‘Genre’ is a powerful word. While creating an automated checklist of expectations - and thus encouraging many to conform to those expectations - it can also blind many to new works of fiction and new ideas, leaving those to cower in the corner of their own imaginative spheres. And for many, the checkpoint to their particular corner blocks advances from games that forgo the words ‘first’, ‘third’, ‘person’, or ‘shooter’.
It’s this word, in my experience, that can damage the reputation of a solid title simply because it failed to shape its entirety to the mold set by its predecessors. Final Fantasy XIII is an apt example. Oft-compared to an action game - highly-linear, combat driven, with a less than concise story - Square’s latest foray into its seminal franchise often received the criticism that it’s ‘not a Japanese role-playing game’. Why? It didn’t have towns, nor did it feature a world map in the most traditional meaning of the terms. Granted, the game’s fantastic combat was marred by a poorly-conveyed story and linear design, but never, ever would I condemn it for its decision to break the mold its ancestors clung to so dearly.
Genres exist, perhaps, for two reasons: to allow marketers and retailers to - lazily - convey a product in just a few simple, universally understood words; and, at a more personal level, allow people to define themselves entirely by what they consume - ‘I’m a shooter fan, I like horror novels, and I love action films.’
And, as an unintended by-product, the implementation of ‘genre’ allows developers, again, if only unintentionally, to disregard particular aspects of a game depending in which genre they happen to categorize their product. This also seemingly curbs expectations, too. How many times have you heard ‘It’s a shooter, who cares about the story?’
Certain games, too, have suffered from their inability to ‘correctly’ categorize themselves. Brutal Legend, a game that promoted aspects of both action and strategy, was apparently trapped between the monikers of both ‘action’ and ‘real-time strategy’. From my limited time with Schafer’s brainchild, it failed to match the automated checklist of both. Is it a bad game? In some respects, yes - but not entirely due to its half-way house nature.
Burnout, touted as an ‘arcade racer’, is clumsily bundled into the genre of ‘racing’. As such, Burnout Paradise might often be uttered in the same sentence as Forza Motorsport or Gran Turismo. So, when I recommended Burnout Paradise to a friend - a friend who adamantly professes a strong distaste for the genre - he immediately replied, ‘but I don’t like racing games’. And why did I suggest Burnout? It differs wildly from its more mechanically orientated, car-worshiping cousins. It’s a game, that regardless of his distaste, I thought he might enjoy.
Labeling is commonplace. We all do it. We have a label for those who happen to live on a different plot of land, for those who have a considerably smaller - or larger - bank account, and those who a different belief, or non-belief, system. That’s only to name but a few. Genre labeling masks the subtleties, the complexities and the uniqueness in almost everything it touches. Next time you’re tempted to walk away from a newly announced title simply due to its categorization, think again. Do your research - cast judgment based on its distinct merits, and not those of the genre it’s said to inhabit.
I’ve always found genre labelling, and indeed ‘labelling’ in general to be a pointless pursuit. I simply play games of which I enjoy; with nary a thought to what genre it belongs to (if any). Too many times I’ve seen people pass games by because they “don’t like shooters” or “it’s a WRPG” etc. It’s folly, in my opinion, because if the game is good, it shouldn’t matter which label has been placed on it. Our likes and dislikes are subjective anyway.
As far as labelling things and people in general, I hate it. Often, our obsessions with ‘labelling’ comes across to me as almost childish; the domain of teenagers. Must people really attach labels, essentially stereotypes, to their lives? Unfortunately, it seems some people do.
This is made even worse by the anonymous, often maniacal nature of the modern Internet, where a label is placed by default on all of the different little ‘usernames’ (not to mention many ‘groups’ set up entirely to homogenise and discriminate based on ‘labels’).
This happens in our industry too; how many times have you seen forum arguments about whether, as you say, FFXIII is a ‘JRPG’ or not? I personally applaud SE for trying something different, even I don’t agree with everything they have added/taken away from the game.
A good example to finish, for me personally, was the oft-overlooked game ‘The Darkness’. I had many conversations with people who refused to pick it up because it was an ‘FPS’ and they by default did not like it. This is true to an extent, but The Darkness, and other games like it, offer far more than the genre stereotype, for example as the article states about story.
Anyway, a good read!
Labelling of people is particularly common in the American news media. They’re constantly throwing about ‘democrat’, ‘republican’, ‘liberal’, or ‘conservative’.
Actually, your reference to ‘The Darkness’ reminds me of ‘BioShock’. The original certainly wasn’t typical of its genre.
Thanks.
the idea of not fitting to its genre is not what should have fixed peoples disappointment in ffxiii. they should be disappointed with it not fitting to its namesake. i have been a hardcore ff fan since the first nes title and part of what i love in those games are things like towns, and at least some feeling of exploration. i want to feel like im actually an element in that world, which even the first final fantasy allowed me to imagine more dynamically than ff xiii. i hate feeling like i am walking down a static corridor, looking at pretty scenery off in the distance that i will never be given the opportunity to interact with. what im saying is that square didnt upset me because i was expecting a really specific genre based experience, it upset me because it removed elements that i consider central to what a final fantasy game should be. the pulse section of the game alleviates some of this, but i was too frustrated by the time i got there for it to save this title. for me a game like ff xiii should never have been given the title final fantasy in the first place.