In our course so far, we’ve discussed many of the pros that genre offers for video games. For example, indie games can tag on “Metroidvania” or “Roguelike” to their Steam Tags and instantly get more recognition by die-hard players of the genre. However, I would like to offer a counterpoint as well, particularly through the lens of Roguelikes that we’ve deep dived into this week.
Many would argue that genre is dead. This is not unique to video games, but rather has been observed by some in the music industry. While genre offers a classification that can organize media, it can also reinforce stereotype and build up more walls. For example, Tyler, The Creator winning the Grammy for IGOR in the Best Rap Category, despite it being a more pop than rap album (SOURCE).
With video games, genre is evolving so fast, and it almost becomes impossible to summarize everything that a video game offers with just one or two genres. For example, I picked up Hades expecting an intense, rogue-like game, but was instantly disappointing when I was met with a deep story and constant progression, an aspect to me that goes against a typical rogue-like. Of course, this is not the case for all video games such as first person shooters, which you can probably expect to follow the same formula every time, I wanted to bring up the counter-point that sometimes Genre can restrict games more than they help.
I agree largely with your point about genre being restrictive, especially with that Tyler, The Creator example (funny enough, I’m listening to his Tiny Desk as I’m writing this response 😂). However, I would also argue that genre is only as restrictive as we allow it to be — I think when something doesn’t fit as neatly into a certain box, that might be an encouragement to find a box with different dimensions that allows us to appreciate elements that come from different genres to create a different experience. But yes, I do agree — genres can be very restrictive, especially since not all our ideas or interests as people fit neatly in a box.
I think you gave really good examples of how genre, and frankly classification of any kind, can at times be reductive. I wanted to add on to this by pointing out the sort of binary of inclusion that exists in many methods of classification—either you’re part of the group, or not. I found your description of your initial reaction to Hades really interesting because I think it’s a good example of how our expectations of game genres are driven by this sort of “in or out” mindset.
In fact, I think that our debate on the “most exemplary Rogue-like” on Thursday was also driven by this mindset. We argued how certain games could not be considered the exemplary Rogue-like because they lacked certain characteristics of or added elements absent in the original game Rogue. It’s like we were checking off boxes in a checklist of qualities that make a game Rogue-like, and the less that a game met, the less “exemplary”, the less of an “ideal” Rogue-like it was. I found the other debate topic (“most innovative something something in the category of Rogue-likes” or something like that) more interesting because it suggested greater flexibility in genre classification. A game could include elements absent from Rogue or exclude elements from Rogue, yet still be considered Rogue-like. Value could not be detracted from it because of its deviance from the textbook definition of Rogue-like, only added. So I suggest that genre be used as not a rubric for classification but more as a foundation for creativity beyond the bounds of the original definition.
Good point on genres enforcing stereotypes! I would like to present one counter-argument: videogame genres persisted because they usually entail a good combination of design decisions, some of the which are spontaneous, such as incorporating random generation with repetitive gameplays (procedural dungeons in rogue-lites). To most developers, this would come as a natural combination that increases engagement and reduces monotony. The fact that this has been enforced on nearly every rogue-like game proves its effectiveness. Genres might have stuck around simply due to their good design elements. In fact, we can see games such as Cult of the Lamb altering most other aspects of what defines a rogue-like game, but staying true to random generation, a quality that withstood the test of time.
I agree with your points about how genre can become restrictive and enforce stereotypes through categorization. The Tyler the Creator example is a great one, and as for another example within the film industry, The Martian (2015) was a huge conversation starter when it came to genre. People could not figure out if it was a drama or a comedy, so much so that at some award shows it was nominated as a comedy and in others it was nominated as a drama. I feel like genres can be helpful for consumers when searching for new media to consume–if I am in the mood for a certain type of media, it can be very helpful. However, it can also just restrict people into consuming media–videogame or otherwise–with the expectations of the genre, neglecting that art can incorporate many different styles and inspirations from many genres.
Additionally, the sub-genres that have resulted from how restrictive genres can be becomes too confusing. When there are too many genres, suddenly it feels like there is no point or benefit of having genres at all.