Game Genres: What've you got?

I'm building a list of genres for video games, or possibly for digital games. Either way I'm trying to start at the top level by focusing on the big conventions that organize around pillar verbs or core mechanics.

to clarify

I'm making a tool for thinking about game genre for design. It focuses on the pillar verbs that are intentionally built into games via core mechanics rather than the emergent verbs that best characterize the player experience. I have the highest regard for understandings of games focused on the player experience. After all, I've already spent a bunch of time studying players myself, and more importantly every designer worth their salt knows that players are highly unpredictable creatures, and at the end of the day there's no telling exactly what they'll do with your game.* In fact, that's exactly why this list is focused on choices that the designer makes. Here are the top level genres thus far:

• Puzzle (Decode, Reorganize, etc.)
• Shooter (Aim, Shoot, etc.)
• Platformer (Run, Jump, etc.)
• Strategy (Move, Attack, etc.)
• Vehicle (Accelerate, Steer, etc.)
• Physics (Drop, Launch, etc.)
• Sports  (Run, Catch, etc.)
• Interactive Narrative (Ask, Answer, etc.)
• Fighter (Punch, Block, etc.)
• Management (Tend, Task, etc.)
• Music (Tap, Sing, etc.)
• Dance (Stomp, Step, etc.)
• Fitness (Step, Run, etc.)
• Social (Check-in, Share, etc.)
• Adventure (Travel, Encounter, etc.)
• Building (Design, Arrange, etc.) 

so...

What else you got?

*See also: Why games are art.

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I think that's it...oh wait.

• RPG (Fight, Loot, Travel, Encounter, etc.)   

It raises all kinds of issues, but you can't just ignore it and of course I can always trust my friends and colleagues to stir the pot when issues present themselves. Over on Twitter Jordan commented:

RPG isn't really the same kind of word as your others, I'd place it as (Empathize, Narrate)*. Or put it in Strategy.

Indeed, RPG isn't the same as the others and there are very good arguments for putting it in Strategy. Not only do RPGs share common structures with RTSs and other Strategy video games, but the the paper and pencil antecedents of RPGs were of course derived from strategy game systems. As you can see, this is why I inititally noted that even mentioning RPGs raises all kinds of issues. Still, I'm keeping it for now because it's even more problematic not to include it given how many sub-genres it has.

* In response to Jordan's challenge on verb choice, I've replaced Fight and Loot with Travel and Encounter. Empathize and Narrate strike me as second order verbs (not to be confused with secondary verbs). These are things players do in play, but in the case of video games they emerge from play rather than deriving from the rules. In the case of tabletop RPGs, I'd be much more ready to regard Empathize and Narrate as pillar verbs (for both players and GMs) as they are more codified as aspects of play.

Also, this is a really good place to point out that although I've only included two verbs for each genre, as top order genres each of these includes a wide range of verbs that aren't listed (i.e Music: Dance, Drum etc.). Additionally I recognize that some games have more than two verbs that are central. One could argue that by definition RPGs have a lot, and that this is part of what makes them problematic...this is probably worthy of a separate blog post.

Comments

[Todd Harper]

How about "Performance" -- Sing, Dance, "Play", etc. Would cover Rock Bands, Dance Centrals, and other rhythm games.

[Trent Hergenrader]

What about rhythm and/or dance games? Fitness games? All are different from "sport," I think. And games like GTA seem to dip into several categories--kinda like RPGs but kinda not.

[Moses]

Let me know if you have better words for the example verbs on music/rhythm. I believe there are a handful of verbs that cover everything from Elite Beat Agents to DDR to Rock Band, and I'm sure there's something more elegant than what I've provided.

As to GTA, yeah. It's a whole iteration of blended/hybrid genre beyond the RPG which is already problematic as a genre. Note that this list includes Strategy as a genre but not RTS. These are kind of meta-genres. It's a way to get away from the intersection of the marketing and the craft of game creation.

[Moses]

@Trent Yeah, Sports is short for Sports Simulator in my head. In truth there are a lot of other simulators in the list.

I'll fix the whole music/rhythm/exercise thing sometime tomorrow.

[Linda Polin]

RPG might do well considered as 'adventure,' which sort of encompasses travel and explore, but allows for the inclusion of fighting. I'm thinking of things like Dragon Age here.

I'd add "building" games, e..g, Minecraft.

I feel that your attempt to identify 'genres' based on the INTENDED play of the game by the devs doesn't account for the fact that people do what they do as they see fit. So, some Minecrafters make maps and dedicate servers to questing, people use WoW for RP'ing (no, I mean HARDCORE RP'ing), and some basically ignore the storyline in DA and focus on the fighting. What's your intent here? Even the built in mechanics don't dictate how the players play, imho.

[Mark]

One thing I've been thinking about more lately is the ways in which we define genre.
An alternative or 2nd layer approach would be to define the interactional practice that goes into playing a game. So, for example, moving a joystick left or right in a 2D platformer... Using WASD for shooters *and* now driving games *and* now platformers, etc. Does that move to a standard control scheme dilute the verb layer of genre?

Here's a though experiment that I'm just thinking of as I type: If one takes away the representation, the act of moving left or right may be the same in two different genred games. If we only look at the player during sessions with both these games, do we conclude that they're playing the same game?

What if we designed a couple of games to illustrate this perfectly and then dynamically switch between the two games. Is it possible to change the verb within the same performative action?

Anyway, no, I'm not high... just been thinking on the bus a lot lately.

[Moses]

@Linda: Ahh yes, I've rather effectively failed to specify what the purpose of this list is (in this post) and that is obviously a problem. This is really a list for thinking about and engaging in game design, so yeah, I'm definitely identifying genre based on intended/designed play. That said, I will note that when the term genre is used in other media we don't run into this problem of emergent behaviors. Although people use books as doorstops, we don't generally discuss doorstop as a possible literary genre (although I'm open to arguments as to why we should).

Thanks on Adventure, I think that I'm actually comfortable placing RPG somewhere below it which takes care of a lot of other problems. Building is a challenging one (arguably shares a lot with both Management and Physics), but I'll probably figure out a way to work it in there as it does seem to be a unique top level genre.

@Mark There are layers of this I'm not sure I'm ready to dive into in this comment, but I think a key thing here is that you don't use WASD the same way for shooters as you do for driving games or platformers. Funny side note, I went to check what the standard control scheme for a driving game is on keyboard and found forums filled with huge levels of disdain for anyone playing a driving game using a keyboard. Anyway, the WASD control scheme is standard in-so-far as it uses the same buttons, but I think if you did your hypothetical study you'd find that the different types of games don't use them in the same way (i.e. unless your a noob playing Pyro in TF2, you don't constantly hold down A in an FPS but might in a driving game) . Still, an interesting thought experiment.

[web hosting geek]

I'd like to add to your game list also Action genre, while I prefer shooters like Half Life. Sometimes it is also called Action.

[Moses]

I'd add Action, but it really does seem to be a hybrid genre involving some combination of platforming and shooting for the most part.