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Video game genres are used to categorize video games based on their gameplay interaction rather than visual or narrative differences.^[1] A video game genre is defined by a set of gameplay challenges. They are classified independent of their setting or game-world content, unlike other works of fiction such as films or books. For example, an action game is still an action game, regardless of whether it takes place in a fantasy world or outer space.^[2] Within game studies there is a lack of consensus in reaching accepted formal definitions for game genres, some being more observed than others. Like any typical taxonomy, a video game genre requires certain constants. Most video games feature obstacles to overcome, so video game genres can be defined where obstacles are completed in substantially similar ways.^{[citation needed]}

Following is a listing of commonly used video game genres with brief descriptions and examples of each. This list is by no means complete or comprehensive. Chris Crawford notes that "the state of computer game design is changing quickly. We would therefore expect the taxonomy presented here to become obsolete or inadequate in a short time."^[3] As with nearly all varieties of genre classification, the matter of any individual video game's specific genre is open to personal interpretation. Moreover, it is important to be able to "think of each individual game as belonging to several genres at once."^[1]

Action[link]

An action game requires players to use quick reflexes, accuracy, and timing to overcome obstacles. It is perhaps the most basic of gaming genres, and certainly one of the broadest. Action games tend to have gameplay with emphasis on combat. There are many subgenres of action games, such as fighting games and first-person shooters.

The predecessor of all console game genres, a ball-and-paddle game was the first game implemented on a home console (Pong). Later renditions have included Breakout, which was a driving influence behind the Apple II computer, and Arkanoid, an arcade staple for many years. A version of Breakout called Block Buster was also packaged with the first handheld console with swappable cartridges, the Microvision.

Beat 'em up and hack and slash games have an emphasis on one-on-many close quarters combat, beating large numbers of computer-controlled enemies.^[4][5] Gameplay involves the player fighting through a series of increasingly difficult levels. The sole distinction between these two genres are that beat 'em ups feature hand-to-hand combat, and hack and slash games feature melee weaponry, particularly bladed weapons. Both genres feature little to no use of firearms or projectile combat. This genre became popular in 1987 with the release of Double Dragon, leading to a large number of similar games. The fighting style is usually simpler than for versus fighting games. In recent times, the genre has largely merged with that of action-adventure, with side-scrolling levels giving way to more open three-dimensional areas, and melee combat co-existing with shooting and puzzle elements.

Fighting games emphasize one-on-one combat between two characters, one of which may be computer controlled.^[6][7] These games are usually played by linking together long chains of button presses on the controller to use physical attacks to fight. Many of the movements employed by the characters are usually dramatic and occasionally physically impossible. Combat is almost always one-on-one,^[6] though there are some exceptions such as the Super Smash Bros. series and Guilty Gear Isuka, pitting up to four combatants in the fight at one time. This genre first appeared in 1976 with the release of Sega's Heavyweight Boxing and later became a phenomenon, particularly in the arcades, with the release of Street Fighter II.

Maze games have a playing field which is entirely a maze, which players must navigate. Quick thinking and fast reaction times are encouraged by the use of a timer, monsters obstructing the player's way, or multiple players racing to the finish. The most famous game of this genre is Pac-Man.

Pinball games are designed to replicate the look and feel of a real-life pinball table in virtual reality. Most pinball games feature the same gameplay style, where the player controls a right and left flipper, and tries to make the ball hit various parts of the playfield to gather up points. The control scheme in pinball games is, for the most part, the same. On consoles, left and right "shoulder" buttons are often used to approximate the left and right flipper buttons of a real-world pinball game. In some cases, a pinball game may feature more than two flippers: two are generally located at the bottom of the playfield, and others (generally only one or two more) are found above the bottom two. Some games automatically fire the ball into the playfield, while others require the player to press a button to pull down the spring-loaded plug and fire the ball into the playfield. One significant way that video game pinball games can progress beyond pinball table emulation is the inclusion of features impossible to incorporate in a real pinball table, such as multiple table layouts or direct ball control. Pinball games have become more popular in recent years on handheld systems, as opposed to consoles.^{[citation needed]}

Platform games (platformers) are a subgenre of action game. These games involve traveling between platforms by jumping (very occasionally other means are substituted for jumping, like swinging or bouncing, but these are considered variations on the same mechanic). Other traditional elements include running and climbing ladders and ledges. Platformers frequently borrow elements from other genres like fighting and shooting (such as the Castlevania series, which incorporates role-playing). They are most often associated with iconic cartoon mascots like Donkey Kong, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario, Megaman, Samus and Rayman, though platform games may have any theme. The term itself first came into use to describe any game in which the player traveled between platforms, and Space Panic, a 1980 arcade release, has been cited as the first platform game for featuring obstacles and gaps to jump over, making it a platformer by the modern sense of the term.^[8] Pitfall! can also be classified as an early platformer. Traditionally, platform games were 2D, with players viewing the environment from a profile, "cutaway" perspective. This could be done easily with sprites and was simple for early computers to handle. 3D computer graphics have opened these games up for movement in all directions. However, 3D perspectives make it more difficult to judge distance, which is an important part of platformers. Because of this, many 3D platformers have a feature to make this easier,^{[citation needed]} such as a player shadow that will always be cast straight down, tracking their location on the ground while the character is jumping. At their peak, platformers were the most popular games on the market.^[9] The genre experienced a sharp decline, from 15% of total market share in 1998 to 2% in 2002.^[9] Although there are many 3D platform games, few have proven to have the universal appeal of their older games.^[9] However, this could merely be a result of a changing market and an increase in game variety.^[9]

Shooter[link]

A shooter game focuses primarily on combat involving projectile weapons, such as guns and missiles. They can be divided into first-person and third-person shooters, depending on the camera perspective. Some first-person shooters use light gun technology.

First-person shooter video games, commonly known as FPSs, emphasize shooting and combat from the perspective of the character controlled by the player. This perspective is meant to give the player the feeling of "being there", and allows the player to focus on aiming. Most FPSs are very fast-paced and require quick reflexes on high difficulty levels. The fast-paced and 3D elements required to create an effective looking FPS made the genre technologically unattainable for most consumer hardware systems until the early 1990s. Wolfenstein 3D was the first widely known FPS, and Doom was the first major breakthrough in graphics; it used a number of clever techniques to make the game run fast enough to play on consumer-grade machines. Since the release of Doom, most FPS games now have a multi-player feature to allow competition between multiple players. Games such as Team Fortress, Halo, Killzone, Metroid Prime, Unreal Tournament, Call of Duty, and TimeSplitters are in the ever-expanding first-person shooter genre.

Massively multiplayer online first person shooter games (MMOFPS) are a genre of massively multiplayer online games that combines first-person shooter gameplay with a virtual world in which a large number of players may interact over the Internet. Whereas standard FPS games limit the number of players able to compete in a multiplayer match (generally the maximum is 64), hundreds of players can battle each other on the same server in an MMOFPS.

Light gun shooters are a genre of shooter genre designed for use with a pointing device for computers and a control device for arcade and home consoles.^[10][11][12] The first light guns appeared in the 1930s, following the development of light-sensing vacuum tubes. It wasn't long before the technology began appearing in arcade shooting games, beginning with the Seeburg Ray-O-Lite in 1936. These early light gun games used small (usually moving) targets onto which a light-sensing tube was mounted; the player used a gun (usually a rifle) that emitted a beam of light when the trigger was pulled. If the beam struck the target, a "hit" was scored. Modern screen-based light guns work on the opposite principle—the sensor is built into the gun itself, and the on-screen target(s) emit light rather than the gun. The first light gun of this type was used on the MIT Whirlwind computer. Some "light gun" games actually use guns mounted on joysticks, giving the illusion of using a light beam, but all control is transferred through the movement of the stick; notable examples of this include T2: The Arcade Game, Revolution X,^[13] Silent Scope,^[14] and Space Gun.^[15]

Project Starfighter, a shoot 'em up.

A shoot 'em up (or shmup for short), or arcade shooter, is a genre of shooter game in which the player controls a character or vehicle (most often a spacecraft) and shoots large numbers of enemies, while dodging incoming projectiles. Games in this genre call for fast reactions and memorization of enemy patterns. The genre became prolific with the release of Space Invaders in 1978 and this popularity continued as the genre evolved throughout the 1980s and 90s. Shoot 'em ups currently retain a niche appeal, particularly in Japan.^[16] The roots of the genre can be traced back to Spacewar!, developed in 1962 and later released as an arcade game.

