Avideo game genre is a specific category of games related by similargameplay characteristics. Video game genres are not usually defined by thesetting orstory of the game or its medium of play, but by the way the player interacts with the game.^[1] For example, afirst-person shooter is still a first-person shooter regardless of whether it takes place in ascience fiction,western,fantasy, ormilitary setting, so long as it features a camera mimicking the perspective of the protagonist (first-person) and gameplay centered around the use of ranged weaponry.

Genres may encompass a wide variety of games, leading to even more specific classifications calledsubgenres. For example, anaction game can be classified into many subgenres such asplatform games andfighting games. Some games, most notablybrowser andmobile games, are commonly classified into multiple genres.^[1][2]

The following is a list of most commonly defined video game genres, with short descriptions for individual genres and major subgenres.

Action games emphasize physical challenges that require hand-eye coordination andmotor skill to overcome. They center around the player, who is in control of most of the action. Most of the earliest video games were considered action games. Today, it is still a vast genre covering all games that involve physical challenges.

Action games are classified by many subgenres.Platform games andfighting games are among the best-known subgenres, whileshooter games became and continue to be one of the dominant genres in video gaming since the 1990s.^[3][4] Action games usually involve elements oftwitch gameplay.^[3]

Platform games, orplatformers, have gameplay primarily centered around jumping and climbing to navigate the player's environment. They may have enemies or obstacles to avoid and fight or may just be pure jumping puzzles. Generally theplayable characters in a platform game are able to jump many times their own height and the player is offered some control over their movement in midair as well as the height and distance of their jumps.^[2] Settings tend to be vertically exaggerated with much uneven terrain that the player can leap up to or fall off of.

Donkey Kong (1981) was one of the earliest and best-known platformers. The American gaming press classified it using the termclimbing game at the time.^[5]Super Mario Bros. (1985), a platformer, was one of the best-selling games of all time, with more than 40 million copies sold.^[6]

Inshooter games, or simplyshooters, players use ranged weapons to participate in the action, which takes place at a distance.^[2] Most shooters involve violent gameplay. Lethal weaponry is used to damage opponents. However, some shooters, such asSplatoon, have non-violent objectives.

Since the 1990s, shooters, most notablyfirst-person shooters, have become widely successful in video gaming, accounting for a large percentage of video game sales.^[7]Wolfenstein 3D, created byId Software and released in 1992, was credited for pioneering gameplay and graphics elements incorporated by many other shooters.^[8] Also developed by Id and published one year after Wolfenstein 3D's release,Doom is broadly considered to be one of the most influential games in video gaming history.^[8] Other successful shooter series includeHalf-Life, a widely acclaimed and commercially successful series noted for its influence on contemporary shooters, and theCall of Duty franchise, with more than 250 million sales across all its titles.^[9]

Shooters, aside from subgenre classifications, can be further classified by their perspective of play.

First-person shooters are played within theprotagonist's perspective. They often include a heads-up display showing key information such as the currenthealth of the protagonist.^[10][11] Inthird-person shooters, the protagonist's body can be seen fully. The environment is rendered from a distance.^[11] Some shooters incorporate both perspectives.^[2]

Hero shooters are either first- or third-person multiplayer shooters that emphasize pre-designed "hero" characters, with each possessing distinctive abilities and/or weapons that are specific to them. Hero shooters strongly encourage teamwork between players on a team, guiding players to select effective combinations of hero characters and coordinate the use of hero abilities during a match. Outside of a match, players have the ability to customize the appearance of the heroes but with no other in-game effects. Hero shooters are inspired by themultiplayer online battle arena genre, and popular team-based shooters likeTeam Fortress 2. Examples of hero shooters includeOverwatch,Paladins,Apex Legends, andValorant.^[12][13]

Light gun shooters are controlled with a gun-shaped controller. Light guns function via a light sensor, hence the name "light gun". The technology has been used as early as the 1920s for shooter games, although electronic video gaming did not exist at that time. A popular light gun shooter isDuck Hunt.

Shoot 'em ups pit players, who are usually piloting some form of flying vehicle, or flying by some other means, against large waves of opponents. The player is continuously moving and must attack and avoid opponent's attacks as well as obstacles.^[14]

Fighting games center around close-ranged combat, typically one-on-one fights or against a small number of equally powerful opponents, often involving violent and exaggerated unarmed attacks. Most fighting games feature a large number of playable characters and a competitive multiplayer mode. While most fighting games emphasize hand-to-hand combat,^[2] some fighting games such asSoulcalibur andSamurai Shodown center around combat with melee weapons. Many fighting games incorporate heavily emphasized attacks based on variousmartial arts systems. Fighting games were one of the dominant genres in video gaming until the late-1990s, where the genre saw a slight decline.^[15]

This decline was short-lived, for titles such asMortal Kombat,Street Fighter,Tekken, andSuper Smash Bros. dominate the fighter demographic of the modern era.^[16] Different sub-genre games are starting to become more popular.Super Smash Bros., and its deviation from the traditional fighting game rule set, gained a large following because of its "fun over form" party game development mentality.

Beat 'em ups, orbrawlers, are a related, but distinct genre to fighting games. While they both involve close-range combat, beat 'em ups put players against large waves of opponents as opposed to a few.^[2][14] Beat 'em ups often incorporate mechanics from other action genres, and multiplayer in beat 'em up games tends to beco-operative rather than competitive. Beat 'em ups saw a sudden decline in popularity in the early 1990s with the release of fighting games, but 3D beat 'em ups have kept the genre alive.^[17]Hack and slash is a sub-genre often used to refer to weapons based beat 'em ups.

These games tend to emphasize sneaking around and avoiding enemy notice over direct conflict, for example, theMetal Gear series, and theSly Cooper series. In aStealth game, players are usually still able to engage in loud, conspicuous combat, but are often punished for it. In other games, such asDishonored, the player can obtain their goal with or without stealth, but stealth is encouraged as the player is at a disadvantage over many of their enemies. The inclusion of stealth as a mechanic in a game does not necessarily make it a Stealth Game. For example,Skyrim has an entire perk tree dedicated to "Sneaking" despite that most of the dungeons in the game can be completed using a hack-and-slash strategy.

The first stealth game wasManbiki Shounen (Shoplifting Boy), published in November 1979.^[18][19] ThePET 2001personal computer game was developed by Hiroshi Suzuki.^[20]

Hideo Kojima'sMetal Gear was the first mainstream stealth game, with the player starting the game unarmed,^[21] and sold over a million copies in the United States.^[22]Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake evolved the stealth gameplay of its predecessor.^[23]Metal Gear andMetal Gear 2 are credited with pioneering stealth mechanics.^[24]Metal Gear Solid, which debuted at the 1996Tokyo Game Show,^[25] was the first3D stealth game,^[26] and is credited with popularizing the stealth game genre,^[27] as well as thehiding-behind-cover mechanic.^[28]

Survival games start the player off with minimal resources, in a hostile, open-world environment, and require them to collect resources, craft tools, weapons, and shelter, in order to survive as long as possible. Many are set in procedurally generated environments, and are open-ended with no set goals. They may overlap with thesurvival horror genre, in which the player must survive within a supernatural setting, such as a zombie apocalypse.

