I was thinking about the differences between various markets in the video game industry a couple of days ago, and came up with what I think are two major categories of video games:
games that appeal to the conscious mind and games that aim for the subconscious mind.
It seems that many new-generation games are developed to please your "self 1," the thinking, aware half of the mind. They focus on ideas that a nurtured mind can understand. Taking for example two very popular games, 3D GTAs and Halo, we can see that the majority of the appeal in these games is for the thinking self. GTA owes much of its popularity because people enjoy the level of "freedom" the game offers to do many "self 1"-related things. There's a certain enjoyment in being able to interact with a city, its inhabitants, and its environments. In Halo, and in a lot of FPS games, the appeal mostly lies in the responsibility you as a character hold. I mean, everything you see on your screen, because of your perspective and becuase of the genre's nature, can be immiately affected by you, i.e. can be shot. The appeal of taking down some enemies or your buddies is aimed at "self 1," the thinking mind.
The other type of games mostly ignore the conscious, thinking mind, and try to appeal on the subconscious level. (Good) fighting games, I believe, are in this category. In this genre, the satisfaction is not so much in what is happening on screen. Sure, it's great to see your character pull off a badass combo or a sweet-looking throw, but most of the joy is in having properly executed the right moves at the right time in the right situation. Basically, you get a rush out of improving those synapse connections in your brain so that you can react correctly without even thinking about it -- and when there's no thinking, the subconscious "self 2" is what drives the body and its muscles. Another great example is F-Zero GX. I don't care so much what my car is doing on screen as much as I get a high out of having executed the right moves with sweet reflexes and perfect timing.
It's obviously a hard-to-word discussion topic as it mainly deals with conceptual ideas, but I feel game theory is always worth discussing, even when it seems pointless at the moment, since it helps us evolve video games as an interactive art.
games that appeal to the conscious mind and games that aim for the subconscious mind.
It seems that many new-generation games are developed to please your "self 1," the thinking, aware half of the mind. They focus on ideas that a nurtured mind can understand. Taking for example two very popular games, 3D GTAs and Halo, we can see that the majority of the appeal in these games is for the thinking self. GTA owes much of its popularity because people enjoy the level of "freedom" the game offers to do many "self 1"-related things. There's a certain enjoyment in being able to interact with a city, its inhabitants, and its environments. In Halo, and in a lot of FPS games, the appeal mostly lies in the responsibility you as a character hold. I mean, everything you see on your screen, because of your perspective and becuase of the genre's nature, can be immiately affected by you, i.e. can be shot. The appeal of taking down some enemies or your buddies is aimed at "self 1," the thinking mind.
The other type of games mostly ignore the conscious, thinking mind, and try to appeal on the subconscious level. (Good) fighting games, I believe, are in this category. In this genre, the satisfaction is not so much in what is happening on screen. Sure, it's great to see your character pull off a badass combo or a sweet-looking throw, but most of the joy is in having properly executed the right moves at the right time in the right situation. Basically, you get a rush out of improving those synapse connections in your brain so that you can react correctly without even thinking about it -- and when there's no thinking, the subconscious "self 2" is what drives the body and its muscles. Another great example is F-Zero GX. I don't care so much what my car is doing on screen as much as I get a high out of having executed the right moves with sweet reflexes and perfect timing.
It's obviously a hard-to-word discussion topic as it mainly deals with conceptual ideas, but I feel game theory is always worth discussing, even when it seems pointless at the moment, since it helps us evolve video games as an interactive art.
I would classify these so called "non-games" in your first sector.