How do we categorise games like dear ester, gone home and depression quest?

[StriderShinryu]

This is the definition I came up for them:

Interactive Experience

"A Game that has little to no gameplay with a heavy emphasis on story and atmosphere."

If you can come up with a better category name and defintion to better define these games post it.

I don't think that's a bad definition, except I would replace "little to no gameplay" with "little to no traditional gameplay" or maybe "little to no reliance on traditional gameplay systems." Games like Gone Home often don't rely on traditional gameplay mechanics like failure states, life bars, combat, etc. but I don't think it's fair to say they have "no gameplay."

 

[TristanBelmont]

I know this sounds like a big "fuck you" but I think "Interactive Screensaver" is good.

 

[Saetha]

I would call them "experimental games". You know, like those experimental movies.

They're not really experimental, though. They aren't playing around with the format or it's accepted conventions. They're just ignoring them. If they cut out the expected elements and replaced them with something else, then I'd say experimental would be fitting. But in reality, they're just stripped-down first-person games. They're aren't bringing anything innovative like, say, playing the environment around the player, rather than the player themselves. It's just... here's an FPS, only we took out the "S" bit and gave it a new setting.

 

[TheRiddler]

A couple options:

-"Art Game": Similar to the idea of an "art film". Only problem is that it's vague. Is Journey an art game? If yes, are Bioshock and Spec Ops: The Line?

-"Minimalist Game": I rather like this one. Games in this genre would be those that're sparse, with relatively little momentary engagement.

-"Choose Your Own Adventure Game": You know, like the books. Applies specifically to games like The Walking Dead and Depression Quest. Where the only means of interaction with the game is a series of multiple-choices.

 

[Happiness Assassin]

Categorizations:

Dear Ester - First Person Walker. If Portal is classified as a First Person Puzzler, then this fits. Personally I would prefer straight up walking simulator. Though if I were feeling incredibly pretentious I would probably throw "post-modern" somewhere in there.

Gone Home - First Person Point and Click Adventure Game. I have only ever watched playthroughs of this, but that is pretty much what it seems like. Maybe a mystery title.

Depression Quest - Visual novel. Or non-visual pamphlet, depending on how snarky you are.

Captcha: good for nothing

Okay, that is not nice.

 

[T_ConX]

I'd like to argue that Gone Home and Dear Ester are Walking Simulators, but since one of my gripes with both games was the slow walking speed, I think 'Glacier Simulator' works better.

Depression Quest, like just about everything built with Twine, fits nicely into the Visual Novel genre (sans visuals, or course).

 

[VanQ]

I'd like to argue that Gone Home and Dear Ester are Walking Simulators, but since one of my gripes with both games was the slow walking speed, I think 'Glacier Simulator' works better.

Depression Quest, like just about everything built with Twine, fits nicely into the Visual Novel genre (sans visuals, or course).

Perhaps "Digital Novel" would suit it better. From the way it "played" it was no different to the choose your own adventure Goosebumps novels by R.L. Stein except the writer of only one of those was actually talented.

 

[Zontar]

I'd put Gone Home and Dear Ester in the broad "Art Game" category, while Depression Quest fits the bill of "Visual Novel" to a tee. As a fan of Visual Novels I know one when I see one, and, though a pretty low quality and fairly short one, it definitely is one. Though then again, Sear Ester and Gone Home aren't exactly good games either. Now Journey, THAT's a good art game. Always remembering that it's a game as well as a story, I can't think of any Art Game out there which I'd play again after finishing it.

 

[sataricon]

Digital Novel sounds good.

 

[Mrkillhappy]

I think the term Avant-garde would fit nicely with games like these that are hard if not impossible to define in traditional terms (though for the examples I feel those titles/games used as examples to be fairly pretentious).

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

-"Minimalist Game": I rather like this one. Games in this genre would be those that're sparse, with relatively little momentary engagement.

I think that's a pretty good one. Usually these "games" have almost all mechanics that define other genres stripped out of them, so at least that'd come across with the word "minimalist".

The problem with calling these types of things "games" is that IMO the word "game" implies some sort of conflict or competitive situation, whether against the computer or other players. In a game (again all IMO) there's some goal, a payoff to strive towards (gaining new levels, beating a boss, solving a puzzle, hell, even outside of games: chess, go, all sports, all board games, card games, tabletop games etc.). Though I haven't played any of these, I've understood that there's nothing like it there. You can move to the end of the narrative, but is there something to be gained from it aside from seeing the story all the way through?

My vote for "minimalist videogame"

 

[veloper]

Interactive experience
interactive fiction
walking simulator
minimalist game


I'm fine with all and any of these labels, just as long as they don't sell them as "adventure" games. That one is already in use for a variant of puzzle games with a big focus on storytelling.

 

[Dizchu]

I think Gone Home is far more gamey than Dear Esther and Depression Quest.

Dear Esther is like a guided tour.

Depression Quest is basically filling out a form.

How would The Stanley Parable fit in?

 

[Wolf In A Bear Suit]

An aesthetic narrative. I think that works, although my own personal category for games like Dear Esther is "Won't play"