Rhythm game orrhythm action is a genre ofmusic-themedaction video game that challenges a player's sense of rhythm. The genre includes dance games such asDance Dance Revolution and music-based games such asRock Band andGuitar Hero. Games in the genre challenge the player to press buttons at precise times: the screen shows which button the player is required to press, and the game awards points both for accuracy and for synchronization with the beat.

PaRappa the Rapper has been deemed the first influential rhythm game^{[citation needed]}; whose basic template formed the core of subsequent games in the genre. Other popular rhythm games includeDance Dance Revolution,Maimai,Project Diva,Cytus,Love Live: School Idol Festival,The Idolmaster,osu!,Taiko no Tatsujin, andCrypt of the Necrodancer.

Abattle royale game is a genre that blends the survival, exploration and scavenging elements of a survival game with last man standing gameplay. Battle royale games challenge a large number of players, starting with minimal equipment, to search for weapons and armor and eliminate other opponents, while trying to stay in safe playable area which shrinks as the time passes, with the winner being the last competitor in the game. Notable battle royale games includePlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds,Fortnite Battle Royale,Free Fire,Apex Legends, andCall of Duty: Warzone, each having received tens of millions of players within months of their releases.

Althoughaction-adventure games can divide into action or adventure games, they combine elements of their two component genres, typically featuring long-term obstacles that must be overcome using a tool or item as leverage, which is collected earlier, as well as many smaller obstacles almost constantly in the way, that require elements of action games to overcome. Action-adventure games tend to focus on exploration and usually involve item gathering, simple puzzle solving, and combat. "Action-adventure" has become a label which is sometimes attached to games which do not fit neatly into another well known genre. Because of their prevalence onvideo game consoles and the absence of typicaladventure games, action-adventure games are often called "adventure games" by modern gamers.

One of the first action-adventure games was theAtari 2600 gameAdventure (1980). It was directly inspired by the originaltext adventure,Colossal Cave Adventure. In the process of adapting a text game to a console with only a joystick for control, designerWarren Robinett created an action-adventure game by incorporating actionarcade game elements.

The action-adventure later became an established genre withShigeru Miyamoto'sThe Legend of Zelda (1986), which became a success due to how it combined elements from different genres to create a compelling hybrid, including exploration,transport puzzles, adventure-style inventorypuzzles, an action component, a monetary system, and simplified RPG-style level building without theexperience points.^[29] The game was also an early example ofopen world,non-linear gameplay, and introduced innovations likesaving on battery backup. It became one of the most influential games of the8-bit era, inspiring action-adventures likeMetroid and RPGs likeFinal Fantasy.^[30]Zelda has since remained the most prolific action-adventure game series through to the present day.^[31]

Survival horror games focus on fear and attempt to scare the player via traditional horror fiction elements such as atmospherics, death, the undead, blood and gore. One crucialgameplay element in many of these games is the low quantity of ammunition, or number of breakable melee weapons. Notable examples includeSilent Hill andResident Evil.

The first survival horror game wasAX-2:Uchuu Yusousen Nostromo (AX－2 宇宙輸送船ノストロモ), developed by Akira Takiguchi, aTokyo University student andTaito contractor, for thePET 2001. It was ported to thePC-6001 by Masakuni Mitsuhashi (also known as Hiromi Ohba, later joinedGame Arts), and published byASCII in 1981, exclusively for Japan.^[32][33]

Metroidvania games are a subgenre of platformer, named after its two first well-known franchises,Metroid andCastlevania. They feature large interconnected world maps the player can explore, but access to parts of the world is limited by doors or other obstacles that can only be opened after the player has acquired special tools, weapons or abilities within the game. Acquiring such improvements also aids the player in defeating more difficult enemies and locating shortcuts and secret areas, and often includes retracing one's steps across the map. Metroidvanias usually do not consist of any linear gameplay and often involve much backtracking – especially after newpower-ups or tools have been obtained. Games include:Hollow Knight,Dead Cells andNine Sols, Each being a mix of Metroid and Castlevania and adding to it or being a twist on those games.

Adventure games were some of the earliest games created, beginning with the text adventureColossal Cave Adventure in the 1970s. That game was originally titled simply "Adventure," and is the namesake of the genre. Over time, graphics have been introduced to the genre and the interface has evolved.

Unlike adventure films, adventure games are not defined by story or content. Rather, adventure describes a manner of gameplay without reflex challenges or action. They normally require the player to solve various puzzles by interacting with people or the environment, most often in a non-confrontational way. It is considered a "purist" genre and tends to exclude anything which includes action elements beyond amini game.

Because they put little pressure on the player in the form of action-based challenges or time constraints, adventure games have had the unique ability to appeal to people who do not normally play video games. The genre peaked in popularity with the 1993 release ofMyst, the best-selling PC game of all time up to that point.^[34] The simple point and click interface, detailed worlds and casual pace made it accessible, and its sense of artistic surrealism caused news outlets such asWired Magazine,The New York Times, and theSan Francisco Chronicle to declare that the gaming industry had matured.^[35][36] It had four proper sequels, but none managed to experience the same level of success. The success ofMyst also inspired many others to create similar games with first person perspectives, surreal environments and minimal or no dialogue, but these neither recaptured the success ofMyst nor of earlier personality-driven adventures.^{[citation needed]}

In the late 1990s the genre suffered a large drop in popularity, mass-market releases became rare, and many proclaimed the adventure game to be dead. More accurately, it has become a niche genre. Adventure games are not entirely uncommon, but they tend to be very low budget in anticipation of modest sales. The genre was somewhat rejuvenated with the release ofThe Longest Journey in 1999, which emphasized stronger story elements and more interaction with different characters. A recent resurgence of adventure games on Nintendo consoles might signify a new interest in the genre.^[37] A successful Kickstarter campaign in 2012, run by Doublefine Studios, also spoke to the continued interest in Adventure games. The game produced as a result was mired in controversy and production delays, and to some, signalled the true end of the genre outside of niche markets.

The earliest adventure games weretext adventures, also known asinteractive fiction. Games such as the popularZork series of the late 1970s and early 1980s allowed the player to use a keyboard to enter commands such as "get rope" or "go west" while the computer describes what is happening. A great deal of programming went intoparsing the player's text input.

Adventure games emerged as graphics became more common. Adventure games began to supplement and later on replace textual descriptions with visuals, for example, a picture of the current location. Early graphic adventure games used text-parsers to input commands. The growing use ofcomputer mice led to the "point-and-click" genre of adventure games, where the player would no longer have to type commands. The player could, for example, click on a handicon and then on a rope to pick up the rope.

