Complete Genre List

[Flack]

I am having a tough time organizing my games.

Is there a complete list of "official" genres for games? I'm thinking of using a list of genres and then sub-genres, like platform > 2D or something to make my lists a little more descriptive.

[davidbrit2]

I've never really seen anybody attempt such a thing, but I'm pretty sure "Porno Mahjong" would make the list. MacMAME has a category file that somewhat attempts to sort into a few genres, so that might be a good starting point.

[kevincure]

http://www.allgame.com/cg/agg.dll?p=agg&SQL=GS <-- Allgame's categorization list. It's two deep, so you would have Action > Side-Scrolling Combat for instance, or Racing > Boat/Watercraft.

Plus allgame has already categorized all the games, so you can just steal theirs without trying to figure them out yourself.

[hydr0x]

making THE list is impossible as anyone seems to have different oppinions about what should be seperated how and it also depends on what country you live in or what console generation you're talking of, the best example are action-adventures, in the 16-bit era in germany games like terranigma were action-adventures, today in germany game like Prince of Persia Sands of Time are action-adventure

you see, this varies a lot :(

[§ Gideon §]

Also, you can't go wrong by organizing things by release date. It's just a thought...

[Flack]

The problem with my current list is categories like platform, action, adventure, and mission based. Then I get Prince of Persia and it fits into all four. Organizing by release date sounds horrible! How would you ever find anything?

[§ Gideon §]

Organizing by release date sounds horrible! How would you ever find anything?
Heh. That's why it would be interesting, I guess. Don't ask me; I don't organize my games!

[Ed Oscuro]

Right now I'm working on a list of Mega Drive games (with much help from GameFAQs and Kazuhiro's Game Catalog), and I use the logos on the side where applicable.

I really don't like trying to classify games, so I've finally decided that I just need to use single word descriptors: Action games are simply action games. Maybe Shinobi is a Ninja game.

Description paragraphs + commentary > shoehorning games into precise categories

[bargora]

I checked the genre list posted at the allgame.com website, and it tends to line up with the labels I had alread adopted for my collection. I tend to organize based on the main control or play mechanic, except that all Hello Kitty games go into a single category.

[djbeatmongrel]

what ever happened to sorting your games by system then in alphanumerical order?

[Flack]

what ever happened to sorting your games by system then in alphanumerical order?

Well, I think it went out the window with the invention of the database.

I put all my games in a huge Access database, which can then be searched via a web interface. So if I want a list of, say, Activision games for the Atari 2600, or Playstation games with the word "star" in the title, I can easily get that information. So what I would like along side each game entry is a simple category/genre entry. That way, if I want to see what 2D shmups I have for the Playstation or what 1st person shooters I have for the PS2, I can easily retreive that information.

Very rarely would I want to find out "what's the 630th game I bought". Similarly, it's doubtful I would ever say, "hmmm ... there was this game kind of like Prince of Persia, but all I know about it is it was released in October of '88." It is much more likely that I would want to query on types of games. Thus the need for a complete or universally accepted list of genres, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel.

[djbeatmongrel]

@Flack: I see your point. i geuss i'll truly realise your point once my collection hits the thousand game mark

[hydr0x]

what ever happened to sorting your games by system then in alphanumerical order?

Well, I think it went out the window with the invention of the database.

I put all my games in a huge Access database, which can then be searched via a web interface. So if I want a list of, say, Activision games for the Atari 2600, or Playstation games with the word "star" in the title, I can easily get that information. So what I would like along side each game entry is a simple category/genre entry. That way, if I want to see what 2D shmups I have for the Playstation or what 1st person shooters I have for the PS2, I can easily retreive that information.

Very rarely would I want to find out "what's the 630th game I bought". Similarly, it's doubtful I would ever say, "hmmm ... there was this game kind of like Prince of Persia, but all I know about it is it was released in October of '88." It is much more likely that I would want to query on types of games. Thus the need for a complete or universally accepted list of genres, instead of trying to reinvent the wheel.


eeeeehm am i totally stupid or is there no argument against alphanumerical order in this whole text??? you can do everything you said with alphanumerical order...