MMORPG is a not a WMD…. Genres Of Gaming. Gaming 101

Genre. That weird word which separates enthusiasts from professionals. Music has rock, pop and country. Movies have rom-com, action and horror. Art has renaissance, and some other weird stuff. But what does gaming have. MMORPG, Tower Defense. What’s all the fuss about. We have already looked at what a video game is, and what types it can be. Today we break down the genres of gaming, and in the process break down some very heavy terms too.

The Genres of Gaming

1. RPG (Role Playing Games)

I have been touting this term around since my first article, and now finally we are at the expose. The name RPG or Role Playing Games is the closest one can come to playing those table tops role playing games, people used to play back in the day (Dungeon And Dragons is still a rave). You start with a basic character, and as you fight and gain XP (experience points), your character will become stronger and better. A RPG also focuses a lot on decision making, pitting you in moral dilemmas, and sometimes even offering multiple endings according to your choices throughout the course of the game.

2. MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online)

Technically, MMO are a sub-genre of Online Games. Any game that lets two player play a game across the internet is an online game. MMO set themselves apart by the sheer number of gamers it can support at the same time.

Lets look at this term from bottom to top. Online means you can only play this game using the internet on a server probably miles away from your home. Multiplayer means you share the game’s world with other players like you, they maybe in the same room or countries away, but essentially you are all playing the game together. Massively means exactly what you think, the game is massive in scale. Hundreds of millions of players can play the game at the same time. Think of it like facebook, where you have friends strangers and family on the same website, only here you can kill trolls, and dragons, and call yourself a knight.

3. Tower Defense or DOTA (Defense Of the Ancients)

An off-shoot of strategy games, this genre has mushroomed into its own thing in the past few years. A startegy game revolves around gathering resources, and building a base strong enough to outlast your opponent in an battle of survival; a tower defense is similar. The difference however lies in the scale once again.

In a strategy game, you would normally have hundred of units to control, and multiple buildings to protect or destroy. In a tower-defense however, you just have 1 tower to defend and 1 hero to defend it with. You do get automatically generated minions, but you can directly control only your hero. The hero resurrects if he dies in action, but the game is lost if your tower is destroyed; alternately you register a victory when you destroy your opponent’s tower.

The genre is more well known by the games who employ it. DOTA is a MOD (a user modified custom code change) of a map in Warcraft, which became an underground hit. LOL (League Of Legends) is the current favorite of the genre, allowing for hundreds of heroes to choose from; and online team play. DC: Infinite Crisis is the latest entry into the genre with a DC flavor to everything.

4. Shooters

What do you do in a shooter you ask. Well you shoot people. With guns, rocket launchers, crossbows, dub-step gun; anything the games lets you get your hands on, you try to shoot as many and as much the game will allow you too.

Its probably the most intuitive genre to pick and play. Perhaps the reason why the games in this genre tend to be huge blockbusters like COD (Call Of Duty) and Halo.

5. Action Adventure

Kind of a sub genre to RPG. The game may present you with a cocktail of RPG, shooter and even strategy, but it never really stops to define itself as any one of them. Instead the focus is on providing an experience of adventure  These games thrive on their settings, their story structure and their character depths to provide vindication. These games are probably the closest thing that the industry produces to actual movies.

A sub genre of this would be horror survival, which tend to put gamers into scary situations again heavily relying on the atmosphere and pathos the game creates. Games like Dead Space, Resident Evil, and Silent Hill are shining examples.

Honorable mentions include games like Uncharted, Tomb Raider and Assassin’s Creed.

6. Platformers

A game which focuses on jumping from platform to platform usually done in 2D to achieve goals are platformers. In recent times these games have become as much about reflexes and high scores than about the feeling of grandeur it provides, anytime you play it.

7. Fighting Games

Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Tekken, Killer Instinct and DC:Injustice are all examples of fighting games. You pick a character and then you fight. Usually against individual opponents, moving your way to the top. They satisfy the most carnal of a gamer’s desire to beat people up.

8. Hack and Slash + Beat Em Up

The name says it all doesn’t it. You either hack and slash your way through an army of ______ (place Orcs, Zombies, Imps or demons), or you beat the shit out of millions and millions of henchmen before you get to the boss, which are usually a long sequence of QTE (Quick Time Event).

Devil May Cry and God Of War are examples of Hack and Slash. God Hands, Final Fight and Dino Crisis (yup that old game you used to play on arcade machines) are beat em up.

9. Simulations

Games that emulate or copy a real-life activity as closely as possible are known as simulators.
Train Simulator and Flight Simulator puts you in the engine and cockpit respectively, classifying themselves as Vehicle Simulators.
Games like FIFA’13 and Madden 25 tend to replicate the intricacies of a real football or a Madden game as closely as possible. Branding themselves as Sport Sims
The Sims actually tries to replicate life itself, letting you control an actual human being right from its birth to its career decisions, to its eating choices.

With this we finish, our latest iteration into the world of gaming. Check back next time as we take a look at some of the most heard/used terms in gaming. Till then keep gaming.