Avisual novel (ビジュアルノベル,bijuaru noberu) is a game featuring mostly static graphics, usually withanime-style art. As the name might suggest, they resemble mixed-media novels ortableau vivant stage plays. Many visual novels track statistics that the player must build in order to advance the plot, and permit a variety of endings, allowing more dynamic reactions to the player's actions than a typical linear adventure plot. Many visual novels are dating sims, includingbishōjo games.^[38]

Visual novels are especially prevalent inJapan, where in the mid-2000s they made up nearly 70% of PC games released.^[39] They are rarely produced for video game consoles, but the more popular games are sometimesported to systems such as theDreamcast or thePlayStation 2. The market for visual novels outside Japan, was nearly non-existent prior to the success of theNintendo DS, for which several Japanese visual novels were released in the West, such as theAce Attorney series and theSchool Days series.

Theinteractive movie genre came about with the invention oflaserdiscs. An interactive movie contains pre-filmedfull-motioncartoons or live-action sequences, where the player controls some of the moves of the main character. For example, when in danger, the player decides which move, action, or combination to choose. In these games, the only activity the player has is to choose or guess the move thedesigners intend him to make. Interactive movies usually differ from games that simply usefull motion video, FMV, extensively between scenes in that they try to integrate it into the gameplay itself. This has been used in everything from racing games to fighting games.

A few adventure game have tried to use the term to liken the storytelling of their games to those in movies, most notably the laterTex Murphy games and the more recentFahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy),^[40] although they are more aptly classified as genre hybrids. Elements of interactive movies have been adapted for gamecut scenes, in the form ofQuick Time Events, to keep the player alert. Games likeResident Evil 4 present obvious in-game prompts for the player to react to. Not doing so usually results in the player character either getting hurt or outright killed.

Around this time, real-time 3D adventure games appeared. These includedNightfall in 1998,Shenmue in 1999,realMyst in 2000,Shadow of Memories in 2001,Uru: Ages Beyond Myst in 2003 and theYakuza franchise in 2005. They augmented traditional adventure gameplay with some of the attributes more commonly associated with action games, for example, freedom of motion and physics-based behavior.

Puzzle games are for those who like to put their brain to use and find the thrill in solving puzzles. Whether simple adaptations of real-world puzzles likeSudoku or full-blown puzzle games meant to be explored in a video game environment, there's a lot of variety on offer. They test the player's problem-solving skills including logic, pattern recognition, sequence solving, and word completion. Puzzle games continue to find millions of fans, especially on mobile phones wherecasual games andtile-matching puzzle games are extremely popular.

Puzzle games focus on logical and conceptual challenges, although some of them also include a real-time component and require quick thinking. While many action games and adventure games include puzzle elements in level design, a true puzzle game focuses on puzzle solving as its primary gameplay activity. This genre sometimes crosses over with educational games.

Rather than presenting a random collection of puzzles to solve, puzzle games typically offer a series of related puzzles that are a variation on a single theme. This theme could involve pattern recognition, logic, or understanding a process. These games usually have a set of rules or mechanics, where players manipulate game pieces on a grid, network or other interaction space. Players must unravel clues in order to achieve some victory condition, which will then allow them to advance to the next level. Completing each puzzle will usually lead to a more difficult challenge.

Breakout clone, also known asblock-breaking orball-and-paddle, is a sub-class of the puzzle genre. This genre is named for the dynamics of the player-controlled block (called a"paddle") which the game is based on that hits a ball towards different objects such as colored tiles, special tiles and indestructible tiles, called a"brick". The term"brick buster" was coined in the early 2000s, mostly refers to more modern games. Some early examples isArkanoid developed byTaito in 1986 and the originalBreakout developed byAtari in 1976.

Logical puzzle games exhibitlogic and mechanisms that are consistent throughout the entire game. Solving them typically requiresdeductive reasoning skills.

A physics game is a type of logical puzzle video game where the player must use thegame's physics and environment to complete each puzzle. Physics games use consistent physics to make games more challenging.^[41] The genre is especially popular inonlineflash games andmobile games. Educators have used these games to demonstrate principles of physics.^[42]

Popular physics-based logic puzzle games includePortal,The Talos Principle,Braid,Fez,World of Goo,Cut the Rope, andInside.

These also include projectile collision games such asAngry Birds,Peggle,Monster Strike, andCrush the Castle.

Aprogramming game is acomputer game where the player has limited or no direct influence on the course of the game. Instead, acomputer program or script is written in somedomain-specific programming language in order to control the actions of the characters, usuallyrobots,tanks orbacteria. InSpaceChem, for example, players design circuits used for creating molecules from raw materials.

Examples includeThe Incredible Machine,SpaceChem,Infinifactory, andShenzhen I/O. A few strategy games, such asFinal Fantasy XII, also include some elements of a programming game, as the player can customize the playable characters' AI, although the player can also choose to directly control the action.

Puzzle platformers are characterized by their use of a platform game structure to drive a game whose challenge is derived primarily frompuzzles.^[43]

Enix's 1983 releaseDoor Door and Sega's 1985 releaseDoki Doki Penguin Land (for theSG-1000) are perhaps the first examples, though the genre is diverse, and classifications can vary.^[44]Doki Doki Penguin Land allowed players to run and jump in typical platform fashion, but they could also destroy blocks, and were tasked with guiding an egg to the bottom of the level without letting it break.^[44]

The Lost Vikings (1993) was a popular game in this genre. It has three characters players can switch between, each with different abilities. All three characters are needed to complete the level goals.^[45]

Wario Land 2 moved the Wario series into the puzzle-platform genre by eliminating the element of death and adding temporary injuries, such as being squashed or lit on fire, and specialized powers.^[46]

This sub-genre includes point-and-click games that often exhibit similarities with adventure games and walking simulators. Unlike logical puzzle games, these games generally requireinductive reasoning to solve. The defining trait is that the player must experiment with mechanisms in each level before they can solve them. Puzzle elements often do not have consistency throughout the game, and thus require guessing and checking, and exploration to reveal more of the puzzle. These includeMyst,Limbo,The Dig,Monument Valley, andescape room games such asThe Room.

A hidden object game (sometimes called hidden picture or hidden object puzzle adventure (HOPA)) is a genre of puzzle video game in which the player must find items from a list that are hidden within a scene.^[47] Hidden object games are a popular trend incasual gaming,^[48][49] and are comparatively inexpensive to buy.^[47][48]Mystery Case Files: Huntsville, released byBig Fish Games in 2005, is considered the first modern hidden objects game, coming at the rise of casual gaming in the mid-2000s.

A reveal the picture game is a type of puzzle game that features piece-by-piece revealing of a photo or picture.

