Overview
- The blog explores how different game genres satisfy specific psychological needs and trigger distinct emotional and cognitive responses, making gaming a deeply personal and motivating experience.
- It also highlights emerging video game types like VR, procedurally generated games, and Blockchain/Web3 games that enhance player engagement by fulfilling unique psychological motivators such as presence, novelty, and ownership.
Introduction
Every game is more than game mechanics, visuals, or storylines – it’s an experience tailored to human psychology. Games offer more than just entertainment – they immerse players in worlds where they can fulfill deep psychological needs, such as achievement, escape, mastery, creativity, and connection. Emerging game types and genres like Blockchain and Web3 games extend these motivators by providing real ownership and economic opportunities, enhancing the gaming experience beyond traditional play.
Let’s look at different types of games, both traditional and emerging game genres, and why certain players play certain video game genres:
1. Action Games: The Thrill of Mastery
Action games, such as Call of Duty, Devil May Cry, and Fortnite, appeal to our natural fight-or-flight response. Playing such games requires fast reflexes and hand-eye coordination. The satisfaction comes from mastering split-second reactions, overcoming intense challenges, and feeling powerful in high-stakes environments. Many AAA games in this space succeed because they combine cinematic visuals with finely tuned game mechanics.
2. Role-Playing Games (RPGs): Identity & Immersion
RPG making includes designing games like The Witcher 3, Skyrim, and Final Fantasy XIV that satisfy the need for identity exploration by allowing players to create and grow characters, shaping their own unique stories and experiences. Players can become someone else with game character progression, skill trees, making decisions, building reputations, and shaping narratives. The growth systems, such as leveling and gear upgrades, trigger intrinsic motivation by providing constant feedback and reward loops. These video game genres thrive in both indie and AAA games, offering deep immersion.
3. Strategy Games: Planning & Control
Strategy games, such as Civilization VI, StarCraft II, and Clash of Clans, tap into problem-solving needs and the satisfaction of control. These games involve resource management, long-term planning, and tactical depth, so they appeal to those who enjoy anticipating consequences, optimizing systems, and outsmarting opponents. This type of game highlights how cognitive engagement fuels long-term enjoyment.
4. Simulation Games: Experimentation & Autonomy
Gaming studios simulate games like The Sims, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Stardew Valley, which satisfy autonomy and creativity. These types of games are designed for real-world or fantasy systems replicated for play. Sometimes, procedurally generated game mechanics keep outcomes unpredictable. They let players experiment without real-world consequences – whether it’s flying planes, running cities, or managing farms.
5. Puzzle & Casual Games: Cognitive Flow
Puzzle games, such as Tetris, Candy Crush, and Portal, give players that state of deep focus where challenge meets skill. They’re especially rewarding for players who enjoy measurable problem-solving and quick bursts of progress, offering relaxation and mental stimulation simultaneously. This video game genre attracts a broad demographic because it’s easy to learn but hard to master.
6. Horror & Survival Games: Fear & Catharsis
Horror games like Resident Evil, Outlast, and The Forest appeal to thrill-seekers and those curious about fear in a safe setting. Survival games, especially with procedurally generated worlds, amplify this by forcing players to adapt under pressure. The catharsis of surviving a terrifying experience with scarcity of resources and uncertainty provides a unique type of satisfaction.
7. Sports & Racing Games: Competition & Skill
These games, such as FIFA, NBA 2K, and Gran Turismo, satisfy the human desire for competition, mastery, and achievement through physics-driven systems and multiplayer competition. They replicate real sports rivalries, offering instant validation through scores, ranks, and progression. This type of game is often dominated by AAA games, which deliver realism through licensing, visuals, and mechanics.
8. Sandbox & Open-World Games: Creativity & Freedom
Open-world sandboxes like Minecraft, Breath of the Wild, and GTA V grant autonomy and self-expression. Players aren’t bound by strict paths but create their own narratives. The ability to build worlds fulfills deep creative drives, while exploration satisfies curiosity. These video game genres combine linear and nonlinear storytelling, appealing to players’ need for freedom.
