pkmin3033
Guest
- 0
- Posts
This is something that has popped up infrequently in discussion that I have thought for a while now merits its own thread, as it is becoming increasingly prominent as a point of contention between players as games blur the lines and become difficult to classify. So, let's discuss something wonderfully tricky that we've all taken for granted up to this point but may benefit from examining more closely: video game genres.
In times past, video games were easily confined by genres. Within each genre, you knew exactly what you were getting, how you were getting it, and what you could expect. If a game was an RPG, it would have a variation on a turn-based battle system, a long and involving story, and a fairly large and open world. A first-person shooter would set you down a fairly linear path with a gun and line up enemies for you to shoot to reach the end of the game. A platform title would have you running, jumping, or spinning your way through stages. And so on.
Over the last two generations however, especially with the rapid rise of indie games and the need to differentiate to not be labelled as a "clone" of genre codifiers and popular series, things have begun to change. Elements of RPGs, such as skill systems and levels, are making their way into everything from platformers to first-person shooters. The first-person perspective, which previously was only really used by shooters, is now being used by adventure games, and vice versa – shooters are becoming more open-world in some cases, rather than relatively linear stage-based affairs. JRPGs, which were previously text-heavy, open-world affairs, can take a more minimalistic approach to storytelling. Puzzles are becoming more prominent outside of Puzzle games, especially in Adventure titles, which may consist entirely of rooms of puzzles in between battles. Horror, where it was previously confined to Survival titles, has now become a theme more than a genre which can be conveyed in anything from a visual novel to a first-person shooter.
The list goes on...and on...and on. There are many specific examples that could be cited as an example of anomalous gameplay within the idea of a genre, and many games that, fans would argue, do not fit into a certain genre at all despite being "officially" labelled as such, because they lack key elements that they would associate with that genre.
The long and short of it is that the concept of video game genres no longer serves as an adequate labelling system to describe video games.
But is that necessarily the case? These genre labels are still readily used by the mainstream media and by gamers, and we know what people are talking about when they say something is an Adventure game, or a Platformer, or an RPG; that association is still there, which gives the label validity. Genres are defined by elements of gameplay present within games, and whilst the gameplay elements that may exist within a game of a certain genre have broadened, the ability to classify a game as a certain genre is still possible. Rare is it that a game that comes out that cannot be described by any genre, that offers an experience so unlike anything else that it cannot be classified...and when those games come along, a new term, or a hybrid term, is created for them. Shooter RPG. Walking Simulator. Metroidvania. Rather than being an absolute descriptor, genres have become a baseline comparison for video games that describes their core systems, rather than what the games themselves are. They're not as absolute a concept as they once were, but they nonetheless serve a purpose in the industry today. But is that purpose a necessary - or even a useful - one? Would it be better to describe games as what they are on an individual basis, rather than lump them together into now subjective, potentially confusing categories and sub-categories?
So, what do you think about video game genres? Have video games diversified to the point that they've mostly outgrown the labels we give them, or are these labels still needed to provide interested parties with an idea of whether they'd enjoy a title or not? Do these labels even fulfil that purpose any more? How would YOU handle the system if given the chance to remake it? Going into more detail: what are your standards for genres? When would you argue that a game classified as a genre is not in fact of that genre, because it lacks elements you feel are necessary? In those cases, would you describe it as something else?
