[game_preservation] Descriptive terms for Video Games

[Andrew Armstrong]

On 16/06/2011 02:45, Jim Leonard wrote:

> On 6/15/2011 4:35 AM, Andrew Armstrong wrote:

>> For instance, many games include multiplayer (surely some form of genre

>> we'd all agree!),

>

> I don't agree.  "Multiplayer" is not a genre, it is a gameplay 

> mechanic modifier.  If someone describes a game as multiplayer and 

> then stops, you still have no idea what kind of game it is, other than 

> it allows more than one person to play, usually simultaneously.

>

Perhaps, but that can be levelled at tons of different classifications 
and genres! Why is "2D" and "3D" important distinctions in many cases? 
Why third person and first person? Why Arcade? Realtime? Turn based? by 
themselves all pretty unjustified primary categories.

But that is assuming you only ever pick one word; no one describes 
Counterstrike, World of Warcraft or Farmville simply as a "mutliplayer" 
game.

Call it a modifier, mechanic or whatever; these terms seem 
interchangeable in this discussion. I get what you mean just my example 
was purely on the basis of it covering more games then a more narrow 
term would (and yet still being integral to describing those games).

Andrew