Apart from these traditionally popular game genres, newer game genres are also emerging using modern technologies like VR/XR, AI, and Blockchain & Web3. Let’s dissect these emerging genres and analyze what psychological triggers are playing a part in their increasing popularity and adoption:
9. Virtual Reality Experiences: Presence & Embodiment
VR games, such as Beat Saber, Half-Life: Alyx, and VRChat, tap into our innate sense of presence. Unlike screen-based video game genres, VR makes players feel like they are physically in another world – immersed through haptics, motion tracking, and spatial interaction. This immersion heightens emotions, whether excitement in rhythm games or social connection in VR hubs. Virtual reality experiences are no longer just add-ons to existing game genres.
10. Procedurally Generated Narrative Genres: Novelty & Mastery
Procedurally generated games like AI Dungeon and No Man’s Sky keep players engaged by offering constant novelty and rewarding mastery through evolving challenges. They use procedurally generated systems to create narrative-driven experiences. Instead of scripted, linear storytelling, these games use algorithms to produce infinite variations of worlds, dialogue, and quests – where every session is unique.
11. Blockchain & Web3 Genres: Ownership & Community-Driven Economy
Blockchain and Web3 games tap into fundamental psychological needs for ownership, identity, and participation in a community-driven economy, which fuels their growing popularity and hype. Games, such as Axie Infinity (rewarding players with crypto-assets), Exofarm (farming play-to-earn game where players can create and trade NFTS), The Sandbox, and Decentraland (transforming games into platforms where players create, trade, and own digital assets), are opening doors for digital ownership and monetization. Including economic design with game mechanics through Play-to-Earn, Metaverse Worlds, and Collectible-Battle Games is increasingly being adopted in the modern gaming world.
12. Crossovers: Novelty & Surprise
Hybrid and crossover games like Hades (roguelike + RPG) and Cult of the Lamb (roguelike + farming) satisfy curiosity and novelty-seeking. They provide familiar anchors (battle mechanics and farming loops) while surprising players with unexpected layers, reflecting how fluid modern video game genres can be. These games deliberately mash together elements from unrelated genres to create fresh hybrids.
Conclusion: Why We Gravitate to Genres
Game genres are more than marketing categories – they’re reflections of human psychology, and playing games releases certain types of happy hormones in our bodies. Action games trigger adrenaline and dopamine, boosting excitement and reward. RPGs engage serotonin by supporting identity and mood regulation. Strategy games stimulate dopamine and cortisol, fostering control and focus. Simulation games release oxytocin, enhancing feelings of autonomy and social bonding. VR games promote the release of endorphins and enhance presence, creating immersive and pleasurable experiences.
Understanding these connections helps create gaming experiences that keep players motivated and fulfilled. The future of gaming lies in blending these motivators, ensuring every new title doesn’t just entertain but resonates with who we are and why we play. By blending these motivators, both indie developers and AAA games create experiences that don’t just entertain but resonate with why we play.
FAQs
1. Why do people prefer certain game genres?
People prefer certain game genres because each genre taps into specific psychological needs, such as mastery, creativity, social connection, or catharsis.
2. What makes strategy games so engaging?
Strategy games engage our cognitive systems, rewarding planning, foresight, and control. They let players feel mastery over complexity, a hallmark of this type of game.
3. How do procedurally generated games affect psychology?
They enhance unpredictability, keeping players curious and engaged by offering new, unique challenges every time, keeping this video game genre fresh.
4. Are virtual reality experiences a genre or a platform?
VR is both a platform and an emerging genre. Its unique design creates embodied, immersive gameplay that no other medium can replicate.
5. What goes into RPG making?
RPG making involves creating a compelling story, developing characters, designing quests and combat systems, and building immersive worlds where players can grow and make meaningful choices.