Tactical shooters are variations on the first- and third-person shooter genre, which focus on realism and emphasize tactical play such as planning and teamwork (for example, co-ordination and specialised roles) such as in Socom: U.S. Navy SEALs and Medal of Honor (series). In single player modes, the player commands a squad of AI controlled characters in addition to their own; in multi-player modes, players must work in teams to win the game. Winning is likely to be dependent on capturing an objective of some sort rather than gaining the most kills.

A rail shooter is a sub-genre of the first-person shooter in which the player's navigation through the game environment is not under their explicit control. A rail shooter restricts the player's interactions to the tactical objectives in each scene, and progresses between scenes by moving the player's camera into specific positions along the game map.

Third-person shooter video games, known as TPSs or 3PSs, emphasize shooting and combat from a camera perspective in which the player character is seen at a distance. This perspective gives the player a wider view of their surroundings as opposed to the limited viewpoint of first-person shooters. Furthermore, third-person shooters allow for more elaborate movement such as rolling or diving, as opposed to simple jumping and crouching common in FPS games. Greater interaction with the player's environment is often possible. The emphasis remains on shooting, however; these games lack the platforming and puzzle elements of action-adventure shooting games. Some 3PSs have a function that allows you to switch to first-person in-game, such as in the "Star Wars Battlefront" and classic "Ratchet And Clank" series. Third person shooters have recently begun incorporating dedicated cover systems, an example of which would be Gears of War. Other genres of games have begun incorporating elements of third person shooters, such as the RPG Mass Effect.

Action-adventure[link]

Action-adventure games combine elements of their two component genres, typically featuring long-term obstacles that must be overcome using a tool or item as leverage (which is collected earlier), as well as many smaller obstacles almost constantly in the way, that require elements of action games to overcome. Action-adventure games tend to focus on exploration and usually involve item gathering, simple puzzle solving, and combat. "Action-adventure" has become a label which is sometimes attached to games which do not fit neatly into another well known genre.

The first action-adventure game was the Atari 2600 game Adventure (1979). It was directly inspired by the original text adventure, Colossal Cave Adventure. In the process of adapting a text game to a console with only a joystick for control, designer Warren Robinett created a new genre. Because of their prevalence on video game consoles and the absence of typical adventure games, action-adventure games are often confusingly called "adventure games" by gamers.

Stealth games are a somewhat recent sub-genre, sometimes referred to as "sneakers" or "creepers" to contrast with the action-oriented "shooter" sub-genre. These games tend to emphasize subterfuge and precision strikes over the more overt mayhem of shooters. Most have first- or third-person shooter elements.

Survival horror games focus on fear and attempt to scare the player via traditional horror fiction elements such as atmospherics, death, the undead, blood and gore. One crucial gameplay element in many of these games is the low quantity of ammunition, or number of breakable mêlée weapons.

Adventure[link]

Adventure games were some of the earliest games created, beginning with the text adventure Colossal Cave Adventure in the 1970s. That game was originally titled simply "Adventure," and is the namesake of the genre. Over time, graphics have been introduced to the genre and the interface has evolved.

Unlike adventure films, adventure games are not defined by story or content. Rather, adventure describes a manner of gameplay without reflex challenges or action. They normally require the player to solve various puzzles by interacting with people or the environment, most often in a non-confrontational way. It is considered a "purist" genre and tends to exclude anything which includes action elements beyond a mini game.

Because they put little pressure on the player in the form of action-based challenges or time constraints, adventure games have had the unique ability to appeal to people who do not normally play video games. The genre peaked in popularity with the 1993 release of Myst, the best-selling PC game of all time up to that point.^[17] The simple point and click interface, detailed worlds and casual pace made it accessible, and its sense of artistic surrealism caused news outlets such as Wired Magazine, The New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle to declare that the gaming industry had matured.^[18][19] It had four proper sequels, but none managed to experience the same level of success. The success of Myst also inspired many others to create similar games with first person perspectives, surreal environments and minimal or no dialogue, but these neither recaptured the success of Myst nor of earlier personality-driven adventures.^{[citation needed]}

In the late 1990s the genre suffered a large drop in popularity, mass-market releases became rare, and many proclaimed the adventure game to be dead. More accurately, it has become a niche genre. Adventure games are not entirely uncommon, but they tend to be very low budget in anticipation of modest sales. The genre was somewhat rejuvenated with the release of The Longest Journey in 1999, which emphasized stronger story elements and more interaction with different characters. A recent resurgence of adventure games on Nintendo consoles might signify a new interest in the genre.^[20]

Around this time, real-time 3D adventure games appeared. These included Nightfall in 1998, realMyst in 2000, and Uru: Ages Beyond Myst in 2003. They augmented traditional adventure gameplay with some of the attributes more commonly associated with action games. For example, freedom of motion and physics based behavior. None of these games permitted game entities to be wounded or killed, which distinguishes them from action/adventure games such as the original Unreal and Trespasser.

The earliest adventure games were text adventures, also known as interactive fiction. Games such as the popular Zork series of the late 1970s and early 1980s allowed the player to use a keyboard to enter commands such as "get rope" or "go west" while the computer describes what is happening. A great deal of programming went into parsing the player's text input.

Mystery House for the Apple II was the first adventure game to use graphics in the early home computer era.

Graphic adventure games emerged as graphics became more common. Adventure games began to supplement and later on replace textual descriptions with visuals (for example, a picture of the current location). Early graphic adventure games used text-parsers to input commands. The growing use of mice led to the "point-and-click" genre of adventure games, where the player would no longer have to type commands. The player could, for example, click on a hand icon and then on a rope to pick up the rope.

A visual novel (ビジュアルノベル, bijuaru noberu^?) is an adventure game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art.^[21] As the name might suggest, they resemble mixed-media novels or tableau vivant stage plays. Many visual novels track statistics that the player must build in order to advance the plot, and permit a variety of endings, allowing more dynamic reactions to the player's actions than a typical linear adventure plot. Many visual novels are dating sims, including bishōjo games. Visual novels are especially prevalent in Japan, where they make up nearly 70% of PC games released.^[22] They are rarely produced for video game consoles, but the more popular games are sometimes ported to systems such as the Dreamcast or the PlayStation 2. The market for visual novels outside of Japan, however, was nearly non-existent prior to the success of the Nintendo DS, for which several Japanese visual novels were released in the West, such as the Ace Attorney series.

The interactive movie genre came about with the invention of laserdiscs. An interactive movie contains pre-filmed full-motion cartoons or live-action sequences, where the player controls some of the moves of the main character. For example, when in danger, the player decides which move, action, or combination to choose. In these games, the only activity the player has is to choose or guess the move the designers intend him to make. Interactive movies usually differ from games that simply use full motion video, FMV, extensively between scenes in that they try to integrate it into the gameplay itself. This has been used in everything from racing games to fighting games. A few adventure game have tried to use the term to liken the storytelling of their games to those in movies, most notably the later Tex Murphy games and the more recent Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy),^[23] although they are more aptly classified as genre hybrids. Elements of interactive movies have been adapted for game cut scenes, in the form of Quick Time Events, to keep the player alert. Games like Resident Evil 4 present obvious in-game prompts for the player to react to. Not doing so usually results in the player character either getting hurt or outright killed.

Role-playing[link]

KQ is a role-playing game

Role-playing video games draw their gameplay from traditional role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. Most cast the player in the role of one or more "adventurers" who specialize in specific skill sets (such as melee combat or casting magic spells) while progressing through a predetermined storyline. Many involve maneuvering these character(s) through an overworld, usually populated with monsters, that allows access to more important game locations, such as towns, dungeons, and castles. Since the emergence of affordable home computers coincided with the popularity of paper and pencil role-playing games, this genre was one of the first in video games and continues to be popular today. Gameplay elements strongly associated with RPGs, such as statistical character development through the acquisition of experience points, have been widely adapted to other genres such as action-adventure games. Though nearly all of the early entries in the genre were turn-based games, many modern role-playing games progress in real-time. Thus, the genre has followed the strategy game's trend of moving from turn-based to real-time combat. The move to real-time combat began with the release of Square's (now Square Enix's) Final Fantasy IV, the first game to use the Active Time Battle system; this was quickly followed by truly real-time role-playing games such as the Mana series, Soul Blazer and Ultima VII. Some throwbacks to older turn based system did exist such as the Golden Sun series for Gameboy Advance.

