"Many of the traditional lines between computer game genres are blurring these days. Diablo was part role-playing game, part action game. Mask of Eternity will be part adventure, part 3D action. What's your opinion of this trend?"

Submitted by: Sierra On-Line

This question was posed by one of the Sierra game developers, and thrown open for discussion on the Gametalk message board. Here are some of your excellent replies:

Answered by: O'Jay Robinson

"I think genres are artificial. I think a genre is created when an original game is successful. Then everybody else wants to make a game like that because they think it will sell, and then the gaming industry gets stuck in a rut because you see less creative games that don't really pay attention to genres. Take, for example, games like Civilization or Doom. They were successful because they offered great gameplay. They were also innovations that ignored genres. So my opinion is that genres are a unfortunate restriction on the game industry but one that will probably not go away."

Answered by: Nadiar

"Blurring is definitely a good idea, it appeals to people who would otherwise be turned off, and it introduces others to a new genre of gaming."

Answered by: "acarotenuto"

"I love it! By combining different genres of games you are able to do many wonderful things. Marketing and Sales love it because your product will attract buyers from the various groups. But more importantly is your gameplay. You can have a more immersive environment. You are able to have a wider range of emotions and/or reactions with the player. Would Diablo be as fun if whenever you walked up to a monster the game would switch to a turn based text fight? ('Dark Lord hits for 10 points of damage' -- it brings back memories of Wizardry on my old 386.) But the blending of genres must be done carefully. Diablo, as well as Ultima VIII, were excellent. The combination of mini-RPG, adventure, and mini-action was why I liked the Quest for Glory series so much. Or who could forget Space Quest and Leisure Suit Larry, the blending of Comedy and Adventure. But can you think of a good Racing/Puzzle game, or a Sports/RPG (RPG in the traditional sense)? I can't. These combinations just don't seem to go together very well."

Answered by: Ken Liang

"As long as the game is FUN to play, it doesn't matter how blurred the lines between genres get."

Answered by: Marrisa

"I think this trend is wonderful. Instead of sticking strictly to one genre, I think the diversity of games these days makes them all the more enjoyable!"

Answered by: J.D. Robertson

"If done right, mixing to genres in a game can bring about the best of both worlds. Diablo is a good example. Personally, I never bought the game, but Blizzard must have hit the right combination of Role Playing and Action with the game to encourage the legions of fans who bought the game and continue to play it. It's also dangerous, as the game could scare off fans of both genres. A mix of action and adventure like Mask of Eternity would have to strike a careful balance to avoid alienating adventure gamers who shy away from more action-oriented games and action gamers who don't want to spend their time solving difficult puzzles. Then again, it might be attractive to someone like myself who enjoys games from both genres.

"Another possible problem with mixing genres is that a game can become confused. I can't think of an example at the moment, but I have played games which tried to incorporate a little of this, and a little of that, and ended up with a lot of nothing. I guess it's all really an issue of the games design. If it's put together well, than the mix of genres can make a great game, but if the game isn't put together well, it never really had much hope anyway."

Answered by: Trinker

"I think the only people it will cause problems with will be the people who are responsible for pigeon holing those things. As long as the game is fun, I don't care if it's a shooter-strategy-adventure with a romantic twist."

Answered by: Greg the card carrying materialist

"I like it. I have played computer games for as long as I can remember. I'm 23 now, and I remember playing Pong on a TV Wizard game system when I was a wee lad, Pac Man when it first came out, on up through the Atari games, into Nintendo, as well as each generation of PC games. There's only so much pure action I can take, and as fun as adventure games are, there's only so much you can do without blurring the lines. Heck, games like Eye of the Beholder started\ to blur the lines long before Diablo was even a dream of some designer. I view the merging of genres as the natural and necessary growth of the industry, to satisfy the ever growing need of us Americans to have 'Bigger, Better, Faster, MORE MORE MORE!'

"Just like we no longer accept cheesy, rubber costumes and flashing lights from the movie industry, we demand more complicated games from the game industry. There will always be a place for straightforward games, just as there is always a place for a simple movie. Variety is the spice of life. But if you ask me, blur the lines! :)"

Answered by: Chad A. Verrall

"In many ways the blurring of genres is offering new genres in the process. It still needs to be done with caution! One of the biggest problems with merging two genres together is that often they will not blend or fit together well and the end result will be people not liking the game. Of course when done right (Diablo, Realms of the Haunting) the game turns out to be VERY good."

Answered by: Tim Dolezal

"If the game is playable, I do not mind."

Answered by: Joe Jaquette

"The (blended-genre) games are getting better. While Diablo tried to be an action game and an RPG, it was more geared at the intensive action aspect. Hopefully the upcoming RPG/3D shooter Anachronox will succeed at coming that much closer to the pen and paper style RPGs. Previous attempts to integrate the two (i.e. Daggerfall), had great role playing but horrible action. I see the blending of these as the incorporation of the best of both worlds. This would seem to work best for RPG/action, adventure/action, action/strategy, or (maybe) strategy/RPG (Auran has one in the works).

"I don't think that the genre is really that important. Oh, maybe to the reviewers... What I look for in a game are a couple of factors. First, is it fun. Second, can I keep playing it over and keep getting a unique experience. If the game is really fun, I'll probably still buy it. For example, games like Quake, Dark Reign, and Stars! can be played for a long time before becoming dull. Having multi-player support really helps this. For games like The Curse of Monkey Island, Jedi Knight, Space Quest #, the games are enormously fun, but the replay value is horrible.

"In the end, the greatest advantage that the blending of genres has created is story. For example, Dark Reign had an excellent story, and I played it all the way through to find all of it. After the story was complete, there was on-line play and 'Instant Action' that was different every time. The bottom-line for me is: Any game that has a good to great story backed up with ever changing aspects (oh, it should be fun, too) will sell and aquire a massive backing.

"I think that part of my love for a good book shines through here. I see most of the games I buy as expensive, interactive books."

Answered by: Paul Lalonde

"I think that since they've started mixing genres, the gaming industry has grown up a bit and realised that a game doesn't need to be strictly RPG, Action, or any ONE genre in particular.

"It sometimes hinders a game's story line but more often than not it enhances it! Plus it also appeals to a larger group of players, so it's also a wise business decision!"

Answered by: Chris Davis

"Awesome! Blend all my favorites into one game! :)"

Answered by: Kick, the rubber chicken

"I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!! So long as you still produce SOME true RPGs, blurring lines makes for some very cool, very original games."

Answered by: Edward Kim

"I'm all for this trend. I've noticed that when genres do become blended, it usually occurs between action, adventure, and roleplaying games. This is fine by me since these are my favourite types of games (esp. RPG).

"However, for those folks who enjoy one specific genre, they may not enjoy the other aspects of the game. For example, a die-hard adventure gamer may be disgruntled by the "difficult" action sequences when all he/she wants to do is solve the adventure! I suppose developers could allow the player to disable such overt action sequences, but then this feels like the game is being "watered down" to include a wider target audience than it really should.

"I hope that by combining various genres, that the pacing of the game is not messed up. Overall though, I think developers are doing a great job!"

Answered by: Ryan Wetherill

"As long as a good game comes out of it, I don't care what genre it says on the box."

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