Back in my younger days, I swore by genre definitions. I had a very clear idea in mind of what I thought classified a game into each genre. Any deviation from those rules outlined in my head required a subgenre. But as time marched on, I’ve come to realize how incredibly ridiculous all this is.

While genres are a nice way to quickly identify what to expect from a game, I’ve run into quite a few issues with the concept. For one, different people classify genres differently. There’s also the issue of the increasing trend of blending genres. And what about the literal names themselves? Some of them just don’t make sense any more.

Different strokes for different folks

There is no master list of what each genre means and what games they apply to. Because of this, everybody has different definitions of genres. For example, I’ve always considered The Legend of Zelda series to fall under Action/Adventure. Action is self-explanatory enough, and Adventure games (especially of the point and click variety) are known for their puzzle solving and interaction with NPCs.

Yet I’ve heard Zelda referred to as a Role Playing Game or “RPG” countless times by a wide range of people. I suppose you play the role of Link. But in that sense, it seems like every game with a main character would become an RPG. In Super Mario Bros., you play the role of Mario as you attempt to save the princess from Bowser’s castle, yet many years later Nintendo and Square released Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. The title suggests, unsurprisingly, that previous Mario games were, in fact, not RPGs.

Where do these names come from and what do they mean?

In Super Mario RPG, you again play the role of Mario. So what makes it an RPG? The answer lies in the Role Playing Games of long ago. I refer to the pen and paper RPG. In a pen and paper RPG, you often create a character and develop their skills, usually fighting as a group or “party”. It’s also common to have a heavy focus on gathering new equipment and items. Finally, the combat relies on a lot of statistics and a bit of chance which is determined by dice rolls.

Similarly, Super Mario RPG features a party of heroes, skills that develop as you progress, equipment and items, and combat based on statistics and dice rolls (in the form of behind the scenes, randomized calculations rather than actual dice). But unlike the Pen & Paper RPGs of old, you don’t create your character (or role) and you don’t forge your own path through the story. Instead, you play a predetermined character in a linear story that you can’t change.

Most Japanese RPGs or “JRPGs” similarly follow a linear story with predetermined characters. Western RPGs or “WRPGS”, however, often feature character creators, branching dialogue and morality choices, as well as a generally less linear structure (to an extent). It’s for this reason that many gamers bother to make the distinction when discussing JRPGs and WRPGs instead of just RPGs.

For the record, this is not a discussion of quality, but of classification. I personally prefer the guided experiences often found in JRPGs. Also, I’m not saying there aren’t very linear WRPGs and very open JRPGs, I’m merely mentioning what’s seen most often in both subgenres.

We’re half-way there…

So it seems that JRPGs commonly fit only half of the definition pen and paper RPGs laid down. Lately, I’ve been putting a lot of time into a game that features the other half. That game is Mass Effect 2.

In Mass Effect 2, you start by creating your character or bringing over your created character from the first game. Aside from your appearance, you’ll also decide on one of several origins for your character and a class with it’s own unique set of skills to build up as you see fit. Throughout the game, you’re presented with countless dialogue trees that allow you to forge your own version of the story and main character, though the overarching narrative will always follow the same direction.

The combat, however, has more in common with a third-person shooter. Your shots aren’t based on digital dice rolls (as they were in the first game). Instead, you rely on the mechanics found in all cover based shooters, supplemented with your characters’ skills.

And yet, Mass Effect 2 and Super Mario RPG are both RPGs. If somebody who lived in a cave all their life, never hearing any of the names or applications of our genre labels, were told to group games together into the genres they came up with, I doubt the two games would be next to each other.

Will it blend?

It seems like every other game that comes out now has “RPG Elements”. It doesn’t matter if it’s a first-person shooter or a 2D platformer, they sneak these aspects in everywhere. What we’re left with is a lot of unique and satisfying combinations that, despite being a blast to play, are simply maddening to try to classify.

Take Valkyria Chronicles. The back of the box assures you it is a “Simulation RPG”. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen that genre before or after that game’s release. I don’t think that label caught on.

Since the words Simulation RPG mean nothing to anybody except for people who have already played Valkyria Chronicles specifically, I’m often left trying to explain it to people as a Strategy / RPG / Third-Person Shooter hybrid. Frankly, that just leaves people confused and with misconceptions of just how those existing genres are combined.

What are we going to do about it?

Nothing. There’s never going to be a master list of genre definitions and as games get more and more complex, they’re even more likely to combine existing genres and make new ones in the process. This is only going to make games even more difficult to classify.

But genre labels are still a nice crutch to have. While they may often fail to represent what a game really entails in detail, they at least give us a starting point that helps us find the games we’re looking for.

That being said, it’s not very useful to argue about which games fit into which genres. People are naturally going to think about different aspects of a game with different levels of importance which could alter which genre they feel they go in.

So the next time somebody tells you Game X fits into Genre A, politely discuss with them why you feel it might better fit in Genre B instead of telling them they are wrong. Because with the lines of genres as blurred as they currently are, it just isn’t worth it to argue.

Tags: Editorials, genres, Mass Effect 2, Super Mario Bros., Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Valkyria Chronicles, Zelda

This entry was posted on Monday, August 9th, 2010 at 5:00 am and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.