pet games out there, like Nintendogs (Nintendo, 2005), are also Simulation games, while the Vehicle Simulation genre has players operating virtual vehicles ranging from combat aircraft (e.g., Falcon 4.0) to race cars (e.g., Grand Prix Legends).

Newer versions of Sports games (e.g., Madden NFL) are constantly being released, reflecting changes in the real world of professional sports. There are also games within this genre that, though clearly sports-centric, do not simulate real-life sports (e.g., Super Mario Strikers). Watch this game trailer to see what I mean: tinyurl.com/SMStrikers.

Like so many of their board game predecessors, Strategy games require careful thought and planning. They can be turn-based or played in real time. A popular Strategy subgenre is 4X (e.g., Civilization), games whose goals are to eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate.