Are Game Genres Bad?

Sections

I was recently posed with a question regarding game genres. To sum it up, the individual made the argument that the way we currently classify games is reductionistic in a way that other art forms’ genres are not. Instead of classifying games according to their thematic value, it was argued that we classify them according exclusively to their mechanics (i.e. first person shooter, city builder, point and click). After some thought on the subject I have come to the conclusion that game genres are both no different from any other genre conventions and that mechanics are a means to thematic content

Two Part Genres

Generic naming conventions in all art forms are not as simple as placing the works into horror, action, or first person shooters. In reality, all forms of art follow the same two part naming system. We will examine three examples of genres in as many art-forms: horror novels, action first person shooters, and detective films. All of these genres begin with a thematic context (horror, action, detective) that explains how thematic elements will be conveyed to the audience. A horror piece uses different narrative tropes from an action piece, thereby conveying story differently. The second part of the genres (novel, first person shooter, film) explains what form of experience the audience will engage with. Each experiential method will also convey thematic elements differently. As such, the true method of naming genres is to first express the thematic method and then express the experiential method.
Unlike art-forms like film and novels, games cannot simply call themselves an action game. The possible experiential methods of gaming end up being far too broad for the audience to find any useful information from the term “game.” Because of this, the scope of the experiential part of the genre must be narrowed. The mechanics of a game are an explanation of the experience the audience will have with any piece. A first person shooter will always convey story fundamentally differently from an open-world RPG. As such, the mechanics of a game are vital to understanding the modes of expression in said game.
”Yet,” one might say, “we do not always express game genres in this two part format. Very often we only state that a game is a first person shooter or the like.” I will concede that this is true, however this does not actually counter the two stage genres. In most instances, someone will say that a game is simply it’s mechanics when the thematic content fits into those mechanic’s most typical genre. For instance, most often when one just says that a game is a first person shooter, that game ends up being an action first person shooter (like Call of Duty, Titanfall, Halo). The action first person shooter is the most common form of the genre, thereby it is assumed that that experience will fall into the common thematic classifier if no other theme is given. Hence the term horror first person shooter ends up being a more commonly used genre name due to the fact that it is a relatively uncommon pairing.

Experiential Conventions in Other Art-forms

While many art-forms are narrow enough to have their experiential method expressed with a single term (novel, film), there are art-forms other than gaming that necessitate multiple experiential classifiers. The most prominent of these is poetry. While one can simply express poetry genres as “sublime poetry” or “war poems,” they can also be expressed according to their stylistic conventions. For instance, a “sublime sonnet” or “free verse war poem” both give more definite experiential modifiers to their thematic content (sonnet, free verse). Games denote their mechanics for the same reason that poetry will sometimes denotes it’s poetic mechanics: by doing so the audience is better informed about what type of art they will be consuming. Thereby, the same generic conventions that are used in gaming are seen in other, more commonly accepted forms of art.

The Thematic Content of Mechanics

The experiential aspect of any genre includes not only the method of engagement but also, in that description, the general tools of thematic expression available to the work. As such, experiential labels do not only denote the physical form of the work but also some of it’s content. Calling something a film indicates that it has a variety of visual metaphors at it’s disposal that a work of prose does not. The label of film, thereby, indicates thematic constructs that are likely to be in that piece. The same applies to gaming’s experiential labels. An open world RPG will have different narrative tools at it’s disposal than a side-scrolling platformer, and so on for every other genre. To not label games according to their mechanics would remove a large amount of information from the consumer who is trying to understand the fundamental aspects of any work. An experiential label has as much potential to express thematic content as any specifically thematic label a work may have.

While it may seem that the current naming conventions of video games are reductionistic, in reality they are the same conventions that occur in every other genre of art. The concern behind the inquiry is certainly valid as games have, in the past, been so heavily focused on mechanics that they have neglected their thematic side. However, such a trend in the naming conventions of game genres is not evident at this point in time. Some may flippantly refer to games as only mechanics, but they are simply misusing a system that has worked to classify art for hundreds of years. Pay no mind to them as their mistake will not injure any of the art. Simply seek to use the two part genre system consciously so that none of us fall into that same trap.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Cyclical Narrative

Image
For most people the standard narrative arc will be quite familiar. In graph form it is akin to a parabolic curve with rising action, some climax moment, and falling action. While there may be differences in form from one story to another, there is one thing that remains constant throughout every novel, movie, play, or schoolyard story: the X-axis. Narrative time remains constant as one events leads to another in a strict, predictable, and sequential order. In the world of gaming, the linear narrative arc is no longer the only means of storytelling. Gaming is capable of expressing story through a cyclical story arc. In this form of story arc a portion of the narrative is allowed to loop, potentially into infinitum, with the events within the loop having narrative significance. In this essay we will examine the aspects, necessities, and significance of a cyclical story arc. Figure 1: Linear story arc with axis. There are three things that any narrative requires in order to prese...
Read more

Slick Retro Style - The Eternal Castle [Remastered]

Image
The Eternal Castle is ostensibly a remake of a game from 1987 however all evidence points to that being a clever marketing ploy by the developers ( forum post ). Instead, it is an homage to the cinematic platformer, a genre including Prince of Persia and Oddworld . The Eternal Castle dusts off digital rotoscoping technology and uses retro, four colored environments to create oddly beautiful and expressive scenes. While the gameplay is not particularly smooth, the visuals and mystique of the world kept me engaged throughout The Eternal Castle . The gameplay of The Eternal Castle leaves a lot to be desired. There was the problem of the unresponsive controls. I found that it was hard to get the character to do what you wanted them to. Attacks were slow and sometimes pressing the attack button would not do anything for no apparent reason. The character’s movement was imprecise, making it hard to jump up to the ledge you want to get to without leaping to your doom. It seems that ...
Read more

Vivens - The Narrative Essence of Gaming

Sections Narrative Method and Essence Gaming’s Narrative Method: Interactivity The Avatar Vivens - Lived Experience Acting the Part Routine and Habit Inter and Intra-personal Meaning The Two Forms Exemplum Vivens Habitual Vivens No two forms of art are quite the same. Novel, stagecraft, painting and every other art-form are all differentiated not only by their mediums, but also by the stories that they can tell. For instance, a play can express different themes than a novel on account of it’s use of visuals and motion. In the case of gaming, neither the narrative method nor narrative essence of the medium has yet been formally defined and so I will do what I might to illuminate both of these topics. For the medium of gaming, the narrative method of interactivity allows the audience the unique ability to access a work’s themes through a form of lived experience that we shall call vivens . Narrative Method and Essence Before we can delve into gaming we must first...
Read more