The Eternal Struggle of Video Game Genres

Let's scream into the void about genre theory in video games.

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Source Bibliography:
Adams, Ernest. “The Designer's Notebook: Sorting Out the Genre Muddle.” Gamasutra, 9 July 2009,

Altman, Rick. “A Semantic/Syntactic Approach to Film Genre.” Cinema Journal, vol. 23, no. 3, 1984, p. 6.

Altman, Rick. “Film/Genre.” London: BFI Publishing. 1999.

Apperley, Thomas H. “Genre and Game Studies: Toward a Critical Approach to Video Game Genres.” Simulation & Gaming, vol. 37, no. 1, 2006, pp. 6–23.

Arsenalt, Dominic. “Video Game Genre, Evolution and Innovation” Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture, vol. 3, no. 2, 2009, p. 149-176

Caldwell, Nicholas. “Theoretical Frameworks for Analysing Turn-Based Computer Strategy Games.” Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy, vol. 110, no. 1, 2004, p. 42–51.

Carr, Diane, et al. “Computer Games: Text, Narrative and Play.” Google Books, Polity, 31 Mar. 2006,

Chandler, Daniel. “An Introduction to Genre Theory.” University of Washington, Aug 1997,

Clarke, Rachel Ivy, et al. “Why Video Game Genres Fail: A Classificatory Analysis.” Games and Culture, vol. 12, no. 5, June 2015, p. 445–465.

Lee, Jin Ha, et al. “Facet Analysis of Video Game Genres.” IConference 2014 Proceedings, 2014, pp. 125–139.

Neale, Steve. “Genre.” BFI Publishing., 1980.

Whalen, Z. “Game/Genre: A critique of generic formulas in video games in the Context of ‘The Real’”. Works & Days, vol. 22, Issue 1/2, 2004, p. 289.

Wolf, M. J. P. “The medium of the video game.” University of Texas Press, Austin, TX, 2001, p. 113-234.

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