Cultural differences in role-playing video games have caused RPGs to tend towards two sets of characteristics sometimes referred to as Western and Eastern RPGs. The first often involves the player creating a character and a non-linear storyline along which the player makes his own decisions. In the second type, the player controls a party of predefined characters through a dramatically scripted linear storyline. There are described advantages to -and dedicated fans of- each system, including fans of western RPGs in East Asia and eastern RPGs in Europe/North America.

Due to RPG origins with Dungeons and Dragons and other pen and paper role-playing games, the most popular setting for RPGs by far is a fantasy world, usually with heavy medieval European influences with Diablo series (by Blizzard), Final Fantasy series, Elder Scrolls series and Baldur's Gate series (all different kinds of RPGs) all sharing a basic fantasy setting. However exceptions do exist, with some more notable ones being the east Asian Jade Empire setting, and the science fiction settings of Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect by Bioware. The Fallout series is set in a post-apocalyptic retro-futuristic America in which nuclear war destroyed a world in which culture had never advanced beyond that of the 1950s.

Sandbox RPGs allow the player a huge amount of freedom and usually contain a somewhat realistic free-roaming (meaning the player is not confined to a single path restricted by rocks or fences etc.) world. Sandbox RPGs are almost always western rather than eastern and contain similarities to other sandbox games such as the Grand Theft Auto series with a large number of interactable NPCs, large amount of content and typically some of the largest worlds to explore and longest playtimes of all RPGs due to an impressive amount of secondary content not critical to the game's main storyline. Sandbox RPGs often attempt to emulate an entire region of their setting. Good examples of this small subgenre are Morrowind, Oblivion and Fallout 3 by Bethesda and the Gothic series by Piranha Bytes.

The action role-playing game or action RPG is a type of role-playing video game which incorporates elements from action games or action-adventure games. The first action role-playing games were produced by Nihon Falcom in the 1980s, such as the Dragon Slayer series and Ys series. Later so-called "Diablo clones" are also part of this genre. Although the precise definition of the genre varies, the typical action RPG features a heavy emphasis on combat, often simplifying or removing non-combat attributes and statistics and the effect they have on the character's development.^{[24][dead link]} Additionally, combat always takes place using a real-time system (hence the "action") that relies on the player's ability to perform particular actions with speed and accuracy to determine success, rather than mainly using the player character's attributes to determine this. Typically action RPGs focus more on the collection of randomized treasure than story progression that is found in other types of RPGs.

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games, or MMORPGs, emerged in the mid to late 1990s as a commercial, graphical variant of text-based MUDs, which had existed since 1978. By and large, MMORPGs feature the usual RPG objectives of completing quests and strengthening one's player character, but involve up to hundreds of players interacting with each other on the same persistent world in real-time. The massively multiplayer concept was quickly combined with other genres. Fantasy MMORPGs like The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, remain the most popular type of MMOG, with the most popular "pay-to-play" game being World of Warcraft (by Blizzard), which holds over 60% of the MMORPG market, and the most popular free game being RuneScape (by Jagex), yet other types of MMORPG are appearing. Sci-fi MMORPGs, which began with Phantasy Star Online, hold a smaller part of the MMOG market, with the popular space sci-fi game EVE Online being the most notable. Other massively multiplayer online games which do not have a conventional RPG setting such as Second Life may still sometimes be classed as RPGs, or they may be more accurately described as MMOG's (discussed elsewhere in this article).

The roguelike video game sub-genre borrows its name and gameplay elements from the 1980 computer game Rogue. Superficially, a roguelike is a two-dimensional dungeon crawl with a high degree of randomness and an emphasis on statistical character development. Though traditionally featuring a text user interface, many such games utilize graphic tiles to overcome character set limitations.

The tactical role-playing game sub-genre principally refers to games which incorporate gameplay from strategy games as an alternative to traditional RPG systems.^[25] Like standard RPGs, the player controls a finite party and battles a similar number of enemies, but this genre incorporates strategic gameplay such as tactical movement on an isometric grid.^[25] The genre has its origins in tabletop role-playing games, where each player has time to decide his or her character's action.

Simulation[link]

Simulation video games is a diverse super-category of games, generally designed to closely simulate aspects of a real or fictional reality.

Construction and management simulation[link]

A sample city from Lincity NG

Construction and management simulations (or CMSs) are a type of simulation game which task players to build, expand or manage fictional communities or projects with limited resources.

In city-building games the player acts as overall planner or leader to meet the needs and wants of game characters by initiating structures for food, shelter, health, spiritual care, economic growth, etc. Success is achieved when the city budget makes a growing profit and citizens experience an upgraded lifestyle in housing, health, and goods. While military development is often included, the emphasis is on economic strength. Perhaps the most known game of this type is SimCity, which is still popular and has had great influence on later city-building games. SimCity, however, also belongs to the God Games genre since it gives the player god-like abilities in manipulating the world. Caesar was a long running series in this genre, with the original game spawning three sequels.

Business simulation games generally attempt to simulate an economy or business, with the player controlling the economy of the game.

A government simulation game (or "political game") involves the simulation of the policies, government or politics of a country, but typically excludes warfare. Recently, these types of games have gained the moniker "serious game".

Life simulation[link]

Life simulation games (or artificial life games) involve living or controlling one or more artificial lives. A life simulation game can revolve around individuals and relationships, or it could be a simulation of an ecosystem.

Biological simulations may allow the player to experiment with genetics, survival or ecosystems, often in the form of an educational package. An early example is SimLife, while relatively recent ones are Jurassic Park:Operation Genesis and Spore. In other educational simulations such as Wolf, the player "lives the life" of an individual animal in a relatively realistic way. Hailed as one of the greatest life simulation games, however, is Creatures, Creatures 2, Creatures 3, where the player breeds generations of a species in a hugely detailed ecosystem.

Unlike other genres of games, god games often do not have a set goal that allows a player to win the game. The focus of a god game tends to be control over the lives of people, anywhere from micromanaging a family to overseeing the rise of a civilization.

Pet-raising simulations (or digital pets) focus more on the relationship between the player and one or few life forms. They are often more limited in scope than other biological simulations. This includes popular examples of virtual pets such as Tamagotchi, the Petz series, and Nintendogs.

Social simulation games base their gameplay on the social interaction between multiple artificial lives. The most famous example from this genre is Will Wright's The Sims.

Vehicle simulation[link]

Vehicle simulation games are a genre of video games which attempt to provide the player with a realistic interpretation of operating various kinds of vehicles.^[26]

FlightGear is a flight simulation game.

A flight simulation tasks the player with flying an aircraft, usually an airplane, as realistically as possible. Combat flight simulators are the most popular sub-genre of simulation. The player controls the plane, not only simulating the act of flying, but also combat situations. There are also civilian flight simulators that do not have the combat aspect.

Racing games typically place the player in the driver's seat of a high-performance vehicle and require the player to race against other drivers or sometimes just time. This genre of games is one of the staples of the computer gaming world and many of the earliest computer games created were part of this genre. Emerging in the late 1970s, this genre is still very popular today and continues to push the envelope in terms of graphics and performance. These games "tend to fall into organized racing and imaginary racing categories". Organized racing simulators attempt to "reproduce the experience of driving a racing car or motorcycle in an existing racing class: Indycar, NASCAR, Formula 1, and so on." On the other hand, imaginary racing games involve "imaginary situations, driving madly through cities or the countryside or even fantasy environments". These "imaginary" racing games are sometimes called arcade racing games, in contrast to their more realistic "racing simulation" counterparts. Rollings and Adams note that "racing games are often sold in the sports category," but "from a design standpoint, they really belong in ... vehicle simulations".^[26]

Space flight simulator games are a sub-genre that involve piloting a spacecraft. Space simulators are different from other sub-genres, and are not generally considered to be simulators, as their simulated objects do not always exist and often disregard the laws of physics. However, simulators of real spacecraft do exist: Orbiter is one example.

Train simulators simulate the vehicles, environments and often economics associated with railway transport. These are frequently historical in nature, reminiscing on the evolution and emergence of the railroad in various countries and the economic booms that often accompanied them.

Vehicular combat or car combat games focus on fast-paced action, as the player operates a car or other vehicle and attempts to disable or destroy CPU or human opponents. Vehicular combat games often allow a player to choose from a variety of potential vehicles, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Vehicular combat was born out of racing/shooter combinations like Spy Hunter, RoadBlasters and Rock 'N' Roll Racing, but differs in that the players can, if desired, take their vehicles off predefined routes and do battle wherever they please. A sub-genre of vehicular combat is Mecha combat, where vehicles generally include giant robot-like tanks.