In tile-matching video games, the player manipulates tiles in order to make them disappear according to a matching criterion. The genre began with 1985'sChain Shot! and has similarities to "falling block" games such asTetris. This genre includes games that require pieces to be swapped such asBejeweled orCandy Crush Saga, games that adapt the classictile-based gameMahjong such asMahjong Trails, and games in which pieces are shot on the board such asZuma. In many recent tile-matching games, the matching criterion is to place a given number of tiles of the same type so that they adjoin each other. That number is often three, and the corresponding subset of tile-matching games is referred to as "match-three games". Other examples includeThrees andLumines.

There have also been many digital adaptations of traditional puzzle games, includingsolitaire andmahjong solitaire. Even familiar word puzzles, number puzzles, and association puzzles have been adapted as games such asDr. Kawashima's Brain Training.^[50]

Role-playing video games draw their gameplay from traditional tabletoprole-playing games likeDungeons & Dragons. Most of these games cast the player in the role of a character that grows in strength andexperience over the course of the game. By overcoming difficult challenges and/or defeating monsters, the player gainsexperience points which represent the character's progress in a chosen profession or class, such as melee combat or rangedmagic spells, and allow the player to gain new abilities once a set amount are obtained.

Many RPGs contain anopen world known as anoverworld, which is usually populated with monsters, that allows access to more important game locations, such as towns, dungeons, and castles. Since the emergence of affordablehome computers coincided with the popularity ofpaper and pencil role-playing games, this genre was one of the first in video games and continues to be popular today. Gameplay elements strongly associated with RPG, such as statistical character development through the acquisition ofexperience points, have been widely adapted to other genres such asaction-adventure games.

Though nearly all of the early entries in the genre wereturn-based games, many modern role-playing games progress in real-time. Thus, the genre has followed thestrategy game's trend of moving from turn-based to real-time combat. The move to real-time combat began with the release ofSquare's, nowSquare Enix'sFinal Fantasy IV, the first game to use theActive Time Battle system. This was quickly followed by truly real-time action role-playing games such as theMana series,Soul Blazer andUltima VII. Although older turn-based system still exist, such as theGolden Sun series forGame Boy Advance as well asPokémon.

Theaction role-playing game (ARPG) is a type ofrole-playing video game which incorporates real-time combat as opposed to turn-based or menu-based, often borrowing elements fromaction games oraction-adventure games. Some of the first action role-playing games were produced byNihon Falcom in the 1980s, such as theDragon Slayer series and theYs series. Later so-called "Diablo clones" are also part of this genre. Although the precise definition of the genre varies, the typical action RPG features a heavy emphasis on combat, often simplifying or removing non-combat attributes and statistics and the effect they have on the character's development.^[51] Combat always takes place using a real-time system, hence the "action", that relies on the player's ability to perform particular actions with speed and accuracy to determine success, rather than mainly using the player character's attributes to determine this.

Computer role-playing games, or CRPGs, are a style of RPG meant to mimic the gameplay oftabletop role-playing games. CRPGs represent some of the earliest RPG video games, includingDungeon andMoria, both from the mid-1970s. More modern examples includePlanescape: Torment,Disco Elysium,Solasta: Crown of the Magister and theBaldur's Gate series.

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games, or MMORPGs, emerged in the mid to late 1990s as a commercial,graphical variant of text-basedMUDs, which had existed since 1978. By and large, MMORPGs feature the usual RPG objectives of completing quests and strengthening one'splayer character, but involve up to hundreds of players interacting with each other on the same persistent world in real-time. The massively multiplayer concept was quickly combined with other genres.

Fantasy MMORPGs, likeFinal Fantasy XI,The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, andThe Elder Scrolls Online, remain the most popular type of MMORPG, with the most popular "pay-to-play" game beingWorld of Warcraft, and the most popular "free-to-play" games includingRuneScape andTERA, yet other types of MMORPGs are appearing. Sci-fi MMORPGs likePhantasy Star Online hold a smaller part of the market, with the popular space sci-fi gameEVE Online being the most notable. Other massively multiplayer online games which do not have a conventional RPG setting includeSecond Life andIngress.

Theroguelike video game subgenre borrows its name and gameplay elements from the 1980 computer gameRogue. Superficially, a roguelike is a two-dimensionaldungeon crawl with a high degree of randomness via procedural generation, an emphasis on statistical character development, and the use ofpermadeath. Though traditionally featuring a text user interface, many such games utilize graphic tiles to overcome character set limitations. Newer games that move away from traditional hack-and-slash elements but otherwise keeping procedural generation and permadeath features are sometimes called "rogue-lites".

Thetactical role-playing game subgenre principally refers to games which incorporate gameplay fromstrategy games as an alternative to traditional RPG systems.^[52] Like standard RPG, the player controls a finite party and battles a similar number of enemies, but this genre incorporates strategic gameplay such as tactical movement on an isometric grid.^[52] The genre has its origins intabletop role-playing games, where each player has time to decide his or her characters' actions.

Thesandbox role-playing game subgenre, also known as theopen world role-playing game subgenre, allows the player a large amount of freedom and usually contain a somewhat more open free-roaming, meaning that the player is not confined to a single path restricted by rocks or fences etc. world. Sandbox RPGs contain similarities to other sandbox games such as theGrand Theft Auto series, with a large number of interactable non-player characters, large amount of content and typically some of the largest worlds to explore and longest playtimes of all RPG subgenres due to an impressive amount of secondary content not critical to the game's main storyline.

Sandbox RPGs often attempt to emulate an entire region of their setting. Popular examples of this subgenre include theDragon Slayer series byNihon Falcom, the earlyDragon Quest games byChunsoft,Wasteland byInterplay Entertainment, theSaGa andMana series bySquaresoft,System Shock 2 byIrrational Games andLooking Glass Studios,Deus Ex byIon Storm,The Elder Scrolls andFallout series byBethesda Softworks andInterplay Entertainment,Fable byLionhead Studios, theGothic series byPiranha Bytes, and theXenoblade Chronicles series byMonolith Soft.

Also known as DRPG (Dungeon RPG), this subgenre consists of RPGs where the player leads a party of adventurers infirst-person perspective through a dungeon or labyrinth, typically in a grid-based environment. Examples include the aforementionedWizardry,Might and Magic andBard's Tale series, as well as theEtrian Odyssey andElminage series. Games of this type are also known as "blobbers", since the player moves the entire party around the playing field as a single unit, or "blob".^[53][54]

Most "blobbers" are turn-based, but some titles such as theDungeon Master,Legend of Grimrock, andEye of the Beholder series are played in real-time. Early games in this genre lack anautomap feature, forcing players to draw their own maps in order to keep track of their progress. Environmental and spatial puzzles are common, meaning players may have to, for instance, move a stone in one part of the level in order to open a gate in another part of the level.^{[citation needed]}

A variant of the RPG formula where the player recruits monsters to fight for or alongside them. Collected creatures can often be raised or bred to create stronger monsters or to increase their abilities in battle. An example of a monster tamer game isPokémon.

