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[trixx]

Visual Novel.

what does this even mean? Is that a video game?

 

[Lernaean]

Two of my very favorite genres actually, character action and shmups. I hate the terms, especially shmups.
People please call shmups STG, let's spare this awesome genre from its torment.

 

[Morat]

MOBA by far. Its ugly and fails to describe anything

 

[DriftedPlanet]

Metroidvania. We really need to come up with a better name for that style of game.

My suggestion: ABP. Ability-Based Progression.

It does cover the concept that new or upgraded abilities are essential to game progression, and its self explanatory to those unfamiliar with metroid or castlevania (series that have become obscure enough that many have not played them) as well.

 

[DownGrader]

My suggestion: ABP. Ability-Based Progression.

It does cover the concept that new or upgraded abilities are essential to game progression, and its self explanatory to those unfamiliar with metroid or castlevania (series that have become obscure enough that many have not played them) as well.

But plenty of action-adventures fit in this description. It's even more fair to call metroidvanias "2D action-adventures" at this point.

 

[Thaumaturgic Tomato]

Metroidvania. We really need to come up with a better name for that style of game.

metrovania or metvania - I like these variations if still keeping with wordplay tradition.

It's a combo of each game but Metroid get's fully named with "metroidvania". Should be partial for each title. "Metroidvania" is too long also. The universe desires equilibrium.

 

[4Tran]

That's doesn't make it not vague. I guarantee there are far more people that don't know that little trivia fact than do. The word "adventure" is too wide-reaching to apply it to one game and games similar to it. As I've explained already, it should never have been used like that in the first place.

But the only confusion comes about when people don't understand the where the name comes from. I would agree that it's not a particularly good name for the genre, just as most genre names are terrible, but there's nothing vague about it.

what does this even mean? Is that a video game?

It's a Japanese term for "choose your own adventure"-type adventure games.

 

[explodet]

The ones some Nintendo fans try to give Splatoon.

I mean, Splatoon is literally a third person shooter, I don't know what else to call it.

There was a thread about this, and it was jolly good fun.

Major websites have competition to come up with dumbest genre rename for Splatoon

 

[Gsnap]

But plenty of action-adventures fit in this description. It's even more fair to call metroidvanias "2D action-adventures" at this point.

But that can also apply to lots of different games. Like zelda games. Also, not all "metroidvanias" are 2d.

Personally, I believe the defining feature of this genre is the way in which it uses its world. They are set in open worlds, but the areas of the worlds are locked behind various hard and soft locks that you need various abilities, tools, etc. to get through. I think we should refer to the type of world as a Gated Open world. Then from there we determine what else the game is about. Toki Tori 2 is a gated open puzzle game. Metroid is a gated open platform-shooter. Dark Souls is a gated open RPG.

But the only confusion comes about when people don't understand the where the name comes from. I would agree that it's not a particularly good name for the genre, just as most genre names are terrible, but there's nothing vague about it.

People who don't know are probably in the majority. If they weren't, then we probably wouldn't even be having this conversation, and big award shows wouldn't be using adventure as a catch-all term (which is what it is). So..... it's vague.

 

[Joseph Merrick]

what's a MOBA?

you mean a LOMA? Lords management forever

 

[CHC]

"Dungeon Crawler" always kind of bothered me not because it sounds stupid, but because I'm a grumpy old-school grognard and most games in that genre have nothing to do with what I think of as a "dungeon."

• Dungeons have residents and an ecology
• Dungeons have friendly, as well as hostile, creatures
• Dungeons have a variety of challenges - physical and intellectual
• Dungeons have riddles, secrets and unknowable magics
• Dungeons have weird puzzles, hidden rooms, and cursed or pointless items
• Dungeons have amazing, unique treasures in them that tell stories
• Dungeons have labyrinthine, interconnected routes through them
• Dungeons kill the VAST majority of people that go in them, they're not playgrounds

So, by those standards... "dungeon crawlers" pretty much meet like.... 1 or 2 of those criteria.

Castle Ravenloft is a dungeon. Temple of Elemental Evil is a dungeon. Dark Souls' Lordran is a dungeon. Watcher's Keep is a dungeon. Blackrock Spire is a dungeon. Etc, etc.

 

[texore]

Metroidvania. Sets me up for disappointment everytime....

 

[YoRHa No.2 Type B]

Rogue like

 

[Qwark]

My suggestion: ABP. Ability-Based Progression.

It does cover the concept that new or upgraded abilities are essential to game progression, and its self explanatory to those unfamiliar with metroid or castlevania (series that have become obscure enough that many have not played them) as well.

No offense, but that sounds terrible. I really don't think it's self explanatory at all. Those are 3 extremely vague words put together.

Frankly, I like Metroid-vania. It pays homage to 2 great games, and it's a very specific type of gameplay. You know exactly what you're getting, I would not know what to expect from "Ability-Based Progression".

 

[Lijik]

Collectathon and Walking Simulator

Theyre both sarcastic names which makes me feel iffy about them. They feel inherently negative. Granted they're a hell of a lot catchier than "exploration platformer" or "first person experience" so I get why they've stuck.