Strategy[link]

Strategy video games focus on gameplay requiring careful and skillful thinking and planning in order to achieve victory. In most strategy video games, says Andrew Rollings, "the player is given a godlike view of the game world, indirectly controlling the units under his command."^[26] Rollings also notes that "The origin of strategy games is rooted in their close cousins, board games."^[26] Strategy video games generally take one of four archetypal forms, depending on whether the game is turn-based or real-time and whether the game's focus is upon strategy or military tactics. Real time strategy games are often a multiple unit selection game (multiple game characters can be selected at once to perform different tasks, as opposed to only selecting one character at a time) with a sky view (view looking down from above) but some recent games such as Tom Clancy's EndWar, are single unit selection and third person view. Like many RPG games, many strategy games are gradually moving away from turn based systems to more real-time systems.

4X refers to a genre of strategy video game with four primary goals: eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate. A 4X game can be turn-based or real-time. Perhaps the best known example of this genre is Sid Meier's Civilization series. 4X games often cover a very large period of time, giving the player the control of an entire civilization or species. Typically these games have a historical setting, encompassing a large amount of human history (Empire Earth, Civilization) or a science fiction setting where the player controls a species set to dominate the galaxy (Master of Orion, Galactic Civilizations).

Scorched 3D is an artillery game.

Artillery is the generic name for either early two or three-player (usually turn-based) computer games involving tanks fighting each other in combat or similar derivative games. Artillery games were among the earliest computer games developed; they can be considered an extension of the original uses of computers themselves, which were once used for military-based calculations such as plotting the trajectories of rockets. Artillery games are a type of strategy game, though they have also been described as a "shooting game."

The moniker "real-time strategy" (RTS), usually applied only to certain computer strategy games, (however, this genre is probably the most well known of strategy games and is what most websites mean when they say "strategy games") indicates that the action in the game is continuous, and players will have to make their decisions and actions within the backdrop of a constantly changing game state. Real-time strategy gameplay is characterised by obtaining resources, building bases, researching technologies and producing units. Probably the most popular RTS game is Blizzard's Starcraft, which is played competitively in South Korea and televised to large audiences. Other notable games include the Warcraft series, Age of Empires series, Dawn of War, Command and Conquer and Dune II (essentially the first RTS game). Very few non-computer strategy games are real-time; A few examples are Icehouse, Battle for Middle-earth II and Halo Wars.

A real-time tactics game shares feature of the simulation and wargame genres, for example the battle system (though not the entire game) in the Total War series. These titles focus on operational aspects and control of warfare. Unlike in real-time strategy games, resource and economical management and building plays no part of the gameplay. These games often feature an overarching "campaign map" with different regions the player must vie for control of -not dissimilar to the board game Risk. Base building in the traditional sense is usually relegated to building up the infrastructure of regions you own.

Tower defense games have a very simple layout. Usually, computer-controlled monsters called creeps move along a set path, and the player must place, or "build" towers along this path to kill the creeps. In most tower defense games different towers have different abilities such as poisoning enemies or slowing them down. The player is awarded money for killing creeps, and this money can be used to buy more towers, or buy upgrades for a tower such as increased power or range.

The Battle for Wesnoth is a turn-based strategy game.^[27]

The term "Turn-based strategy game" (TBS) is usually reserved for certain computer strategy games, to distinguish them from real-time strategy games. A player of a turn-based game is allowed a period of analysis before committing to a game action, and some games allow a certain number of moves or actions to take place in a turn. Like real time strategy games, this genre can include many strategy games which are not solely turn based games, and games which may contain other features not related to whether the game is turn based or not.

Some recent turn-based strategy games feature a different gameplay mechanic, with a simultaneous resolution of the turns, every player preparing their future actions in the planning phase, then letting the game follow the orders given at the same time, causing orders to be interrupted by the opponent(s) actions, changing the gameplay from reacting to the opponent's action into guessing them. No definite name has been decided for this new genre, but STBS - Simultaneous Turn-based Strategy - seems to be the unofficial name. The first game of the genre was Combat Mission.

The gameplay of turn-based tactics games is characterized by the expectation of players to complete their tasks using the combat forces provided to them, and usually by the provision of a realistic (or at least believable) representation of military tactics and operations.

Wargames are a subgenre of strategy video games that emphasize strategic or tactical warfare on a map. Wargames generally take one of four archetypal forms, depending on whether the game is turn-based or real-time and whether the game's focus is upon military strategy or tactics.

Action real-time strategy is a recently emerged genre in gaming. Defense of the Ancients (DotA) , League of Legends (LoL) and Heroes of Newerth (HoN) are the current popular games of this genre.

Other notable genres[link]

Frets on Fire is a music game.

Music games most commonly challenge the player to follow sequences of movement or develop specific rhythms. Some games require the player to input rhythms by stepping with their feet on a dance pad, or using a device similar to a specific musical instrument, like a replica drum set. These games have changed the way players' interact with their consoles by making the gaming experience more active and sociable, and paving the way for exergaming. Music video games have also influenced the music industry by significantly raising the number of legal downloads of songs.^[28] Other games avoid rhythm-based gameplay and instead focus on pitch-based, memory-based, or sandbox-style gameplay. Recently, music games such as Guitar Hero, Rock Band and Sing Star have achieved huge popularity among casual gamers.

Party games are video games developed specifically for multiplayer games between many players. Normally, party games have a variety of mini-games that range between collecting more of a certain item than other players or having the fastest time at something. Such games include the Mario Party series, Crash Boom Bang!, and Rayman Raving Rabbids. Versus multiplayer games are not generally considered to be party games.

A programming game is a computer game where the player has no direct influence on the course of the game. Instead, a computer program or script is written in some domain-specific programming language in order to control the actions of the characters (usually robots, tanks or bacteria, which seek to destroy each other). In SpaceChem, for example, players design circuits used for creating molecules from raw materials. Final Fantasy XII also includes some elements of a programming game, as the player creates the AI of his characters, although the player can also choose to directly control the action.

Puzzle games require the player to solve logic puzzles or navigate complex locations such as mazes. They are well suited to casual play, and tile-matching puzzle games are among the most popular casual games. This genre frequently crosses over with adventure and educational games. Some arcade games, in particular Tetris variants, are often labeled puzzle games, despite the fact that gameplay depends on hand/eye coordination and quick reflexes, rather than thought and logic.

Sports games emulate the playing of traditional physical sports. Some emphasize actually playing the sport, while others emphasize the strategy behind the sport (such as Championship Manager). Others satirize the sport for comic effect (such as Arch Rivals). One of the best selling series in this genre is the FIFA (video game series) series. This genre emerged early in the history of video games (e.g., Pong) and remains popular today.

Trivia games are growing in popularity, especially on mobile phones where people may only have a few minutes to play the game.

Many popular board games and card games have computer versions. AI opponents can help improve one's skill at traditional games. Chess, Checkers, Othello (also known as Reversi), and Backgammon have world class computer programs. Mah-jongg and related games are immensely popular in China and Japan. Go is popular in East Asia, though it is infamously difficult to program a computer to play Go well. Magic: The Gathering has had computer versions for some time.

Video game genres by purpose[link]

While most video games are designed as entertainment, many video games are designed with additional purposes. These purposes are as varied as the nature of information itself—to inform, persuade, or stimulate. These games can have any kind of gameplay, from puzzles to action to adventure.

Adult video games, like adult movies or other media, are intended for an adult audience. In general, the purpose of adult games is to provide erotic entertainment, rather than just gameplay. There exists a wide variety of adult games, though many lack mainstream appeal and represent a niche category. The object of an adult game may differ from a mainstream video game, in that the reward can be a visual representation of nudity, partial nudity, or sexual activity rather than points, etc. Some games may focus on humor or drama rather than arousal, or simply have normal gameplay accompanied by nudity.

Advergames, in the context of video game genres, refers to promotional software specifically made to advertise a product, organization or viewpoint. The first advergames were distributed on floppy disk by the Chef Boyardee, Coca-Cola, and Samsung brands,^[29] while the first cereal box advergame was Chex Quest in 1996.^[30] The majority of advergames are found online and mostly include simple and cheaply made Flash games.

Art games are designed so as to emphasize art or whose structures are intended to produce some kind of non-ludological reaction in its audience. Art games typically go out of their way to have a unique, unconventional look, often standing out for aesthetic beauty or complexity in design. This concept extends to the realm of modified ("modded") gaming when modifications have been made to existing non-art-games to produce graphic results intended to be viewed as an artistic display, as opposed to modifications intended to change game play scenarios or for storytelling. Modified games created for artistic purposes are sometimes referred to as "videogame art."