Simulation video games is a diverse super-category of games, generally designed to closely simulate aspects of a real or fictional reality.

Construction and management simulations, or CMS, are a type of simulation game which task players to build, expand or manage fictional communities or projects with limited resources.

Incity-building games the player acts as overall planner or leader to meet the needs and wants of game characters by initiating structures for food, shelter, health, spiritual care, economic growth, etc. Success is achieved when the city budget makes a growing profit and citizens experience an upgraded lifestyle in housing, health, and goods. While military development is often included, the emphasis is on economic strength. Perhaps the most known game of this type isSimCity, which has had great influence on later city-building games likeCities: Skylines.SimCity also belongs to theGod Games genre, since it gives the player god-like abilities in manipulating the world.Caesar was a long-running series in this genre, with the original game spawning three sequels.

Business simulation games generally attempt to simulate an economy or business, with the player controlling the economy of the game.

Agovernment simulation game, or "political game", involves the simulation of the policies, government or politics of a country, but typically excludes warfare. Recently, these types of games have gained the moniker "serious game".

Life simulation games, or artificial life games, involve living or controlling one or more artificial lives. A life simulation game can revolve around individuals and relationships, or it could be a simulation of an ecosystem.

Biological simulations may allow the player to experiment withgenetics,survival orecosystems, often in the form of aneducational package. An early example isSimLife, while relatively recent ones areJurassic Park: Operation Genesis andSpore. In other educational simulations such asWolf, the player "lives the life" of an individual animal in a relatively realistic way. Hailed as one of the greatest life simulation games, is Creatures, Creatures 2, Creatures 3, where the player breeds generations of a species in a hugely detailed ecosystem.

Unlike other genres of games,god games often do not have a set goal that allows a player to win the game. The focus of a god game tends to be control over the lives of people, anywhere from micromanaging a family to overseeing the rise of a civilization.

Pet-raising simulations, ordigital pets, focus more on the relationship between the player and one or few life forms. They are often more limited in scope than other biological simulations. This includes popular examples ofvirtual pets such asTamagotchi and thePetz series.

Social simulation games base their gameplay on thesocial interaction between multiple artificial lives. The most famous example from this genre is Will Wright'sThe Sims.Dating sims and romance simulation games fall under this category.

Vehicle simulation games are a genre ofvideo games which attempt to provide the player with a realistic interpretation of operating various kinds of vehicles.^[55]

Flight simulation tasks the player with flying an aircraft, usually an airplane, as realistically as possible.Combat flight simulators are the most popular subgenre of simulation. The player controls the plane, simulating the act of flying, and combat situations. There are also civilian flight simulators that do not have the combat aspect.

Racing games typically place the player in the driver's seat of a high-performance vehicle and require the player to race against other drivers or sometimes just the clock. This genre of games is one of the staples of the computer gaming world and many of the earliest computer games created were part of this genre. Emerging in the late 1970s, this genre is still very popular today and continues to push the envelope in terms of graphics and performance. These games "tend to fall intoorganized racing andimaginary racing categories".^[55]

Organized racing simulators attempt to "reproduce the experience of driving a racing car or motorcycle in an existing racing class:IndyCar,NASCAR,Formula One, and so on." Imaginary racing games involve "imaginary situations, driving madly through cities or the countryside or even fantasy environments". These "imaginary" racing games are sometimes called arcade racing games, in contrast to their more realistic "racing simulation" counterparts. These includeNeed For Speed,Crash Team Racing andGran Turismo. Rollings and Adams note that "racing games are often sold in thesports category," but "from adesign standpoint, they really belong in ... vehicle simulations".^[55]

Space flight simulator games are a subgenre that involve piloting aspacecraft. Space simulators are different from other subgenres, and are not generally considered to be simulators, as their simulated objects do not always exist and often disregard the laws of physics, with exceptions likeOrbiter andKerbal Space Program.

Train simulators simulate the vehicles, environments and often economics associated with railway transport. These are frequently historical in nature, reminiscing on the evolution and emergence of the railroad in various countries and the economic booms that often accompanied them.

Vehicular combat orcar combat games focus on fast-paced action, as the player operates acar or other vehicle and attempts to disable or destroyAI or human opponents. Vehicular combat games often allow a player to choose from a variety of potential vehicles, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Vehicular combat was born out of racing/shooter combinations likeSpy Hunter,RoadBlasters, andRock 'N' Roll Racing, but differs in that the players can, if desired, take their vehicles off predefined routes and do battle wherever they please. A subgenre of vehicular combat isMecha combat, where vehicles generally include giant robot-like tanks.

Strategy video games focus on gameplay requiring careful and skillful thinking and planning in order to achieve victory and the action scales from world domination to squad-based tactics. "In most strategy video games," says Andrew Rollings, "the player is given a godlike view of the game world, indirectly controlling the units under his command".^[56] Rollings notes that "The origin of strategy games is rooted in their close cousins, board games."^[56]

Strategy video games generally take one of four archetypal forms, depending on whether the game isturn-based or real-time and whether the game's focus is uponstrategy or tactics. Real time strategy games are often a multiple unit selection game. Multiple game characters can be selected at once to perform different tasks, as opposed to only selecting one character at a time, with a sky view, looking down from above. Some recent games such as Tom Clancy'sEndWar, are single unit selection and third person view. Like many RPG games, many strategy games are gradually moving away from turn-based systems, to more real-time systems.

4X refers to a genre of strategy video game with four primary goals: eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. A 4X game can beturn-based orreal-time. Perhaps the best known example of this genre isSid Meier'sCivilization series. 4X games often cover a very large period of time, giving the player the control of an entire civilization or species. Typically these games have a historical setting, encompassing a large amount of human history (Civilization,Empire Earth) or a science fiction setting where the player controls a species set to dominate the galaxy (Master of Orion,Galactic Civilizations).

Artillery is the generic name for early two or three-player, usuallyturn-based, computer games involvingtanks fighting each other in combat or similar derivative games. Artillery games were among the earliest computer games developed and can be considered an extension of the original use of computers, which were once used for military-based calculations such as plotting the trajectories of rockets. Artillery games are considered a type ofturn-based tactics game. They have also been described as a type of "shooting game". Examples of this genre arePocket Tanks,Hogs of War,Scorched 3D and theWorms series.

