Most Popular Literary and Roleplaying Genres

[Vekseid]

Alright, so I'm working on a Rabbit Hole replacement as requested. In the interest of getting this done quickly and efficiently, I'm using a partially denormalized database setup. In non-technical speak, this means I only have room for about thirty genres, and they need to be hard coded. I feel this is plenty for a quick and dirty system I want to eventually dispense with anyway.

As with systems, I have room for 31, but unlike them I don't have a complete list yet, so any suggestions are welcome and appreciated : )

[Lilias]

Off the top of my head:

High Fantasy
Modern/Urban Fantasy
Modern Realistic
Historical
Sci-Fi
D&D
oWoD
nWoD
Videogames
Anime

Could be broken down as needed...

[Caeli]

Adventure
Action
Fantasy
Political Intrigue
Romance <-- might or might not be redundant...
Futuristic
Post-Apocalyptic
Dystopian
Steampunk
Cyberpunk
Horror

Video games and anime can be put into a catch-all category called "Fan-Based", which could also include movies, books, and other roleplays that involved stories using previously-created settings or characters.

[Vekseid]

D&D
oWoD
nWoD

I'm specifically placing game systems on their own, mind : )

[Lilias]

I'm specifically placing game systems on their own, mind : )

That could save places in the genres, if we put them all under a catch-all 'P&P Games' category - keeping the enthusiasts of niche games happy as well.

[Vekseid]

No I mean - see thread: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=40774.0

[Lilias]

I saw that, just suggesting the P&P category as settings alone, implying that they can very well be treated as freeform, without system considerations. Just a thought.

[Greenthorn]

You don't have my category...Extreme  ::)

[Will]

That's not a setting, GT. ::)  Unless you're at a skate park. :P

[Greenthorn]

It is indeed a setting.  It needs a standalone entry dangnabbit (if there's room for it). 

Extreme shouldn't end up being a "like" because no one -really likes those things in RL (unless their last name is Manson or they go by Buffalo Bill).  It's a setting!

Now shush Will!

[Caeli]

Extreme isn't a genre, nor do I really think it is a setting - it's more of a categorization of sexual activity in a roleplay.

I imagine it would fit in more with, say, a set of choices following our roleplaying boards: Light, Bondage, Non-Consensual, and Extreme.

[Greenthorn]

Well alright...but extreme doesn't categorized a certain sexual activity...at least not to me...it's a setting (to me) since many of my games don't revolve around sex  ;)

I'm not debating this...it's not a debatable thing...we all know I'm a strange thinker and therefore I shrug and walk away from all of you normal people <3

;D

[Bliss]

Adventure
Action
Fantasy
Political Intrigue
Romance <-- might or might not be redundant...
Futuristic
Post-Apocalyptic
Dystopian
Steampunk
Cyberpunk
Horror

Video games and anime can be put into a catch-all category called "Fan-Based", which could also include movies, books, and other roleplays that involved stories using previously-created settings or characters.

Going off the above and adding a couple major genres from the bookstore I used to work in:

Western
Contemporary
Mystery

[Haibane]

Hm. I'm not convinced you meant genres, Veks. There are tons, many of which are not relevant to what we do here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_genre

I suspect classifications might be more useful which are a bit different. Caeli's list is a great start and I don't think we'll use all 30 slots.

To:

Adventure
Action
Fantasy
Political Intrigue
Romance
Futuristic
Post-Apocalyptic
Dystopian
Steampunk
Cyberpunk
Horror

And:

Western
Contemporary
Mystery

I'd suggest:

Historical
Crime
Thriller
Tragedy
Military/War Setting
Non-Original Setting (this covers anime, movies, books, TV shows, etc)

But then immediately we're into confusion since 'anime' (or anything else based on a TV show) isn't either a genre or a category, merely a basis of the story background. Within anime, for example, you can have Action, Romance, Mystery, Thriller... etc. So I'd suggest we dispense with the idea of anime or TV show based settings as a classification.

Many stories have several classifications. How had you planned to handle that?

Systems will be trickier to handle since I think the fans of each will clamour for the inclusion of their favourites and I expect there's well over 31 systems used on E. I expect people will want to list several just for the various D&D rulesets alone whereas I, as a non-systems gamer, would lump all D&D rules into just one system - D&D.

