[Kurufinwe]

My earliest videogaming memories (back when I was around 4 or 5) are of two adventure games (the nice Transylvania and the awful Orphee) and a party-based RPG ( Tera). A quarter of a century later, things haven't changed much: the only two genres I'm interested in are still adventures and RPGs. I used to be primarily an adventure gamer with some RPGs thrown in from time to time, but over the last couple of years the balance seems to have shifted the other way, and I now always have an RPG of some sort going on, while AGs are only from time to time.

When it comes to adventures, I'm very versatile: sometimes I'm in the mood for a strong story, sometimes I want to explore a fantastic world, and sometimes I just want to sink my teeth into challenging puzzles — and I don't demand that games offer all three at once. Likewise, for RPGs, sometimes I just want a dungeon crawler, and sometimes I want something more story-heavy.

Above all, I'm a completist: I like finding everything, getting all the points, exploring all the locations, etc. I guess that's why I used to lean more towards Sierra than LucasArts (and why I spent hours and hours making a points list for the one LucasArts game that had tons of optional stuff, Fate of Atlantis). The fact that modern adventure games offer very little by way of optional content is probably why I play more and more RPGs, which still offer the option to do side quests, find all the best items, max out your level, etc.

I don't care for the other genres. In particular, I realize that I have no patience or, more accurately, that concentrating on waiting for something to happen (if that makes any sense) is for me the epitome of unfun. So I don't like games that make you do that, whether it's platformers (waiting until something moves into the right position to jump at the right moment), stealth-based games (watching the enemies move around to move at the right time) or modern shooters (I gave up on Mass Effect after a dozen hours because it was too much of a shooter for my taste). Either something is happening and my mind is focussing on it, or nothing's happening and then it's focussing on something else; but focussing on waiting is beyond me. (I guess that's why, in my scientific career, I do numerics and not experiments; and why I don't enjoy cooking.)

Also, I hate hate hate hate hate hate strategy games, whether they're turn-based, real-time, chess, checkers, or any card game that requires you to remember what has been played before in order to predict what your opponents are going to do. The type of thinking that those games require (basically building a decision tree and exploring it mentally to find the best branch) is my brain's big blind spot, and I hate hate hate hate hate hate anything that has anything to do with it.

[DustyShinigami]

Adventures
Action/Adventures
FPS
Platformers

They're the main genres I'm interested in. It also depends on the gameplay mechanics, the story (or lack of) and characters, themes, and any sub-genres that may be mixed in. For instance: I love a good FPS or Action game when a good story is involved, which deals with mature themes (BioShock, Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption), and the game's sub-genre(s) are either horror/survival horror, crime drama, fantasy, mystery, puzzle solving/investigating, or a character's own personal journey of self discovery...

I can't say I'm into RPGs though, I'm afraid. It's strange considering how much of a geek I am. But I just can't get into them. There are a handful of games I do like that have RPG elements though, but not many. But if I had to choose between a Western or an Eastern RPG, it would probably be the latter.

And here's someone else who's not into Strategy games either. The only one I enjoyed playing years ago was The Settlers III.

And a big no-no to sports, racing and fighting games too.

[WitchOfDoubt]

Aside from adventure games, I tend to like anything where the plot is well-integrated to the gameplay, and anything that's interesting. This includes platform puzzlers, smart first-person shooters (Half-Life 2: Episode 2 would be a good example), and some RPGs. I love Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri for its world-building and willingness to engage with ideas.

I especially like genre-blending games and games that defy my expectations of what a game should be. Quest for Glory is the classic example of a good genre-blender, but Portal did it, too.

A generic 'genre game' isn't really of any interest to me. I played some Call of Duty with roommates and found it kind of tedious after a bit. On the other hand, the goofiness of Team Fortress 2 is really endearing.

[Dasilva]

Mainly PG Tips but Earl Grey when I feel fancy.



wait a minute...

[Harleyhog]

Originally Posted by Dasilva

Earl Grey when I feel fancy.

Milk or a slice of Lemon?

[Jelena]

I prefer an Indian Masala chai these days.

[Hoipolloi]

I'm inclined to react favorably to the tag "adventure", especially "first-person" (with 3D-pan & pre-rendered graphic, yummy) adventure. It implies that a game will probably have exploration and an interesting background story, will look good on modest hardware and leave my left hand free. But I don't mind a bit of whacking, horror, knitting or whatever-you-like.

The only genre tag that really produces a palpable dislike in me is strategy, because I have that notion of crappy little isometric houses in oceans of tags and bubble text, and time. I'm prejudiced against RPGs/MMORPurger, as Yahtzee says it kills more people's lives than any other game addiction (except stragety, conceivably). And fights used to be lousy button-meshing contests.

I used to like a little mindless shooting (or creeping up on and whacking people from behind) once in a blue moon, but what now with all the FPS hype, gore and socially acceptable semi-fascist trash ala "Medal of Honor", I would feel like implictly endorsing torture and world domination by a certain superpower gone astray.

In this age of publisher die-off you have to seriously look for worthwhile games among the indie developers and freebies. That means lower average quality, but also more variety. And it's quite an adventure game in itself.