Casual games have very simple rules or play techniques and a very low degree of strategy.^[31] They also require no long-term time commitment or special skills to play, making them easy to learn and play as a pastime. There are comparatively low production and distribution costs for the producer.^[32] Casual games typically are played on a personal computer online in web browsers, although they now are starting to become popular on game consoles. The purpose of the casual game is to entertain, but with a much lower commitment than other video games.

Christian games attempt to provide the dual purposes of spreading the Christian religion to non-believers through the medium of video games, and providing gamers who identify as Christian with a common pool of games that neither challenge their beliefs nor offend them. Christian video games were first developed by Wisdom Tree for the NES without license. While largely regarded as derivative titles by the mainstream gaming culture,^{[citation needed]} Christian games have nevertheless expanded in distribution since their inception.

Educational games, as the name implies, attempt to teach the user using the game as a vehicle. Most of these types of games target young users from the ages of about three years to mid-teens;^{[citation needed]} past the mid-teens, subjects become so complex (e.g. Calculus) that teaching via a game is impractical.^{[citation needed]} Numerous sub-genres exist, in fields such as math or typing.

Electronic Sports games are multiplayer games that are usually played competitively at the professional level. These games are often targeted at the "hardcore" gaming audience, and are usually first-person shooter games, requiring twitch-based reaction speed and coordination, or real-time strategy games, requiring high levels of strategic macro- and micromanagement.

An exergame (portmanteau of "exercise" and "game") is a video game that provides exercise. "Exergames" sub-divide into two main implementations, those with a game specifically designed to use an exercise input device (for example, the game Wii Fit using the Wii Balance Board) and those implementations using a genre of a game. Games fit into the category of entertainment, and similarly "exergames" are a category of "exertainment" (formed from "exercise" and "entertainment"). "Exertainment" refers to one aspect of adding entertainment to an exercise workout.

Serious games are intended to educate or train the player. These games tend to promote "education, science, social change, health care or even the military."^[33] Some of these games have no specific ending or goal in the game. Rather, the player learns a real life lesson from the game. For example, games from websites such as Newsgaming.com and gamesforchange.org raise political issues using the distinct properties of games.

Scientific studies[link]

As video games are increasingly the subject of scientific studies, game genres are themselves becoming a subject of study.

An early attempt at analysis of the action and adventure genres appeared in a Game Developers Conference 2000 paper 'Mostly Armless: Grabbing the 3D World'.^[34] This critiqued a variety of adventure and action games to categorize gameplay and interaction for adventure, action, and hybrid genres. It provided a graph of the genres along the axes of 'immediacy' vs 'complexity', with an 'ideal-zone' for gameplay that covered and linked adventure and action games. It detailed various interaction styles present in these genres and extrapolated to future user interface and gameplay possibilities for these and other genres. Some of these have since been adopted by persistent worlds. For example, Second Life uses some of the gameplay investment and interface elements described in section 4 of the paper.

In a University of Queensland study, game enjoyment was correlated with attributes such as immersion, social interaction, and the nature of the goals.^[35] These may be underlying factors in differentiating game genres.

Statistical scaling techniques were used in a study presented at the 2007 Siggraph Video Game Symposium to convert subject ratings of game similarity into visual maps of game genres. The maps reproduced some of the commonly identified genres such as first-person shooters and god games.^[36] A Michigan State University study found that men have a higher preference for genres that require competition and three-dimensional navigation and manipulation than women do.^[37]

See also[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Rollings, Andrew; Adams, Ernest (2003-05-11). Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design. New Riders Games. ISBN 978-1-59273-001-8. 

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v t e

This article's references may not meet Wikipedia's guidelines for reliable sources. Please help by checking whether the references meet the criteria for reliable sources. (February 2012)

A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device,^[1] but following popularization of the term "video game", it now implies any type of display device. The electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms; examples of these are personal computers and video game consoles. These platforms range from large mainframe computers to small handheld devices. Specialized video games such as arcade games, while previously common, have gradually declined in use. Video games have gone on to become an art form and industry.

The input device used to manipulate video games is called a game controller, and varies across platforms. For example, a controller might consist of only a button and a joystick, while another may feature a dozen buttons and one or more joysticks. Early personal computer games often needed a keyboard for gameplay, or more commonly, required the user to buy a separate joystick with at least one button.^[2] Many modern computer games allow or require the player to use a keyboard and a mouse simultaneously. A few of the most common game controllers are gamepads, mice, keyboards, and joysticks.

Video games typically use additional means of providing interactivity and information to the player. Audio is almost universal, using sound reproduction devices, such as speakers and headphones. Other feedback may come via haptic peripherals, such as vibration or force feedback, with vibration sometimes used to simulate force feedback.

In the early days of cartridge consoles, they were sometimes called TV games.

History[link]

Early games used interactive electronic devices with various display formats. The earliest example is from 1947—a "Cathode ray tube Amusement Device" was filed for a patent on January 25, 1947, by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann, and issued on December 14, 1948, as U.S. Patent 2455992.^[3]

Inspired by radar display tech, it consisted of an analog device that allowed a user to control a vector-drawn dot on the screen to simulate a missile being fired at targets, which were drawings fixed to the screen.^[4]

Other early examples include:

• The NIMROD computer at the 1951 Festival of Britain
• OXO a tic-tac-toe Computer game by Alexander S. Douglas for the EDSAC in 1952
• Tennis for Two, an interactive game engineered by William Higinbotham in 1958
• Spacewar!, written by MIT students Martin Graetz, Steve Russell, and Wayne Wiitanen's on a DEC PDP-1 computer in 1961.

Each game used different means of display: NIMROD used a panel of lights to play the game of Nim,^[5] OXO used a graphical display to play tic-tac-toe ^[6] Tennis for Two used an oscilloscope to display a side view of a tennis court,^[4] and Spacewar! used the DEC PDP-1's vector display to have two spaceships battle each other.^[7]

Nolan Bushnell at the Game Developers Conference in 2011

In 1971, Computer Space, created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was the first commercially sold, coin-operated video game. It used a black-and-white television for its display, and the computer system was made of 74 series TTL chips.^[8] The game was featured in the 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green. Computer Space was followed in 1972 by the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home console. Modeled after a late 1960s prototype console developed by Ralph H. Baer called the "Brown Box", it also used a standard television.^[4][9] These were followed by two versions of Atari's Pong; an arcade version in 1972 and a home version in 1975 that dramatically increased video game popularity.^[10] The commercial success of Pong led numerous other companies to develop Pong clones and their own systems, spawning the video game industry.^[11]

A flood of Pong clones eventually led to the video game crash of 1977, which came to an end with the mainstream success of Taito's 1978 shooter game Space Invaders,^[12] marking the beginning of the golden age of arcade video games and inspiring dozens of manufacturers to enter the market.^[12][13] The game inspired arcade machines to become prevalent in mainstream locations such as shopping malls, traditional storefronts, restaurants, and convenience stores.^[14] The game also became the subject of numerous articles and stories on television and in newspapers and magazines, establishing video gaming as a rapidly growing mainstream hobby.^[15][16] Space Invaders was soon licensed for the Atari VCS (later known as Atari 2600), becoming the first "killer app" and quadrupling the console's sales.^[17] This helped Atari recover from their earlier losses,^[18] and in turn the Atari VCS revived the home video game market during the second generation of consoles, up until the North American video game crash of 1983.^[19] The home video game industry was revitalized shortly afterwards by the widespread success of the Nintendo Entertainment System,^[20] which marked a shift in the dominance of the video game industry from the United States to Japan during the third generation of consoles.^[21]

Overview[link]

Platforms[link]

The term "platform" refers to the specific combination of electronic components or computer hardware which, in conjunction with software, allows a video game to operate.^[22] The term "system" is also commonly used.

In common use a "PC game" refers to a form of media that involves a player interacting with a IBM PC compatible personal computer connected to a video monitor. A "console game" is played on a specialized electronic device that connects to a common television set or composite video monitor. A "handheld" gaming device is a self contained electronic device that is portable and can be held in a user's hands. "Arcade game" generally refers to a game played on an even more specialized type of electronic device that is typically designed to play only one game and is encased in a special cabinet. These distinctions are not always clear and there may be games that bridge one or more platforms. In addition to personal computers, there are multiple other devices which have the ability to play games but are not dedicated video game machines, such as mobile phones, PDAs and graphing calculators.

