Talk:Action game

What is this game?

I can't think of a single game that fits that exactly description, let alone an entire genre. What game is this page referring to? I think of action games as being a catch-all term for a number of genres that feature action, including FPS, some driving games (Burnout series), maaaaaybe fighting games like Soul Calibur and basically any game with fast-paced violence. Weefz 00:34, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

You have a good point. There really isn't any good definition of an Action game. Unlike movies, where the movie is classified by it's subject matter (e.g. War movie, historical, scifi -- an exception would be the documentory), games are more logically classified by their style of gameplay (RTS, FPS, Racing, etc). An FPS would be an FPS if it was in space, WWII, or in an old man's mind. Thus, as every game involves "actions", the term "Action game" is incurably vague and should be avoided. Unfortunately, this term was originally invented to describe the games that do not fit into other categories, but now seems to be applied to virtual every game other than chess. michaelb 23:43, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Action is more of a sub-genre of video games, than its own genre. The only time that it isn't used as a sub is when you talk about games on the Internet, then it is its own genre. Gamerman 10:09, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

um, yes, this is Action game

Should Action-Adventure Games be Considered a Subgenre of Action Games?

It seems to me that the very definition of action games goes against this article's classification of action-adventure games being a subgenre. Let's look at the criteria and use Resident Evil 4 (see action-adventure games page to validate it being of that genre) as a template.

• Lack of a "Save Game" feature. (see Save game)Has a save game feature (you use typewriters)
• Lack of involving or complex puzzles. This is true for the most part though I did get stuck for a bit on one.
• In-Depth Plot or Story Elements are absent from many action games and takes a minor role in most. The story, however cheesy it may be, is very much there and very much part of the reason for playing the game.
• Lack of Character Interaction or involvement with choices that affect your character personally. The in-game cinemas do address your character personally.
• Many times the player controls a single character or switches back and forth between a few different characters while playing. Come on! This is a criterion for any game!
• Most Action Games focus on manipulation of superficial elements such as where an object is located on the screen or how it moves. What the heck does this mean?
• Lack of turn-based elements. Ok! I'll admit that it isn't turnbased.

As you can see, most of the criteria don't fit Resident Evil 4, a well known action-adventure game and as such I'd like to see this article stating that rather the opposite is true. I believe that there is a passage from the adventure game genre article that admits to the perception of adventure games as being a subgenre of action-adventure games. While they decry that argument, arguing toward adventure games being connected to Computer RPG's, the idea that action and adventure games are a subgenre of action-adventure games does exist.

Redefinition Please

The "Action Game" genre is not a genre at all. It is more of a loose description. As no-one can come up with a good set of criteria for an action game, it is subsequently difficult to classify any game under it, and we lose the entire genre aspect. This is opposed to the adventure genre, which while having a rather vague title, has a number of games that all follow similar lines and fill criteria. It was also kick-started by the game "Adventure", which helped define it. I do propose that we dissolve this page, but rather state that labeling a game as an "Action Game" is more of a buzz-word then a definition.

Agreed. I think the origin of the term was waaaay back when it could be used to describe simplistic shoot-em-ups, platformers and adventures, I seem to remember this term being bandied around a lot in my ZX Spectrum magazines. The listing of sub-genres also looks totally out of whack, mainly since they all could have been described as action games once upon a time, but have now become genres of their own. I'd wholeheartedly support the change or removal of the so-called sub genres and the rewording of this article pointing out that the term is now out of date. QuagmireDog 10:25, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Some sites to use as references

I'm looking through some Top-priority articles that happen to be Start-class, and this was the first Top article on the alphabetical list. So I'm going to provide some sites to use as references for experts on the subject to improve this article to above a pitiful Start-class.

• The Designer’s Notebook: Why Action Games Suck (And What To Do About It) Page 1 | 2 | 3 (A criticism of modern action games)
• Action video game modifies visual selective attention (A research report explaining the potential consequences on perceptual and motor skills)
• Action video game modifies visual selective attention (A different page with the same info as above)
• Playing an Action Video Game Reduces Gender Differences in Spatial Cognition (A research report explaining how action games virtually eliminate the gender difference in spatial attention and simultaneously decrease the gender disparity in mental rotation ability)
• Apple - Games - Getting Started - Action (Apple's explanation of action games)
• Game Politics: Action Games Improve Women’s Spatial Abilities, Says New Study (News article explaining the report in the fourth link)
• Action-Video-Game Experience Alters the Spatial Resolution of Vision

Cat's Tuxedo (talk) 13:07, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with File:Warsow-03.jpg

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2D vs 3D, difficulty and the mass-market appeal-related repercussions that follow

Upon stumbling across a sentence stating, essentially, how 3D action games in general suffer issues in control difficulty severe enough to negatively affect their market viability in relation to 2D action games, I had a chuckle. Turns out this obviously incorrect/outdated info is taken from a rather ancient article, and so I removed it, along with the accompanying image (seeing how it didn't really relate to the text in any kind of purposeful manner). Encoctmebreux (talk) 17:01, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

2006 is ancient is it? bridies (talk) 17:20, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

Considering context, I'd say it's old enough to be considered outdated. As to whether or not it's old enough to warrant the use of [[1]], it's debatable. But then again, you were just mindlessly nitpicking, weren't you?:) Encoctmebreux (talk) 18:43, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Yes. :P bridies (talk) 18:46, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Stealth Action should be a subcatagory of Shooter

90% of the stealth games out there are basically shooters with heavy stealth elements. Nearly all of the MGS games can be finished without really making full use of the stealth elements and playing the game as a shooter, for example. Its not the ideal way, but it is possible. So I propose that Stealth be moved under the shooter subcatagory rather than under the generic action catagory. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.209.209.129 (talk) 18:37, 20 March 2010 (UTC)

Stealth games often allow shooting, but the stealth mechanic has little to do with the shooting mechanic; a stealth game doesn't need to include shooting mechanics. Take Mark of the Ninja, for instance. Even the early scene in The Ocarina of Time where you sneak into the castle without being seen could count as a short stealth game. Stealth is a tough mechanic to make work well, but it is a mechanic that can stand on its own. However, you can't have a FPS or a TPS without the game also being a shooter.

...Though shooters fall under "action games" just as much as stealth games do, if not even more. The word "stealth" isn't even used in this article. I'm not really sure what you want changed... Maplestrip (talk) 12:37, 12 November 2014 (UTC)

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