Genre - Game Invaders: The Theory and Understanding of Computer Games - page 23

Chapters. Basically, an RPG is an action adventure with signifi cant character devel-
opment skill enhancement as gameplay activities.
A further question: did RPGs evolve from from text - adventure as Figure 2.2
would seem to suggest? After text - adventure there were MUDs 3 and MOOs 4 ;
the latter having signifi cant character development—along with other forms of
development—and both were certainly very infl uential on today' s MMORPGs ,
the temporal incarnations really differing on gameplay modes more than activ-
ity sets.
Other links in this vicinity would not seem to be quite as strong. That between
RPG and RTS , for instance, does not seem right. The links between RPG and its
various sub-genres do seem fair. It also seems clear that closely related genres on
the map can have signifi cantly different gameplay; sneak -' em - up/stealth and FPS
are good examples of this.
The retro or classic genre doesn't have any common activity words. It is not a
genre in this classifi cation. It could possibly be a genre if we were looking at genres
concerned with the development of games over time, but not based on gameplay.
However, characterizing some retro games can be interesting; for instance, “genre-
ing” Lemmings puts it in the RTS genre, and it is therefore the ancestor of all RTS
games.
We can also observe that genres evolve over time—genres as memes 5 — and this
is clear if we observe the changing names of common genres. When Thief and
similar games were fi rst released they were termed sneak -' em - ups by the games
press and the term was recognized and used by game players. Such games are now
referred to as stealth games and the term sneak -' em - up seems to be largely forgotten
and indeed unrecognized by younger players.
We can begin to think about subgenres. If you list a set of activities for a typical
survival horror game such as Resident Evil 4 and an RPG action adventure game
such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, you will fi nd the activities are much
the same; it is the back-story that is distinct to Resident Evil and the addition of
RPG elements that characterizes this version of Zelda. Perhaps game subgenres are
about limited variations in either activity profi les or differences in other things such
as back-story, rendering style, and so on.
It is interesting to look at another action adventure game in terms of genre to
illustrate that genres are not as straightforward as the previous table would seem to
suggest. As an action adventure game, Shenmue will indeed be characterized by the
verbs exploring, puzzling, traveling, investigating, and so on, but it is also character-
ized by developing/training and high levels of confronting which are characteristic
of RPG ; in other words, genre-mixing. But at various stages in the game the genre
switches to driver or beat -' em - up , among others. In this game we have differing
activities to undertake at different stages in the game. Such genre switches mean

3

Multi - user dungeon.

4

MUD - object orientated.

5

This refers to cultural evolution of a classifi cation over time.