A Brief Guide to Gaming Genres
Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (MMORPG or MMO)
These include the likes of “World of Warcraft”, “Eve Online” and “Guild Wars”. All such games rely upon huge open worlds in which you can engage in a near endless series of quests that constantly progress you while simultaneously linking you to a wide network of other gamers. Research and common opinion agree that this type of game is by far the most prone to being used addictively.
First Person Shooter (FPS)
One of the more addictive gaming genres, though not as addictive as the MMORPG, these games involve a character-eye view down the barrel of a gun. They typically offer a lengthy single-player game (one that can be enjoyed alone) and a very deep range of competitive, online game modes. Games of this genre would include “Call of Duty”, “Battlefield” and “Killzone”.
Roleplaying (RPG)
Named after the dungeon-crawling pen and paper game “Dungeons and Dragons”, this genre has grown to encompass any game that involves a levelling system (whereby your character gets more powerful with their successes) and a sense of being immersed in a fantasy setting. In contrast to MMORPGs games such as this are more story-focused and can generally only be played alone. Games of this genre would include “Final Fantasy”, “Skyrim” and “Dark Souls”. As with MMORPGs, these games are all known for their relative complexity and the commitment required from gamers in order to be enjoyed fully.
Real Time Strategy (RTS)
Another gaming genre that is prone toward being played addictively, the real time strategy game involves staging a battle with either a squad of men or a vast army, typically viewed from an aerial perspective. Real Time Strategies are highly competitive games that are frequently played against other players online. “Starcraft, Empire: Total War” and “ Company of Heroes” are typical RTSs.
Match Three
The only exclusively ‘casual’ genre in the list. These games involve moving objects round on a board in an attempt to create lines of three that share the same colour. Match Three games are pleasingly intuitive to play and tend to create dazzling effects and cascades with relatively little skill on the player’s behalf. “Candy Crush Saga”, “Bejewelled Blitz” and “Fluffy Birds Flash” are examples of Match Three games.
Multi-player Online Battle Arena (MOBA)
Increasingly popular in recent years, the MOBA is an online team-based game against another team of online players in which both sides try to fight past each other to reach opposing objectives. MOBA games and their communities are highly competitive environments. Examples of this genre would be “League of Legends” and “DOTA 2”.
While video game addiction may be nearly as old as video games, the ways in which it is commonly understood inevitably lag someway behind. This is largely because of the baffling speed at which video games are evolving. “XCOM: Enemy Unknown”, which was released in 2012, provides a powerful description of this evolution. The game was a remake of the original “UFO: Enemy Unknown” from 1994; they had taken an old title and updated it with the latest in both graphics and game design. The difference between the two versions is a startling testament to how far the industry has progressed. The ‘90s version was a pixilated, washed out, 2D experience from a fixed perspective. The game could only be played on a (then) powerful, home computer, requiring you to take time out to find the disk, watch it load and then commit time to it. The reboot had a fully 3D look, with each character and set brought to life with shadows and realistic animations. Additionally, the game was not only playable on home computers and consoles but also on a portable tablet. The new “XCOM” was a radically more visually immersive game that you could quickly enjoy on the bus to work in the morning, a vastly different experience from the original. As fast as we become accustomed to video games within our world, the reality of their relationship with us advances at a far quicker rate.
These kinds of improvements to technology haven’t necessarily led to better games, as any old-school, mid-thirties gamer will no doubt vehemently tell you, but it has led to a startling increase in the level of immersion of which modern games are capable. “Red Dead Redemption”, the 2010 award-winning game from Rockstar, was testament to the immersive power of recent games. The cowboy simulator brought the Wild West to life with sweeping vistas from the border of Mexico, wind that softly howls and picks up dust and foliage around you and all manner of wildlife scurrying to and fro as you pound your horse across the dusty plains. It is difficult to play this game for more than a few minutes and not be swept into its world.
Up until about 10 years ago, the games industry was increasingly dominated by games such as this, known as Triple A games – the blockbusters of gaming. These titles had big names behind them, required vast teams and vast amounts of money to make and were then pushed out for a one time charge of £40/$60. This business model capitalised on the presence of consoles and gaming-capable PCs being in nearly everyone’s home – a far cry from the early ‘90s and ‘80s when most gamers would need to hang out at their local arcade with a pocket full of change to play anything half-decent.
Definition: Triple A Title
Triple A denotes a top of the range game that has been released as a purchasable product (often a boxed product) at a high price point (£40 in the U.K. or $60 in the U.S.). Triple A is historically the best of the best in video gaming and was where the industry saw most of its revenue. Recent developments in freemium games have seen a gradual shift in this area, however. Triple A games are by definition only made by extremely large and wealthy studios. “Call of Duty: Black Ops”, “GTA V” and “Final Fantasy XIII” are examples of Triple A titles.
A large portion of the public’s perception of video gaming and video game addiction is stuck around this period. The gamer is still seen by many as the sickly, single, male youth hunched over a console. Public opinion on video gaming is neatly captured by Warner Brothers’ “The Big Bang Theory”. This sitcom describes the plight of three young(ish) socially inept and far from Adonis-like males, all of whom are slavishly hooked on geek culture in all its forms, video games being no exception. Interestingly, the series explores gaming addiction by having Penny, the great looking blonde from across the hall, discover MMOs only to sink into a compulsive pit of greasy hair, burger-stuffing and sullen ugliness. The episode’s joke goes a long way to expose perceptions of the addicted gamer. How could a good-looking woman with common sense ever end up addicted to video games?
While the perceived image of addicts as awkward young men still bears some relation to the majority of addicts, the market has changed dramatically in the last 15 years. The nature and accessibility of games today has opened up a new wealth of consumers who use games in a whole new range of ways, many of these being less than healthy. I saw one lady in her 40s who struggled to control how much she played on her mobile phone. This individual by no means fit the stereotypical description of the gaming addict, yet she described the game as having ‘taken away [her] self-control’. She depicted herself as wanting to:
“...play it at any opportunity I had, any time I had a spare minute, and sometimes even when I didn’t. When my friends pointed out that I was playing it in a pub during a night out I realised that things had gone very wrong.”
These developments in gaming have new kinds of gamers; some of them are addicted in new ways. We are, as ever, struggling to catch up with the changes.
“Flappy Bird” is perhaps one of the games that most powerfully accentuates this enormous shift in how gaming technology is being used. Ten years ago it would be hard to believe that within a decade, a single, unknown independent developer in Vietnam would end up pulling his solo project from the market because he was concerned that his game, bringing