Genres: Savior or Saboteur?

Content settles into genres.

Television genres include situation comedies, news programs, reality television, and sports. Music genres include rock and roll, classical, opera, hip hop, and rap. Mystery books follow different frameworks than cookbooks. Even comic book genres include supers, supernatural, children cartoons, social dynamics of high school, and more adult oriented graphic novels.

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Each genre has its common set of syles, including rules and expectations. In television, it might be a laugh track, shaky cam, or establishing shot.

If someone said that ABC is running a show on the issue of dating, you would ask, is it a reality show, or a documentary, or a sitcom, or a drama?

Typically, industry awards are given either to finally honed examples of established genres or examples of new genres all together.

Sim Genres

Sims, including educational simulation, computer games, and serious games, also come in genres. The genre shapes much of the interface, user interaction, visual style, and other mechanisms. And while genres should never be static, they provide an established framework of actions, systems, and goals that ease the adoption of the participant, guide the developers, and provide an evolution path for the industry.

• Computer games have dozens of established genres, including first person shooter (fps), real time strategy, racing games, sports games, and tycoon games. These game genres have been evolved from their rough origins to the well-polished examples we see today through the work of many designers over many iterations from many different companies.
• Educational sims, meanwhile, include branching stories, frame games, interactive spreadsheets, virtual labs, practiceware, just to name a few.
• Other educational experiences also come in genres, including lectures, labs, and microcosms.
• Other relevant media include blogs or the broader web pages.

Author's note: To me, when you build a sim and adhere to a genre, you have some clue what the gameplay/"feel" is going to be like. You can use established control structures. You even have a sense of timing. You can think, "this is going to be a first person shooter, but give the player the ability to build your own weapons." Or, "This is going to be like Civilization, but on the moon."

When you create a new genre, you have no clue what it is going to look or feel like. You have no sense if it will be fun or not. You can't even play it until you are 90% through development.

Genres, for serious game and educational simulation designers, are safety nets and traps. They have evolved and are entertaining, but using them for "Serious Games" runs the risk of putting a lion in a zoo. I believe anyone who is interested in this area should look at "failed" genres, or more generously, one-shot genres. I put Star Trek: Bridge Commander in this category.