Genres and genres

There's "genre" as it applies to gameplay -
For example, puzzle- and exploration-oriented (like Myst, RHEM, Schizm, Aura) vs story-driven adventure games (Gabriel Knight, Moment of Silence, Art of Murder, The Scorpio Ritual).

Then there's "genre" as it applies to subject matter, which is closer to what genre means for movies and books -
For example, science-fiction vs. historical vs. detective vs. fantasy vs. ghost story/supernatural, etc.

1. When someone says "genre" with respect to adventure games, which definition do you think of first? Gameplay style or subject matter?

2. Does subject matter matter to you when you play an adventure game? Do you find you get bored of a genre after playing too many of a particular type -- for example, too many detective games or too many ghost stories or too many sci-fi games? Do you like a variety or would you rather play all of one type? -- for example, would you rather play ghost stories to the exclusion of everything else? Or (another example) would you rather all games were fantasy games?

When someone says genre in regards to gaming, I group all adventure together. My brain thinks of genre as FPS, Casual, Adventure, RPg etc. I consider adventure as one group.

I like a variety, the only time I got weary was a bunch of Egyption themed games I played in row but other then that I have always enjoyed whatever is available.

Ana

It's a funny old thing but 'genre' in AGs immediately makes me think of gameplay style rather than subject matter - but now you've mentioned subject matter.... I've never really thought about 'genre' from that point of view!

Subject matter doesn't matter to me at all when playing an AG as long as it has a good story. I like all of the subjects you've mentioned, but if I'm going to play a succession of games with the same I'd prefer them to vary in gameplay genre to enjoy the different angles of approach if that makes sense!

N.B. I would like to see more games set in a 'normal' world!

I think there's some danger in classifying games into genres, many of the games can be easily qualified in one genre by some and in another by others. Even the difference between story orientated games and logic puzzle games is not that obvious in some titles. For me, there are two types of games, the ones I enjoy and the ones I don't enjoy. (Even between these kind of games there's a grey area!)

For games I tend to use genre to mean the style of gameplay rather than the story and setting.

Subject matter does matter - if the story seems inviting and novel I'm much likely to give the game a go. Don't really like detective stories, fantasies past present and future yes.

Regarding adventuregames I think of genre as subjectmatter. I suppose that is because there aren't many different gameplay genres I can think of; 1st/3d person, puzzle/story, don't know anything else. There are much more 'genres' in subjectmatter.

In movies or books I prefer thriller/mystery, don't care much for supernatural or fantasy. Especially not when authors ironically display a lack of imagination by entering the same old elfs, dragons and wizards again.

But with adventuregames I don't mind so much. At least I prefer the variety of different genres.
I even enjoyed Death Gate, and I just know I'll hate the books.
The only reason for not trying a game, is when it has arcade or action scenes.
The games I liked and disliked were in all subject and gameplay genres. So indeed I use the genre (in both definitions) only to decide what to play next, to ensure some variety in the games I play.

For me, it is the story driven games which I look for. I loved the Gabriel Knight, Tex Murphy, Still Life, The Longest Journey games.

Puzzle intensive games bore me after a while. For me, the puzzles must be well integrated into the game to keep the immersion.

I have also played a few RPG's and loved them, but I found that I hate the isometric perspective. It puts too much distance between me and my character and I lose immersion. I much prefer the first person view or over the shoulder view to feel part of the action.

I don't really care if it's a mystery, detective story, sci-fi, fantasy or current time period genre, so long as it has an involving story and interesting premise.

SharonB, are you saying that you think of "genre" as gameplay style and not subject matter? This isn't a puzzles vs story question. We've already had many of those, so I want to ask something different.

My reason for this thread? ...

I think most Gameboomers take "genre" to mean gameplay style when they are talking about games. But I've read posts here and in other forums from people who think of genre in games the same way they do with books or movies.

Since many Gameboomers are "boomer" age or similar, they presumably encountered books and movies before they started playing games. So wouldn't it be more natural to use the word "genre" in the same way you would with books or movies? Yet when talking about games, I usually think of "genre" as gameplay, and I'm not sure why. Certainly subject matter in a game matters to me as well as gameplay -- and I would think subject matter would be particularly important for those gamers who prefer story over puzzles.



I think for those who have "minority preferences" for gameplay style, NOT classifying games is more harmful. You play 3 games, you don't like any of them, so you think you don't like games and never try any more of them. At least with categories, you could say "OK I don't like that particular type of game" and try a different type next time. Though most games don't fit into categories 100%, knowing which category a game is closer to can still be helpful.

Hi Jenny100, I would have thought that the genre of gameplay would, if not always, be more indicative of the balance of story to puzzles (or vice versa)than the subject matter. All genres of gameplay can be set in any genre of subject matter - you just have to look at e.g. HOGs & also the new CSI game to see that defining games by subject matter alone doesn't tell you whether it's story driven or more focused on puzzles. Having said that I'm curious as to what genre of subject matter a game like Myst would fall into? Fantasy?

N.B. I agree that it would be useful to have better categorization of AGs for gamers that have more specific tastes.

I suppose the term genre had me confused.

Edit: I think of genre in books and movies in the traditional sense. However, genre as applied to games makes me think of game style. I always look at game style before choosing a game and then the game can be any "genre".