I have not been a hardcore gamer since I was in diapers. I have had a few gaming systems throughuot my 22 years and occasionally played them. It wasn't until I was about 19 that I really became interested in the industry and changed my degree to Game Programming. I have been dabbling in a few different games and have come to love shooter games. I was interested in what everyones gaming genre was and why.

I enjoy story heavy games, so I prefer the RPG and action/adventure genres. If the story is good enough, I will branch out to an FPS like the Bioshock series, but even that had some RPG elements.

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And what is a good example of those genres? It seems that nowadays games are crossing over and can be considered several differnt genres. Am I correct in believing that games now or never just one genre?

I think you can classify a game in a certain genre even if it does contain other elements. Bioshock is definitely a FPS cause you shoot things from a first person perspective. For action games I really liked Uncharted 2 & 3 and the Infamous games and for RPGs while I haven't grabbed onto games like Skyrim, I'm really looking forward to Ni No Kuni.

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If I had to choose a certain genre of games, I'm going to choose the Action RPG genre. I'm always in the mood for a good story, but I also prefer a game that requires some form of skill or challenge. More often than not, I get a great deal of satisfaction when defeating a challenging boss and/or mob through the use of my own skill as a player than the use of stats or over-leveling. That is why I hold games such as Dark Souls or Mass Effect in high regard. It does not matter what your level is or your high stats, you still need skill and a mind for strategy in order to take out your opponents and complete your objectives.

Overall, I like virtually all genres, but I tend to play alot of retro (or in the retro-style) games as of late, shooters/shmups, Strategy games (read: the various Magic:the Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers series) & RPGs.

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Protip: Dying in a game is a bad thing. The more you know....

I definitely lean towards RPGs with lots of story, but I enjoy action/adventure games like Uncharted, Assassin's Creed, Batman: Arkham games, Ratchet and Clank, etc. if they have smooth combat mechanics that I can get a handle on quickly. Since I have a limited playing time these days, if I can't get into the controls very easily, I don't want to waste time struggling with it, when there are plenty of other fish in the sea!

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