Auto battler, also known as "auto chess", is a type of strategy game that featureschess-like elements where players place characters on a grid-shaped battlefield during a preparation phase, who then fight the opposing team's characters without any further direct input from the player.^[57] It was created and popularized byDota Auto Chess in early 2019, and saw more games in the genre by other studios, such asTeamfight Tactics,Dota Underlords, andHearthstone Battlegrounds releasing soon after.^[58][59][60]

Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA)^[61] is a genre of strategy video games where two teams of players compete to destroy the opposing team's main structure while defending their own. Players controlcharacters called "heroes" or "champions" with unique abilities, and are aided by computer-controlled units that march along set paths (called "lanes") toward the enemy base. The first team to destroy the enemy's base wins.^[62][63] MOBA games combine elements ofreal-time strategy,role-playing, andaction games, focusing on team coordination, character progression, and fast-paced combat. Unlike traditional real-time strategy games, players do not build structures or units.^[64]

The genre gained popularity in the early 2010s, withDefense of the Ancients mod forWarcraft III,League of Legends,Dota 2,Heroes of the Storm, andSmite.^{[65][61][66][67]} MOBA games are well-represented inesports, with prize pools reaching tens of millions of dollars.^[68]

The moniker"real-time strategy" (RTS), indicates that the action in the game is continuous, and players will have to make their decisions and actions within the backdrop of a constantly changing game state. This genre is probably the most well known of strategy games, and is what most websites mean when they say "strategy games". Real-time strategy gameplay is characterised by obtaining resources, building bases, researching technologies and producing units. Blizzard Entertainment'sStarCraft is a popular RTS played competitively in South Korea and televised to large audiences. Other notable games include theWarcraft series,Age of Empires series,Company of Heroes,Command and Conquer,Dawn of War, andDune II, essentially the first RTS game. Outside of PCs, very few strategy games are real-time. A few examples areBattle for Middle-earth II,Pikmin, andHalo Wars. Even fewer ones use physical pieces, such asIcehouse.

Real-time tactics, abbreviated RTT^[69] and less commonly referred to as "fixed-unit real-time strategy",^[70] is asubgenre oftactical wargames played inreal-time, simulating the considerations and circumstances ofoperational warfare andmilitary tactics. It is sometimes considered a subgenre ofreal-time strategy, and may in this context exist as an element of gameplay or as a basis for the whole game. It is differentiated fromreal-time strategy gameplay by the lack of resourcemicromanagement and base or unit building, as well as the greater importance of individual units^[69][71] and a focus on complex battlefield tactics. Example titles includeWarhammer: Dark Omen,World In Conflict, theClose Combat series, and earlytactical role-playing games such asBokosuka Wars,Silver Ghost, andFirst Queen.

Tower defense games have a very simple layout. Usually, computer-controlled monsters move along a set path, and the player must place, or "build" towers along this path to kill the enemies. In some games, towers are placed along a set path for the enemies, while in others towers can interrupt enemy movement and change their path. In most tower defense games, different towers have different abilities such as poisoning enemies or slowing them down. The player is awarded money for killing enemies. This money can be used to buy more towers, or buy upgrades for a tower, such as increased power or range.

The termturn-based strategy (TBS) is usually reserved for certain computer strategy games, to distinguish them from real-time strategy games. A player of a turn-based game is allowed a period of analysis before committing to a game action. Some games allow a certain number of moves or actions to take place in a turn. Like real-time strategy games, this genre can include many strategy games which are not solely turn-based games, and games which may contain other features not related to whether the game is turn-based or not. Examples of this genre areCivilization,Heroes of Might and Magic,Making History, andMaster of Orion.

Some recent turn-based strategy games feature a different gameplay mechanic, with a simultaneous resolution of the turns. Every player prepares their future actions in the planning phase, then lets the game follow the orders given at the same time. This causes orders to be interrupted by the opponents actions, changing the gameplay from reacting to the opponent's action, into guessing them.

The gameplay ofturn-based tactics games (TBT) is characterized by the expectation of players to complete their tasks using the combat forces provided to them, and usually by the provision of a realistic, or at least believable, representation of military tactics and operations. Examples of this genre include theWars,Jagged Alliance andX-COM series, as well astactical role-playing games such as theFire Emblem andFinal Fantasy Tactics.

Wargames are a subgenre of strategy video games that emphasize strategic or tactical warfare on a map. Wargames generally take one of four archetypal forms, depending on whether the game is turn-based or real-time, and whether the game's focus is uponmilitary strategy ortactics.

Agrand strategy wargame is awargame that places focus ongrand strategy: militarystrategy at the level of movement and use of an entirenation state orempire's resources. An example of this subgenre is theHearts of Iron franchise.

Sports games simulate the rules and gameplay of real lifesports to varying degrees of accuracy. The opposing team(s) can be controlled by other players or by artificial intelligence.

Racing games involve characters competing in races (typically with vehicles, although games likeSonic R andMad Dash Racing focus on foot racing). Racing games have multiple subgenres, such askart racers (which tend to involvego-karts, power-up items and are usually themed around popular media franchises, such asMario Kart),arcade racers (featuring a fast-paced experience and far more liberal physics, mostNeed for Speed games serving as an example), andsim racers (which attempt to accurately simulate the operation of real motor vehicles, such asGran Turismo andForza Motorsport).

Sports games emulate the playing of traditional physical sports. While most sports games have players control the competitors directly, others simulate the coaching and managenent of teams, such asChampionship Manager. Others satirize the sport for comedic effect, such asArch Rivals. One of the best selling series in this genre is theFIFA series. This genre emerged early in the history of video games (withPong being a notable example).

Competitive games are those that have a high competitive factor but do not represent traditional sports, such as games in which the concept is fictional and designed by the developer (such asBall Jacks andRocket League).

Sports-based fighting games are titles that simulatecombat sports, but are distinct from the fighting genre due to their focus on realism. Examples of this subgenre include theFight Night,UFC andWWE 2K series.

Amassively multiplayer online game, also called MMO and MMOG, is amultiplayeronline video game which is capable of supporting large numbers of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on theInternet. Many games have at least onepersistent world. Others just have large numbers of players competing at once, in one form or another, without any lasting effect to the world at all. These games can be found for most network-capable platforms, including thepersonal computer,video game console, orsmartphones and other mobile devices. An example is the widely played gameMinecraft which can be played both as an MMO or a single player game.

MMO games can enable players to cooperate and compete with each other on a large scale, and sometimes to interact meaningfully with people around the world. They include a variety of gameplay types, representing many video game genres, such asMMORPG,MMOFPS,MMORTS,MMOTBS and MMO simulation games.

Many popularboard games andcard games have computer versions.AI opponents can help improve one's skill at traditional games.Chess,Checkers, Othello (also known asReversi), andBackgammon have world class computer programs.Mahjong and related games are immensely popular inChina andJapan.Go is popular inEast Asia, though it is notoriously difficult to program acomputer to play Go well.

In a Parental Sim, the player is put into a position of parental authority over one or multiple NPCs, often with the goal of fostering said NPCs growth and development either in the pursuit of the game's directive or simply for the pursuit of the NPCs own happiness and fulfillment. This style of game is usually a single gamemode adjacent to a larger game with different genres. Examples of this type of genre can be found in the gamesPlants vs Zombies andSonic Adventure.