[Indigo]

...rather like a 'Fan Based' or 'Media Based' section?

Either have those ideas that are from 'movies/books/shows' (i.e fan/media based) be their own seperate genre, or split them into what they fall into (fantasy/romance/etc)?

I personally think it would be easier to keep them together within their own genre, because people will pretty much instantly know what type of RP to expect if they are familiar with the 'movie/book/show'.

Plus browsing will be easier for people.. Let's say someone is looking for a 'Pokemon' RP...they know where to look for it, in the fan/media section, rather then having to go through the other genres hoping to find one.

[Vandren]

I'd agree that Extreme is more a classification of intent or rating than a setting as such.

Here are the ones we've currently go set up on the wiki for Games.

[Haibane]

Indigo - hm, yeah, good points. I need to get my head round exactly what will this list be used for?

Is this going to be a statistical tool for the site so members can log which classes of story they game in, or will it be used by individuals to show to interested parties what they themselves are interested in (aka Rabbit Hole?)

[Caeli]

Alright, so I'm working on a Rabbit Hole replacement as requested.

Think that's the answer to what you're asking? Veks can probably explain more if that's not exactly it.

[Fragile Dreams]

My own favorite, Mythology. I would say more, but everybody covered up everything so far. >.>

[Mnemaxa]

Romance <-- might or might not be redundant...

No, romance is not redundant - it's a settign of it's own. Romance can be laced into other genre's, but there are a number of people who specifically play out romances sans other genre and setting scenes.

[Nadir]

How did I know you were going to say that Mnem?

And there should be a 'Porn' option for the people who play PWP games.

[Caeli]

Is porn purely visual (i.e., videos / movies), or does it apply to literary work, too?

[Nadir]

Well call it erotica then, though that might send the wrong signal.

[Mnemaxa]

Is porn purely visual (i.e., videos / movies), or does it apply to literary work, too?

There are a few publishing companies that actually put out literal 'written porn, just like what you would see on a movie.  Nearly no plot, or a very basic plot, and lots of description.  So, yes, there is literary porn.  Not erotica, which is another type or writing entirely.

[Bliss]

When it's written porn, I think it's often called "smut". :D

[Nadir]

I'd consider what most people write in here as smut. I'm talking about porn, which has little of no plot.

[Bliss]

Oooh, linguistic and connotative differences!

I consider a lot of what is written on here to be erotica, with smatterings of smut (which in my mind is fairly plotless erotica).

....although the erotica I recently had published is now being offered on the press's site in the "FREE SMUT!" section, so I'll go over here and nom on my grain of salt. :D

[Zeitgeist]

Has 'Ancient' been covered? Such as ancient Greece? Perhaps that falls under a more general category of Historical, but then an ancient setting doesn't have to be based on historical events by any means.

[Nessy]

I would think Historical would cover Ancient but it might not cover Pre-historic.

[Haibane]

My guess is if it wasn't historical ancient it would fall under the fantasy heading, or one of them.

And I'm with Bliss. To me porn is visual smut and erotica is written smut ;)

You can also get smut smut which is plotless or badly written erotica!

[Inkidu]

From a traditional standpoint there are very few actual genres of literature.

Really traditional: Poetry, prose, non-fiction.

Modern traditional: Non-fiction, fiction, science-fiction, fantasy, mystery, and horror.

Nowadays, it's a hodgepodge of adjectives and whatnot that make me reach for aspirin.   

[Nessy]

seemed like until recently, sci-fiction and fantasy kept getting lumped together, which I hated. I think there are some pretty strong differences between the two myself.

[Mnemaxa]

seemed like until recently, sci-fiction and fantasy kept getting lumped together, which I hated. I think there are some pretty strong differences between the two myself.

You may thank Greg Bear, Issac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke for them finally making a distinction between Fantasy and Science fiction - their 'hard science' fiction proved to be the final bricks in the wall that separated fantasy and science fiction, which developed a new category, 'science fantasy' as a result.

[Haibane]

Call me old-fashioned but to me 'fantasy' is set in an undefined 'past', that involves no electricity, internal combustion engines or steam power and usually includes fantastical creatures and magic.