With the advent of social networking and other online applications hubs, the term "platform" started being used to refer to the online service within which the game is played, regardless of the actual hardware on which it is executed. A game's platform could simply be "Facebook", whether it is played on a Windows PC, Mac, Smart TV, or smartphone.

Genres[link]

A video game, like most other forms of media, may be categorized into genres based on many factors such as method of game play, types of goals, art style and more. Because genres are dependent on content for definition, genres have changed and evolved as newer styles of video games have come into existence. Ever advancing technology and production values related to video game development have fostered more life-like and complex games which have in turn introduced or enhanced genre possibilities (e.g., virtual pets), pushed the boundaries of existing video gaming or in some cases add new possibilities in play (such as that seen with titles specifically designed for devices like Sony's EyeToy). Some genres represent combinations of others, such as massively multiplayer online role-playing games, or, more commonly, MMORPGs. It is also common to see higher level genre terms that are collective in nature across all other genres such as with action, music/rhythm or horror-themed video games.

Classifications[link]

Casual games[link]

Casual games derive their name from their ease of accessibility, simple to understand gameplay and quick to grasp rule sets. Additionally, casual games frequently support the ability to jump in and out of play on demand. Casual games as a format existed long before the term was coined and include video games such as Solitaire or Minesweeper which can commonly be found pre-installed with many versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

Examples of genres within this category are hidden object, match three, time management, tetris or many of the tower defense style games. Casual games are generally sold through online retailers such as PopCap, Zylom, Vans Video Games and GameHouse or provided for free play through web portals such as Newgrounds or AddictingGames.

While casual games are most commonly played on personal computers, cellphones or PDAs, they can also be found on many of the on-line console system download services (e.g., Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, or WiiWare).

Serious games[link]

Serious games are games that are designed primarily to convey information or a learning experience of some sort to the player. Some serious games may even fail to qualify as a video game in the traditional sense of the term. Educational software does not typically fall under this category (e.g., touch typing tutors, language learning, etc.) and the primary distinction would appear to be based on the title's primary goal as well as target age demographics. As with the other categories, this description is more of a guideline than a rule.

Serious games are games generally made for reasons beyond simple entertainment and as with the core and casual games may include works from any given genre, although some such as exergames, educational games, or propaganda games may have a higher representation in this group due to their subject matter. These games are typically designed to be played by professionals as part of a specific job or for skill set improvement. They can also be created to convey social-political awareness on a specific subject.

One of the longest running serious games franchises would be Microsoft Flight Simulator first published in 1982 under that name. The United States military uses virtual reality based simulations, such as VBS1 for training exercises,^[23] as do a growing number of first responder roles (e.g., police, fire fighter, EMT).^[24] One example of a non-game environment utilized as a platform for serious game development would be the virtual world of Second Life, which is currently used by several United States governmental departments (e.g., NOAA, NASA, JPL), Universities (e.g., Ohio University, MIT) for educational and remote learning programs^[25] and businesses (e.g., IBM, Cisco Systems) for meetings and training.^[26]

Tactical media in video games plays a crucial role in making a statement or conveying a message on important relevant issues. This form of media allows for a broader audience to be able to receive and gain access to certain information that otherwise may not have reached such people. An example of tactical media in video games would be newsgames. These are short games related to contemporary events designed to illustrate a point.^[27] For example, Take Action Games is a game studio collective that was co-founded by Susana Ruiz and has made successful serious games. Some of these games include Darfur is Dying, Finding Zoe, and In The Balance. All of these games bring awareness to important issues and events in an intelligent and well thought out manner.^[28]

Educational games[link]

On September 23, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama launched a campaign called "Educate to Innovate" aimed at improving the technological, mathematical, scientific and engineering abilities of American students. This campaign states that it plans to harness the power of interactive games to help achieve the goal of students excelling in these departments.^[29][30] This campaign has stemmed into many new and exciting opportunities for the video game realm and has contributed to many new competitions. Some of these competitions include the Stem National Video Game Competition and the Imagine Cup.^[31][32] Both of these examples are events that bring a focus to relevant and important current issues that are able to be addressed in the sense of video games to educate and spread knowledge in a new form of media. www.NobelPrize.org uses games to entice the user to learn about information pertaining to the Nobel prize achievements while engaging in a fun to play video game.^[33] There are many different types and styles of educational games all the way from counting to spelling to games for kids and games for adults. Some other games do not have any particular targeted audience in mind and intended to simply educate or inform whoever views or plays the game.

Development[link]

Developers use various tools to create video games, here an editor to fine tune the virtual camera system.

Video game development and authorship, much like any other form of entertainment, is frequently a cross-disciplinary field. Video game developers, as employees within this industry are commonly referred, primarily include programmers and graphic designers. Over the years this has expanded to include almost every type of skill that one might see prevalent in the creation of any movie or television program, including sound designers, musicians, and other technicians; as well as skills that are specific to video games, such as the game designer. All of these are managed by producers.

In the early days of the industry, it was more common for a single person to manage all of the roles needed to create a video game. As platforms have become more complex and powerful in the type of material they can present, larger teams have been needed to generate all of the art, programming, cinematography, and more. This is not to say that the age of the "one-man shop" is gone, as this is still sometimes found in the casual gaming and handheld markets,^[34] where smaller games are prevalent due to technical limitations such as limited RAM or lack of dedicated 3D graphics rendering capabilities on the target platform (e.g., some cellphones and PDAs).^{[citation needed]}

With the growth of the size of development teams in the industry, the problem of cost has increased. Development studios need to be able to pay their staff a competitive wage in order to attract and retain the best talent, while publishers are constantly looking to keep costs down in order to maintain profitability on their investment. Typically, a video game console development team can range in sizes of anywhere from 5 to 50 people, with some teams exceeding 100. In May 2009, one game project was reported to have a development staff of 450.^[35] The growth of team size combined with greater pressure to get completed projects into the market to begin recouping production costs has led to a greater occurrence of missed deadlines and unfinished products.^{[citation needed]}

Downloadable content[link]

A newer phenomenon of withholding content from the game and then releasing it at a later date for additional funds not factored into the retail price began with digital video game distribution known as Downloadable Content (also known colloquially as 'DLC'). Studios may choose to utilize this to issue original content after the game is released, such as Rockstar Games with Grand Theft Auto IV, or Bethesda with Fallout 3, yet often opt instead to create content before the game is released to be intentionally withheld, such as Activision and Treyarch with Call of Duty (Despite knowing well public affection for a 'Zombies' game mode, it was shipped with only one map for this game mode, and periodically releases new ones with $10 DLC).^[36][37][38]

Modifications[link]

Many games produced for the PC are designed such that technically oriented consumers can modify the game. These mods can add an extra dimension of replayability and interest. Developers such as id Software, Valve Software, Crytek, Bethesda, Epic Games and Blizzard Entertainment ship their games with some of the development tools used to make the game, along with documentation to assist mod developers. The Internet provides an inexpensive medium to promote and distribute mods, and they may be a factor in the commercial success of some games.^[39] This allows for the kind of success seen by popular mods such as the Half-Life mod Counter-Strike.

Cheating[link]

Cheating in computer games may involve cheat codes and hidden spots implemented by the game developers,^[40][41] modification of game code by third parties,^[42][43] or players exploiting a software glitch. Modifications are facilitated by either cheat cartridge hardware or a software trainer.^[42] Cheats usually make the game easier by providing an unlimited amount of some resource; for example weapons, health, or ammunition; or perhaps the ability to walk through walls.^[41][42] Other cheats might give access to otherwise unplayable levels or provide unusual or amusing features, like altered game colors or other graphical appearances.

Glitches[link]

Software errors not detected by software testers during development can find their way into released versions of computer and video games. This may happen because the glitch only occurs under unusual circumstances in the game, was deemed too minor to correct, or because the game development was hurried to meet a publication deadline. Glitches can range from minor graphical errors to serious bugs that can delete saved data or cause the game to malfunction. In some cases publishers will release updates (referred to as patches) to repair glitches. Sometimes a glitch may be beneficial to the player, these are often referred to as exploits.

Easter eggs[link]

Easter eggs are hidden messages or jokes left in games by developers that are not part of the main game.

Theory[link]

Although departments of computer science have been studying the technical aspects of video games for years, theories that examine games as an artistic medium are a relatively recent development in the humanities. The two most visible schools in this emerging field are ludology and narratology. Narrativists approach video games in the context of what Janet Murray calls "Cyberdrama". That is to say, their major concern is with video games as a storytelling medium, one that arises out of interactive fiction. Murray puts video games in the context of the Holodeck, a fictional piece of technology from Star Trek, arguing for the video game as a medium in which we get to become another person, and to act out in another world.^[44] This image of video games received early widespread popular support, and forms the basis of films such as Tron, eXistenZ and The Last Starfighter.