There are three general categories of casino games: gaming machines, table games, and random number games. Gaming machines, such as theslot machine andpachinko, are usually played by one player at a time and do not require the involvement of players to play. Tables games, such asblackjack orcraps, involve one or more players who are competing against the house, the casino itself, rather than each other. Random number games may be played at a table or through the purchase of paper tickets or cards, such askeno orbingo.

Adigital collectible card game (DCCG) is a computer or video game usually played online that emulatescollectible card games (CCG), or in many cases, doesn't use card-like images at all, but insteadicons,avatars or other symbols to represent game pieces. Originally, DCCGs started out as replications of a CCG's physical counterpart such asMagic: The Gathering, but many DCCGs have foregone a physical version and exclusively release as a video game, such as withHearthstone.

Adigital therapeutic video game is a digital treatment for a cognitive impairment, such as ADHD, delivered through the experience of a video game. These video games create immersive engagement that activates the brain networks selectively in order to improve cognitive function with strengthening over time. Games likeEndeavorRx andEndeavorOTC present specific sensory stimuli and simultaneous motor challenges to the user or patient in order to target neural systems in the brain related to paying attention and sustaining focus. The efficacy of these treatments have been rigorously evaluated across multiple clinical studies for those diagnosed with ADHD, validating the benefit to users.^[73]

Gacha games arevideo games that implement thegacha (toy vending machine) mechanic. Similar toloot boxes, gacha games induce players to spendin-game currency to receive a random virtual item. Most of these games arefree-to-playmobile games, where thegacha serves as an incentive to spend real-world money.^[74][75]

Horror games are games that incorporate elements ofhorror fiction into their narrative, generally irrespective of the type of gameplay. It is one of the few major video game categories that are recognized by narrative elements rather than by gameplay, gameplay mode, or platform.Survival horror is a subgenre of horror games focused on action-adventure style of gameplay.^[76]

In anIGN article,Cookie Clicker is credited as one of the few games to have played a major role in the establishment of the genre ofidle gaming.^[77]

This genre involves games that orient the player with a trivial task, such as clicking a cookie; and as the game progresses, the player is gradually rewarded certain upgrades for completing said task. In all, these games require very little involvement from the player, and in most cases they play themselves; hence the use of the word "idle".

In early 2014, Orteil released an early version ofIdle Game Maker, a tool allowing customized idle games to be made without coding knowledge.^[78]

Party games are video games developed specifically for multiplayer games between many players. Normally, party games have a variety ofmini-games that range between collecting more of a certain item than other players or having the fastest time at something. Such games include theMario Party series,Crash Bash, andRayman Raving Rabbids. Versus multiplayer games are not generally considered to be party games.

Aphotography game tasks players with taking photos using thein-game camera system, typically awarding more points for better composed images. Photography mechanics are often implemented as sidequests in games in other genres, but there are also games where photography is the main gameplay mode. These includePokémon Snap,Afrika and theFatal Frame series.

Asocial deduction game is a game in which players attempt to uncover each other's hidden role or team allegiance. During gameplay, players can use logic and deductive reasoning to try to deduce one another's roles, while other players can bluff to keep players from suspecting them. A notable example of the social deduction video game isAmong Us, which received a massive influx of popularity in 2020 due to many well-knownTwitchstreamers andYouTubers playing it.

Trivia games are growing in popularity, especially onmobile phones where people may only have a few minutes to play the game. In trivia games, the object is to answer questions with the goal of obtaining points. They may be based on real-life trivia game shows such asAre You Smarter than a 5th Grader? orFamily Feud.

Atyping game is any game that usestyping as the main method of interaction. While they initially started as a type of educational game, they later became more entertainment focused as indie developers explored possibilities within the genre.

While most video games are designed as entertainment, many video games are designed with additional purposes. These purposes are as varied as the nature of information itself—to inform, persuade, or stimulate. These games can have any kind of gameplay, from puzzles to action to adventure.

Advergames, in the context of video game genres, refers to promotional software specifically made to advertise a product, organization or viewpoint. The first advergames were distributed on floppy disk by theChef Boyardee,Coca-Cola, andSamsung brands,^[79] while the first cereal box advergame wasChex Quest in 1996.^[80] The majority of advergames are found online and mostly include simple and cheaply madeFlash games. Some advergames were released to consoles, likePepsiman for Sony PlayStation.

Art games are designed so as to emphasize art or whose structures are intended to produce some kind of non-ludological reaction in its audience. Art games typically go out of their way to have a unique, unconventional look, often standing out for aesthetic beauty or complexity in design. This concept extends to the realm of modified ("modded") gaming when modifications have been made to existing non-art-games to produce graphic results intended to be viewed as an artistic display, as opposed to modifications intended to change game play scenarios or for storytelling. Modified games created for artistic purposes are sometimes referred to as "videogame art."

Casual games are designed to be easily picked up and put down again with relatively low time commitment, allowing for potentially short bursts of play. This genre of gaming is meant to be a short and relaxing pastime, a rest in between other occupations and so is most popular with demographics who have less free time. They usually have very simple rules or play techniques and a very low degree of strategy.^[81] They have no lengthy tutorials and require no special skills, making them easy to learn and play as a pastime.

Retaining players involves a lot of careful design of levels, challenges and events. Market leaders in this genre are often boldly coloured, designed for intuitive interaction and have a high balance of reward to time to keep people coming back. Designers of these games should add a lot of "juice" (sound and motion elements that excite the senses) to make them stand out in a sea of highly similar games.

Casual games typically are played in web browsers oron mobile devices, although they now are starting to become popular on game consoles. The games often have auto-saving and syncing as standard so the games can be minimized, put into sleep, or otherwise put down with no loss to the player. There are comparatively low production and distribution costs for the producer.^[82]

Christian games attempt to provide the dual purposes of spreading theChristian religion to non-believers through the medium of video games, and providing gamers who identify as Christian with a common pool of games. Christian video games were first developed byWisdom Tree for theNES, without license. While largely regarded as derivative titles by the mainstream gaming culture,^{[citation needed]} Christian games have nevertheless expanded in distribution since their inception.

Educational games, as the name implies, attempt to teach the user using the game as a vehicle. Most of these types of games target young users from the ages of about three years to mid-teens;^{[citation needed]} past the mid-teens, subjects become so complex (e.g.Calculus) that teaching via a game is generally impractical^{[citation needed]}, though exceptions do exist in some areas, such asprogramming. Numerous subgenres exist, in fields such as math or typing.

Esports games aremultiplayer games that are usually played competitively at the professional level. These games are often targeted at the "hardcore" gaming audience, and are usuallyfirst-person shooter games, requiring twitch-based reaction speed and coordination, orreal-time strategy games, requiring high levels of strategic macro- and micromanagement, orMOBAs, requiring both.