Science fiction is set in a 'future' and usually includes energy sources we do not yet have, often interstellar space travel, useful AI, practical man-like robots and such.

I've never thought of any confusion at all between 'fantasy' and 'science-fiction'.

Did I learn something wrong at school somewhere?

[Inkidu]

Call me old-fashioned but to me 'fantasy' is set in an undefined 'past', that involves no electricity, internal combustion engines or steam power and usually includes fantastical creatures and magic.

Science fiction is set in a 'future' and usually includes energy sources we do not yet have, often interstellar space travel, useful AI, practical man-like robots and such.

I've never thought of any confusion at all between 'fantasy' and 'science-fiction'.

Did I learn something wrong at school somewhere?

Fantasy doesn't deal in fiction or hypothetical fiction. It deals in a more or less from-scratch universe with its own set of rules. That's why the two are often lumped together. The difference is that fantasy produces writers' conveniences like magic. Science-fiction tends to have some physical logic behind it.

Fantasy doesn't have to be in the past. It has to have elements of fantasy.

I believe one author actually had a human race totally saturated in magic, but half way through the cycle they discover an extra-terrestrial ship. That's why all this genre-pandering tends to be counterproductive.

If I want humans shooting elves with six-shooters like Native American's in a spaghetti western so be it. I have a right to call that fantasy. 

[Haibane]

Fantasy ...[edit]... deals in a more or less from-scratch universe with its own set of rules.

Yup, yup, I'm with you, and I agree. But fantasy often has more primitive technology than our contemporary world (Tolkien's Middle Earth being the best known example - horses and carts rather than cars and trains). What I meant was -- and I should have added a 'this is a gross generalisation' tag -- is that given our world now, any fantasy world is perceived to be in a 'past' while any science-fiction world is percieved to be in a 'future'.

I believe one author actually had a human race totally saturated in magic, but half way through the cycle they discover an extra-terrestrial ship. That's why all this genre-pandering tends to be counterproductive.

That's sci-fi in my book due to the presence of 'future' elements.

If I want humans shooting elves with six-shooters like Native American's in a spaghetti western so be it. I have a right to call that fantasy.

I agree, all 'past' elements.

You know if you apply that 'past versus future' rule to any non-earth fiction, I'm pretty comfortable in betting you'd end up having what is accepted as 'fantasy' on the one side of that and 'science-fiction' on the other.

[Caeli]

If you guys would like to discuss the differences between fantasy and science fiction or what have you, please do so in a separate thread - say in the Off Topic or On Topic boards. :-) This thread is for suggestions, not discussions or debates.

[Haibane]

Does the debate not define the suggestion?

[Caeli]

With thirty slots, the chances that 'science fiction' or 'fantasy' will get lopped off the list are... minimal, I think. I'm not speaking for Veks, but both are widely used enough today as 'genres' or literary classifications that I'm sure both will be included in any final list of literary and roleplaying genres that will be made.

Such a debate would be largely for spirit, or a discussion in semantics, or a discussion in personal interpretation.

[Haibane]

What I'm saying is 'what do you include in science-fiction or fantasy?'

Yes, they'll both be included, but if we have umpteen ideas of what they are, people will dump their RPs into possibly the wrong genre.

That's what I am talking about. Without definitions this entire project is a waste of effort.

[Nadir]

This project is for profiles - things like what you enjoy playing, not to label games.

[Haibane]

What is the purpose of E members labelling what types of games they play if we don't agree on what constitutes a genre? If I wrote 'sci-fi' but the person who checks my profile doesn't agree with my definition of 'sci-fi' what use is that profile?

Okay, let me get to the bottom line:

Without extremely narrow definitions that we all agree on (and which is patently never going to happen) what is the value of this project?

Sorry to throw a big damper on this but I'm having something of a WTF? moment here and I have this feeling that Vekseid's valuable time could better be spent elsewhere.

[Nadir]

... It's lucky we have a PM system that would clear up any confusion.

[Haibane]

So why not PM the people you think you might wish to play with - after checking their O/Os?

[Nadir]

This is to make the search more accurate.