Cooking with Genres Cooking with Genres By Geoff Howland Genres are not a feature. Genres are definitions of attributes by which players can group games. Genres help them understand what they like and what they don t like by providing a common reference. In reality new genres are not created, basic genres are simply mixed. Different elements are played with in different ways that create new styles of play, but the basics remain the same.
Genres are like ingredients in a recipe.
The early years of games were just like early meals, people ate meats and plants, the basics. After thousands of years of refining, we have complicated recipes to create thousands of different kinds of dishes. Games will evolve similarly, although considerably faster. What once began as pure action or puzzle games have now been combined together to form new variations and this will continue as they create new and interesting forms of play. To communicate effectively it can often be necessary to abandon actual definitions for cultural misnomers.