Anexergame (portmanteau of "exercise" and "game") is a video game that provides exercise. "Exergames" sub-divide into two main implementations, those with a game specifically designed to use an exercise input device (for example, the gameWii Fit using theWii Balance Board) and those implementations using a genre of a game. Games fit into the category of entertainment, and similarly "exergames" are a category of "exertainment" (formed from "exercise" and "entertainment"). "Exertainment" refers to one aspect of adding entertainment to an exercise workout.

Personalized games are created for one specific player or a group of players usually as a gift. They are hand-made to feature real names, places and events from the recipient's life. Usual occasions for such games are birthdays, anniversaries, and engagement proposals.

Serious games are intended to educate or train the player. These games tend to promote "education, science, social change, health care or even the military".^[83] Some of these games have no specific ending or goal in the game. Rather, the player learns a real life lesson from the game. For example, games fromwebsites such as Newsgaming.com and gamesforchange.org raise political issues using the distinct properties of games.

Live interactive games, also known as bullet screen interactive game, are a genre of games built on live streaming platforms. During a live broadcast, the host initiates the game, and viewers can participate by forming teams, giving likes, sending gifts, and posting comments. The barrage mechanism translates these signals into in-game resources or effects, transforming the live broadcast from a one-to-many format to a space where viewers can also interact with each other.^{[citation needed]}

Sandbox andopen-world games are not specifically video game genres, as they generally describe gameplay features, but often games will be described as a sandbox or an open-world game as if it were a defining genre. They are included here for such distinguishing purposes.

Asandbox game is avideo game with a gameplay element that gives the player a great degree of creativity to complete tasks towards a goal within the game, if such a goal exists. Some games exist as pure sandbox games with no objectives; these are also known asnon-games or software toys. More commonly, sandbox games results from these creative elements being incorporated into other genres and allowing foremergent gameplay. Sandbox games are often associated withopen world concepts which gives the player freedom of movement and progression in the game's world. The "sandbox" term derives from the nature of asandbox that lets children create nearly anything they want within it.

Early sandbox games came out ofspace trading and combat games likeElite (1984) andcity-building simulations andtycoon games likeSimCity (1989). The releases ofThe Sims andGrand Theft Auto III in 2000 and 2001, respectively, demonstrated that games with highly detailed interacting systems that encouraged player experimentation could also be seen as sandbox games. Sandbox games also found ground with the ability to interact socially and shareuser-generated content across theInternet likeSecond Life (2003).Minecraft (2011) is the most successful example of a sandbox game, with players able to enjoy in both creative modes and through more goal-drivensurvival modes.

Creative games are games that are often grounded into other genres but have certain modes of gameplay that allow for a Sandbox and/or Openworld Gameplay, It is extremely common for a "Creative" Game mode to use the same aspects, assets, mechanics, etc. of the Parent Game. However, this isn't always the case as some games have used assets unavailable in the normal Game. Story/Narrative is often removed or non-existent in these modes. However, while generally rare, creative modes have been seen to have an independent story from the main game or even be an entirely independent game.

In video games, anopen world is agame mechanic of using avirtual world that theplayer can explore and approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear and structured gameplay. While games have used open-world designs since the 1980s, the implementation inGrand Theft Auto III (2001) set a standard that has been used since.

Games with open or free-roaming worlds typically lack level structures like walls and locked doors, or theinvisible walls in more open areas that prevent the player from venturing beyond them; only at the bounds of an open-world game will players be limited by geographic features like vast oceans or impassible mountains. Players typically do not encounter loading screens common in linear level designs when moving about the game world, with the open-world game using strategic storage and memory techniques to load the game world in a dynamic and seamless manner. Open-world games still enforce many restrictions in the game environment, either because of absolute technical limitations or in-game limitations imposed by a game's linearity.

While the openness of the game world is an important facet to games featuring open worlds, the main draw of open-world games is about providing the player withautonomy – not so much the freedom to do anything they want in the game, which is nearly impossible with current computing technology, but the ability to choose how to approach the game and its challenges in the order and manner as the player desires while still constrained by gameplay rules.

Examples of high level of autonomy in computer games can be found inmassively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG) or in single-player games adhering to the open-world concept such as theFallout series. The main appeal of open-world gameplay is that they provide a simulated reality and allow players to develop their character and its behaviour in the direction and the pace of their own choosing. In these cases, there is often no concrete goal or end to the game, although there may be the main storyline, such as with games likeThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

As video games are increasingly the subject of scientific studies, game genres are themselves becoming a subject of study.

An early attempt at analysis of the action and adventure genres appeared in a Game Developers Conference 2000 paper 'Mostly Armless: Grabbing the 3D World'. This critiqued a variety of adventure and action games to categorize gameplay and interaction for adventure, action, and hybrid genres. It provided a graph of the genres along the axes of 'immediacy' vs 'complexity', with an 'ideal-zone' for gameplay that covered and linked adventure and action games. It detailed various interaction styles present in these genres and extrapolated to future user interface and gameplay possibilities for these and other genres. Some of these have since been adopted by persistent worlds. For example,Second Life uses some of the gameplay investment and interface elements described in section 4 of the paper.^[84]

In aUniversity of Queensland study, game enjoyment was correlated with attributes such as immersion, social interaction, and the nature of the goals.^[85] These may be underlying factors in differentiating game genres.

Statistical scaling techniques were used in a study presented at the 2007 Siggraph Video Game Symposium to convert subject ratings of game similarity into visual maps of game genres. The maps reproduced some of the commonly identified genres such as first-person shooters and god games.^[86] AMichigan State University study found that men have a higher preference for genres that require competition and three-dimensional navigation and manipulation than women do.^[87]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toVideo games by genre.

• Rollings, Andrew; Adams, Ernest (May 11, 2003).Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design. New Riders Games.ISBN 978-1-59273-001-8.

• Adams, Ernest (2013).Fundamentals of Game Design (3rd ed.).San Francisco: New Riders.ISBN 978-0-321-92967-9.
• Adams, Ernest (2014).Fundamentals of Action and Arcade Game Design.San Francisco: New Riders.ISBN 978-0-13-381130-8.
• Adams, Ernest (2015).Fundamentals of Shooter Game Design.San Francisco: New Riders.ISBN 978-0-13-381094-3.
• Wolf, Mark, J. P. (2012).Encyclopedia of video games : the culture, technology, and art of gaming. Vol. 1.Santa Barbara, California:ABC-CLIO.ISBN 978-0313379369.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Rogers, Scott (2014).Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design (2nd ed.).Chichester, England:John Wiley & Sons.ISBN 978-1-118-87716-6.
• Call, Joshua; Whitlock, Katie; Voorhees, Gerald A. (2012).Guns, Grenades, and Grunts: First-Person Shooter Games.London:Bloomsbury Publishing.ISBN 9781441193537.
• Barton, Matt; Loguidice, Bill (2009).Vintage Games.Boston:Focal Press.ISBN 978-0-240-81146-8.

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