Ludologists break sharply and radically from this idea. They argue that a video game is first and foremost a game, which must be understood in terms of its rules, interface, and the concept of play that it deploys. Espen J. Aarseth argues that, although games certainly have plots, characters, and aspects of traditional narratives, these aspects are incidental to gameplay. For example, Aarseth is critical of the widespread attention that narrativists have given to the heroine of the game Tomb Raider, saying that "the dimensions of Lara Croft's body, already analyzed to death by film theorists, are irrelevant to me as a player, because a different-looking body would not make me play differently... When I play, I don't even see her body, but see through it and past it."^[45] Simply put, ludologists reject traditional theories of art because they claim that the artistic and socially relevant qualities of a video game are primarily determined by the underlying set of rules, demands, and expectations imposed on the player.

While many games rely on emergent principles, video games commonly present simulated story worlds where emergent behavior occurs within the context of the game. The term "emergent narrative" has been used to describe how, in a simulated environment, storyline can be created simply by "what happens to the player."^[46] However, emergent behavior is not limited to sophisticated games. In general, any place where event-driven instructions occur for AI in a game, emergent behavior will exist. For instance, take a racing game in which cars are programmed to avoid crashing, and they encounter an obstacle in the track: the cars might then maneuver to avoid the obstacle causing the cars behind them to slow and/or maneuver to accommodate the cars in front of them and the obstacle. The programmer never wrote code to specifically create a traffic jam, yet one now exists in the game.

Social aspects[link]

Demographics[link]

The November 2005 Nielsen Active Gamer Study, taking a survey of 2,000 regular gamers, found that the U.S. games market is diversifying. The age group among male players has expanded significantly in the 25–40 age group. For casual online puzzle-style and simple mobile cell phone games, the gender divide is more or less equal between males and females. Females have also been found to show an attraction to online multi-player games where there is a communal experience.^{[citation needed]} More recently there has been a growing segment of female players engaged with the aggressive style of games historically considered to fall within traditionally male genres (e.g., first-person shooters). According to the ESRB almost 41% of PC gamers are women^[47] (see Girl gamer).

When comparing today's industry climate with that of 20 years ago, women and many adults are more inclined to be using products in the industry. While the market for teen and young adult men is still a strong market, it is the other demographics which are posting significant growth. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) provides the following summary for 2011 based on a study of almost 1,200 American households carried out by Ipsos MediaCT:^[48]

• The average gamer is 37 years old and has been playing for 12 years. Eighty-two percent of gamers are 18 years of age or older.
• Forty-two percent of all players are women and women over 18 years of age are one of the industry's fastest growing demographics.
• Today, adult women represent a greater portion of the game-playing population (37 percent) than boys age 17 or younger (13 percent).
• Twenty-nine percent of game players are over the age of 50, an increase from nine percent in 1999.
• Sixty-five percent of gamers play games with other gamers in person.
• Fifty-five percent of gamers play games on their phones or handheld device.

A 2006 academic study, based on a survey answered by 10.000 gamers, identified the gaymers (gamers that identify as LGBT) as a significant demographic group. ^{[49] [50][51]} A followup survey in 2009 studied the purchase habits and content preferences of people in the group.^[52][53][54]

Based on the study by NPD group in 2011, about 91 percent of kids aged 2–17 play games.^[55]

Multiplayer[link]

Video gaming has traditionally been a social experience. Multiplayer video games are those that can be played either competitively, sometimes in Electronic Sports, or cooperatively by using either multiple input devices, or by hotseating. Tennis for Two, arguably the first video game, was a two player game, as was its successor Pong. The first commercially available game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, had two controller inputs.

Since then, most consoles have been shipped with two or four controller inputs. Some have had the ability to expand to four, eight or as many as 12 inputs with additional adapters, such as the Multitap. Multiplayer arcade games typically feature play for two to four players, sometimes tilting the monitor on its back for a top-down viewing experience allowing players to sit opposite one another.

Many early computer games for non-PC descendant based platforms featured multiplayer support. Personal computer systems from Atari and Commodore both regularly featured at least two game ports. PC-based computer games started with a lower availability of multiplayer options because of technical limitations. PCs typically had either one or no game ports at all. Network games for these early personal computers were generally limited to only text based adventures or MUDs that were played remotely on a dedicated server. This was due both to the slow speed of modems (300-1200-bit/s), and the prohibitive cost involved with putting a computer online in such a way where multiple visitors could make use of it. However, with the advent of widespread local area networking technologies and Internet based online capabilities, the number of players in modern games can be 32 or higher, sometimes featuring integrated text and/or voice chat. MMOs can offer extremely high numbers of simultaneous players; Eve Online set a record with 54,446 players on a single server in 2010.^[56]

Benefits[link]

It has been shown that action video game players have better hand-eye coordination and visuo-motor skills, such as their resistance to distraction, their sensitivity to information in the peripheral vision and their ability to count briefly presented objects, than nonplayers.^[57]

Researchers found that such enhanced abilities could be acquired by training with action games, involving challenges that switch attention between different locations, but not with games requiring concentration on single objects. It has been suggested by a few studies that online/offline video gaming can be used as a therapeutic tool in the treatment of different mental health concerns.^[which?]

In Steven Johnson's book, Everything Bad Is Good for You, he argues that video games in fact demand far more from a player than traditional games like Monopoly. To experience the game, the player must first determine the objectives, as well as how to complete them. They must then learn the game controls and how the human-machine interface works, including menus and HUDs. Beyond such skills, which after some time become quite fundamental and are taken for granted by many gamers, video games are based upon the player navigating (and eventually mastering) a highly complex system with many variables. This requires a strong analytical ability, as well as flexibility and adaptability. He argues that the process of learning the boundaries, goals, and controls of a given game is often a highly demanding one that calls on many different areas of cognitive function. Indeed, most games require a great deal of patience and focus from the player, and, contrary to the popular perception that games provide instant gratification, games actually delay gratification far longer than other forms of entertainment such as film or even many books.^[58] Some research suggests video games may even increase players' attention capacities.^[59]

Learning principles found in video games have been identified as possible techniques with which to reform the U.S. education system.^[60] It has been noticed that gamers adopt an attitude while playing that is of such high concentration, they do not realize they are learning, and that if the same attitude could be adopted at school, education would enjoy significant benefits.^[61] Students are found to be "learning by doing" while playing video games while fostering creative thinking.^[62]

The U.S. Army has deployed machines such as the PackBot and UAV vehicles, which make use of a game-style hand controller to make it more familiar for young people.^[63]

According to research discussed at the 2008 Convention of the American Psychological Association, certain types of video games can improve the gamers' dexterity as well as their ability to problem-solve. A study of 33 laparoscopic surgeons found that those who played video games were 27 percent faster at advanced surgical procedures and made 37 percent fewer errors compared to those who did not play video games. A second study of 303 laparoscopic surgeons (82 percent men; 18 percent women) also showed that surgeons who played video games requiring spatial skills and hand dexterity and then performed a drill testing these skills were significantly faster at their first attempt and across all 10 trials than the surgeons who did not play the video games first.^[64]

Whilst many studies have detected superior mental aptitudes^[which?] amongst habitual gamers, research by Walter Boot at the University of Illinois found that non-gamers showed no improvement in memory or multitasking abilities after 20 hours of playing three different games. The researchers suggested that "individuals with superior abilities are more likely to choose video gaming as an activity in the first place".^[65]Unreliable - Discuss

Controversy[link]

Like related forms of media, computer and video games have been the subject of frequent controversy and censorship, due to the depiction of graphic violence, sexual themes, advergaming (a form of advertising in games), consumption of drugs, consumption of alcohol or tobacco, propaganda, or profanity in some games. Among others, critics of video games often include parents' groups, politicians, organized religious groups, and other advocacy groups. Various games have been accused of causing addiction and even violent behavior,^[66][67] though how much ground this holds is debatable.^[68][69] "Video game censorship" is defined as the use of state or group power to control the playing, distribution, purchase, or sale of video games or computer games. Video game controversy comes in many forms, and censorship is a controversial subject. Proponents and opponents of censorship are often very passionate about their individual views.

