A video game is an electronic game in which the player interacts with images sent to a device that displays them, usually a television or monitor. According to the article Video Game from Wikipedia, ‘The term video-game is widely used to refer to a console where games are processed’ (Video Game). Today, with the rapid growth of the development of video games, designers and video game companies are producing multiple games. Although there are a variety of games available on the market, video game companies usually divide games into groups, genres, and subgenres. As the writer of the book Fundaments of Game Design, Ernest Adams, states, ‘Genres are not usually defined by the actual content of the game or its mediums of play, but by its common challenge’ (Adams 67). Dividing by genres regularly facilitate and satisfy the players when it comes to choosing a game, for they only need to think about which genre they like. There are three fundamental groups of how video-games can be classified based on their genres: action, adventure, and simulation.
The first video game genre can be classified as action. The action genre is the one that usually attracts more fans because it allows the players to participate in an adventure full of engagement and challenges. However, this genre requires the players to have the good hand-and-eye coordination to perform the required moves. According to Ernest Adams, ‘The action games fall into a number of subgenres based, like all game genres distinctions, on the kind of gameplay that they offer’ (Adams 67). The most popular action subgenres are the action adventure, fight, and shooter. Games such as Prince of Persia, an action adventure game, focus on resolutions of puzzles and goals based on a long story where the player manages items to get ahead in the phases. However, the fighting subgenre centers on the action of characters fighting and each one with their unique ability and the shooting subgenre centers in characters using weapons, with the goal usually being to take out enemies or opposing players. Games such as Mortal Kombat and Call of Duty are included in these lines. Each action game, despite it subgenre, tests the player’s reaction time.
Adventure is the second genre of how video games can be classified. According to the article Adventure Game from Wikipedia, “Adventure games are not defined by story or content. Rather, adventure describes a manner of gameplay without reflex challenges or action’ (Adventure Game). It lets the players explore the world and way beyond the comfort of their home (Adventure Game). Games such as Detroit: Become Human, Uncharted series, and Last of Us, where the players need to collect items and do the inventory management, are included in these lines. Since almost all genres have its own subgenre, the adventure genre does not deviate from the rule. The most popular adventure subgenres are of survival or terror in which the players need to survive in a terror scene and manage their limited resources, such as munitions in the Resident Evil series. Then, there is the graphic adventures subgenre where the players interact with the environment using the mouse or a cursor that appears on the screen to reveal clues and navigate the scenery. An example of a game in this line would be the Monkey Island series. In the adventure genre, the players interact with the environment.
The last but not least genre is the life simulation genre. A simulation game, based in IGI Global, is ‘A game in which participants are provided with a simulated environment in which to play’ (Simulation Game). The genre simulation strives to copy several activities from the real world in the form of a game for many purposes, such as training, analysis, and prediction. The most popular simulation subgenre is social or life simulation in which the players need to develop a relationship in a virtual community such as the Sims game, where the players can go to school, to work, or to parties. Then, there is the car simulation subgenre, such as the Need for Speed series, Ace Combat, and Gran Turismo series, where the players simulate steering and piloting of a vehicle that can be either a car or a spaceship. In addition, there is the sports simulation subgenre which centers on sports competitions, whether athletic like football and basketball, or radicals such as skateboarding and snowboarding. Examples of games in this line would include FIFA, NBA, NHL, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. Moreover, in the simulation genre, there is an attempt to make the experience as ‘real’ as possible.
To sum up, three are 3 fundamental video games genres: action, adventure, and simulation. Some video games are for entertainment; others for information and persuasion, and others to simulate aspects of real or fiction reality. However, almost all of them provide careful and skillful thinking. Moreover, the genres presented here are only a small part. There are many others genres and subgenres.