 

[Aggie CMD]

You can have an Action game. You can have an Adventure game. Or you could even have an Action Adventure game.

 

[DownGrader]

Collectathon and Walking Simulator

Theyre both sarcastic names which makes me feel iffy about them. They feel inherently negative. Granted they're a hell of a lot catchier than "exploration platformer" or "first person experience" so I get why they've stuck.

I never considered "collectathon" to be sarcastic/negative, although I missed the era when everyone bashed 3D platformers where you had to collect stuff.

 

[Mika]

Have there been any past examples of a widespread genre/subgenre name change? The only one I can thing of is Monster Hunter clone > Hunting, and that might just be more it taking forever for a name to settle. I'm not even sure it became ubiquitous, since the subgenre's been much less common lately.

I don't really have a problem with any of them myself, it's just a mark I make on my Excel sheet that I can check later to see how my focus is changing. Except maybe FPX/E, I haven't heard that before. What do you do about games in third person?

 

[JaseMath]

Can't say I've ever been a fan of Metroidvania.

 

[DocSeuss]

MOBA takes it
Just use ARTS or something else, not MOBA
Quake 3 arena is a fucking MOBA

No, because Action RTS = world in conflict

 

[Glowsquid]

I don't have strong feelings on the name "character action game", but the "character" distinction seems alsmot superflous: How many people do you see talking about "vehicle action games"?

 

[Trojan]

"Shoot-em-up"

Thanks grandpa

 

[DownGrader]

Have there been any past examples of a widespread genre/subgenre name change?

2D shooters had to take the label "shoot 'em up" or "run 'n' gun" once Doom clones 3D shooters took the name "shooter" exclusively.

 

[Lijik]

I never considered "collectathon" to be sarcastic/negative, although I missed the era when everyone bashed 3D platformers where you had to collect stuff.

The whole reason it came about was to slam the oodle of collectibles in Donkey Kong 64 - a literal collectible marathon.

 

[Aaronrules380]

"Dungeon Crawler" always kind of bothered me not because it sounds stupid, but because I'm a grumpy old-school grognard and most games in that genre have nothing to do with what I think of as a "dungeon."

• Dungeons have residents and an ecology
• Dungeons have friendly, as well as hostile, creatures
• Dungeons have a variety of challenges - physical and intellectual
• Dungeons have riddles, secrets and unknowable magics
• Dungeons have weird puzzles, hidden rooms, and cursed or pointless items
• Dungeons have amazing, unique treasures in them that tell stories
• Dungeons have labyrinthine, interconnected routes through them
• Dungeons kill the VAST majority of people that go in them, they're not playgrounds

So, by those standards... "dungeon crawlers" pretty much meet like.... 1 or 2 of those criteria.

Castle Ravenloft is a dungeon. Temple of Elemental Evil is a dungeon. Dark Souls' Lordran is a dungeon. Watcher's Keep is a dungeon. Blackrock Spire is a dungeon. Etc, etc.

So what's you're take on etrian odyssey, which has pretty much all of these things?

 

[Rajang]

Character Action

Yes this makes no sense to me lol.

 

[Daria Morgendorffer]

Adventure, when I see it listed as the genre of a game it tells me nothing because almost every fucking game is an adventure.

 

[diffusionx]

Metroidvania is just moronic, considering Metroid did it almost a decade before Castlevania did. And there are a lot of Castlevania games that are not Metroidvanias... and all Metroid games are Metroidvanias.

It should just be called a Metroid-style game. That is more than descriptive.

 

[cartographer]

MOBA is the worst.

1) "Multiplayer online battle arena" means basically nothing. It could be anything.
2) It's 100 percent a marketing fabrication designed to distance LoL from DotA.

Worst.

 

[Esca]

Shmups I hate this one the most
Roguelike
Metroidvania

 

[TAFK]

I always hated Action-Adventure because I felt like it was so generic it could include basically every game ever made.

 

[Slamtastic]

Spectacle Fighter
Metroidvania
Button Basher
Beat Em Up (When being incorrectly used to refer to fighting games)
RPG (for a game that only features "role playing" via stats and not meaningful narrative based choices and reactivity)

 

[JBwB]

MOBA could be used to define any multiplayer game where you battle against other players and yet it's used exclusively as a name for specific sub genre (ARTS).

 

[Mupod]

in terms of how much headache I've received from debating genre classification over the years? RPG. No contest.

Nothing has made me want to reach through my monitor and strangle someone like those fuckers who use the 'BUT YOU'RE PLAYING THE ROLE OF' argument. And they've been doing it for like DECADES.

MOBA is really dumb when used to describe things other than dotaclones, stop calling Overwatch a MOBA please. Metroidvania is rarely used incorrectly, no reason to get mad about it. You don't see people calling EVERY freeroam game with powerups a metroidvania.

Roguelike...I get the reasoning but most of the really fervent haters of the term evoke images of neckbeardery. Coming from someone who played dwarf fortress before it was cool and tons of dungeon crawl stone soup, I can smell my own. Maybe we can get everyone to start calling them dying-oncie-restarty-farties.

edit: also the internet doesn't know what MMO means. People calling diablo 2, PSO, monster hunter MMOs...please stop.