Various national content rating organizations, such as the Entertainment Software Ratings Board or ESRB in North America, rate software for certain age groups and with certain content warnings. Some of these organizations are optional industry self-regulation (such as the ESRB), while others are part of national government censorship organizations. Most video games display their rating on the front side of their packaging. However, parents are not always aware of the existence of these ratings. Not all ratings are considered accurate. Organizations such as What They Play and Common Sense Media aim to provide guidance and advice for parents.^[70]

Ratings and censorship[link]

ESRB[link]

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) gives videogames maturity ratings based on their content. For example, a game might be rated T for Teen if the game contained obscene words or violence. If a game contains explicit violence or sexual themes, it is likely to receive an M for Mature rating, which means that no one under 17 should play it. There is a rated "A/O" games for "Adults Only" these games have massive violence or nudity. There are no laws that prohibit children from purchasing "M" rated games in the United States. Laws attempting to prohibit minors from purchasing "M" rated games were established in California, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Louisiana, but all were overturned on the grounds that the establishment of such laws were in violation of a child's First Amendment rights^{[citation needed]}. However, many stores have opted to not sell such games to children anyway. Of course, video game laws vary from country to country. One of the most controversial games of all time, Manhunt 2 by Rockstar Studios, was denied a rating by the ESRB until Rockstar could make the content more suitable for a mature audience.

Video game manufacturers usually exercise tight control over the games that are made available on their systems, so unusual or special-interest games are more likely to appear as PC games. Free, casual, and browser-based games are usually played on available computers, mobile phones, or PDAs.

PEGI[link]

Pan European Game Information (PEGI) is a system that was developed to standardize the game ratings in all of Europe (not just European Union, although the majority are EU members), the current members are: all EU members, except Germany and the 10 accession states; Norway; Switzerland. Iceland is expected to join soon, as are the 10 EU accession states. For all PEGI members, they use it as their sole system, with the exception of the UK, where if a game contains certain material,^[71] it must be rated by BBFC. The PEGI ratings are legally binding in Vienna and it is a criminal offence to sell a game to someone if it is rated above their age.^[72]

Germany: BPjM and USK[link]

Stricter game rating laws mean that Germany does not operate within the PEGI. Instead, they adopt their own system of certification which is required by law. The Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle (USK or Voluntary Certification of Entertainment Software) checks every game before release and assigns an age rating to it - either none (white), 6 years of age (yellow), 12 years of age (green), 16 years of age (blue) or 18 years of age (red). It is forbidden for anyone, retailers, friends or parents alike, to allow a child access to a game for which he or she is underage. If a game is particularly violent, it may be referred to the BPjM (Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien - Federal Verification Office for Child-Endangering Media) who may opt to place it on the Index upon which the game may not be sold openly or advertised in the open media. Unofficially, the titles are not "banned" - adult gamers are still technically free to obtain the titles by other means, although it is still considered a felony to supply these titles to a child.

Commercial aspects[link]

Game sales[link]

A typical retail display (in Geneva, Switzerland) with a large selection of games for several major consoles

The three largest producers of and markets for computer and video games (in order) are North America (US and Canada), Japan and the United Kingdom. Other significant markets include Australia, Spain, Germany, South Korea, Mexico, France and Italy.^[73] Both India and China are considered emerging markets in the video game industry and sales are expected to rise significantly in the coming years. Irish are the largest per capita consumers of video games.^[74]

Sales of different types of games vary widely between these markets due to local preferences. Japanese consumers tend to purchase much more console games than computer games, with a strong preference for games catering to local tastes. Another key difference is that, despite the decline of arcades in the Western world (see Golden age of video arcade games), arcade games remain the largest sector of the Japanese gaming industry. As of 2009, the Japanese gaming industry is worth $20 billion, including $6 billion from arcades, $3.5 billion from console game sales, and $2 billion from mobile game sales.^[75] In South Korea, computer games are generally preferred over console games, especially MMORPG games and real-time strategy games. There are over 20,000 Internet cafés in South Korea where computer games can be played for an hourly charge. Computer games are also popular in China, which has a PC gaming industry worth $6 billion, the largest in the world.^[76] Arcade games are also still a thriving industry in China, though console games have been banned in the country since the early 2000s.^[77]

The NPD Group tracks computer and video game sales in the United States. It reported in 2004 that:

• Console and portable software sales: $6.2 billion, up 8% from 2003^[78]
• Console and portable hardware and accessory sales: $3.7 billion, down 35% from 2003^[78]
• PC game sales: $1.1 billion, down 15% from 2006^[79]

PC games that are digitally distributed either directly or by networks such as Steam are not tracked by the NPD, and Valve does not list sales numbers for games downloaded through their service. Unauthorized distribution is also rampant on the PC.^[80]

These figures are sales in dollars, not units, Unit shipments for each category were higher than the dollar sales numbers indicate, because more software and hardware was discounted than in 2003. But with the release of the next-generation consoles in 2006, these numbers increased dramatically. The game and film industries are also becoming increasingly intertwined, with companies like Sony having significant stakes in both. A large number of summer blockbuster films spawn a companion game, often launching at the same time to share the marketing costs.

The global market for console games has seen an average of 6.9 percent compound annual growth rate and is expected to become a $34.7 billion market in 2012.Online game sales are expected to grow at a larger rate of 16.9 percent, escalating from $6.6 billion in 2008 to $14.4 billion by 2012. The largest channel for growth, however, is in mobile gaming with a growth rate of 19 percent; estimated to grow from $5.6 billion in 2008 to $13.5 billion in four years.^[81]

Criticism[link]

Video games have the problem of regional lockout. In Australia, while most DVD players are sold region-free to accommodate local consumer rights legislation,^[82] video game consoles are still sold fully region protected. Some effort has been made to increase awareness of the issue, specifically to Nintendo of Australia,^[83] in the form of a formal report outlining the issues, published by Aaron Rex Davies.^[84] The report has gone on to gain a lot of attention in the public media.^[85]

Museums[link]

There are many video game museums around the world, for example Museum of Soviet Arcade Machines in Moscow^[86] or Computer Game Museum in Berlin.^[87]

The Smithsonian American Art Museum is running an exhibition on "The Art of Video Games".^[88]

See also[link]

Video games portal

	Book: Video game
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• Outline of video games
• Video game etiquette

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Find more about Computer and video games on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Images and media from Commons
	Learning resources from Wikiversity
	News stories from Wikinews
	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
	Textbooks from Wikibooks

• Video Games at the Open Directory Project
• The Virtual Museum of Computing (VMoC)
• Tom Chatfield writes on the culture and future of video games for Prospect Magazine
• CBC Digital Archives: The Arcade Age
• An interactive video game history timeline
• Video Games Through the Ages - slideshow by Life magazine
• Computer games museum in Paris

For the CollegeHumor editor/ writer/ actor named Jeff Rubin, see CollegeHumor.

Jeff Rubin (born August 24, 1954) is a Canadian economist and author. He is a former chief economist at CIBC World Markets.

Rubin graduated from McGill University with a Masters in Economics after completing his Economics B.A. at University of Toronto. He began his career as an economist at the Ontario Government Treasury Department where he was responsible for projecting future interest rates. He moved on to the brokerage firm Wood Gundy which was taken over by CIBC and became first CIBC Wood Gundy and then CIBC World Markets. He has accurately predicted fluctuations in interest rates and the value of the Canadian dollar. In the early 1990s he came to prominence projecting a major decline in the Ontario real estate market. He was one of the first economists to accurately predict soaring oil prices back in 2000 and is now a popular commentator on oil depletion and its economic repercussions. Jeff writes a blog published every Wednesday for The Globe and Mail newspaper. The blog is also published in the Huffington Post. He is an avid fisherman known for exotic trips to northern Canada (B.C.,Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan and Yukon) who frequently uses fishing analogies and references to his own fishing experiences, in his writings.^[1]

Rubin had worked at CIBC World Markets and its predecessors since 1988, and served as chief economist from 1992 to 2009, when he resigned.^[2]

He authored the Canadian Business Book of the Year award winning best selling 2009 book Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization. The book was also published with U.S. and U.K editions plus editions in French, Spanish, German and Portuguese. A second Canadian edition was published in 2010. ^[3][4] Jeff Rubin's second book The End of Growth - but is that all bad? published by Random House was released in Canada in a hard cover edition on May 8, 2012. It follows up on the theme of how oil prices are changing the world.

External links[link]

• Jeff speaks about global oil consumption, in Seattle on June 8, 2009
• Jeff Rubin Interviewed by Ralph Benmergui on June 18th
• Jeff Rubin on CBC's The Hour
• Jeff Rubin speaks January 2010
• jeff rubin's blog

References[link]