Types of games

Field games (sports)Association football is a popular sport worldwide.Association football is a popular sport worldwide.Main article: SportsSports are arguably the most popular type of game.[citation needed] Many sports require special equipment and dedicated playing fields, leading to the involvement of a community much larger than the group of players. A city or town may set aside such resources for the benefit of the young, as in Little League.Popular sports may have spectators who are entertained just by watching games. A community will often align itself with a local sports team that supposedly represents it (even if the team or most of its players only recently moved in); they often align themselves against their opponents or have traditional rivalries. The concept of fandom began with sports fans.Stanley Fish cited[citation needed] the balls and strikes of baseball as a clear example of social construction, the operation of rules on the game's tools. While the strike zone target is governed by the rules of the game, it epitomizes the category of things that exist only because people have agreed to treat them as real. No pitch is a ball or a strike until it has been labeled as such by an appropriate authority, the plate umpire, whose judgment on this matter cannot be challenged within the current game.Certain competitive sports, such as racing and gymnastics, are not games by definitions such as Crawford’s (see above, despite the inclusion of many in the Olympic Games) because competitors do not interact with their opponents.[edit] Video gameMain article: Video gameA video game is a computer- or microprocessor-controlled game. Computers can create virtual tools to be used in a game, such as cards or dice.A computer or video game uses one or more input devices, typically a button/joystick combination (on arcade games); a keyboard, mouse and/or trackball (computer games); or a controller or a motion sensitive tool. (console games). More esoteric devices such as paddle controllers have also been used for input. In computer games, the evolution of user interfaces from simple keyboard to mouse, joystick or joypad has profoundly changed the nature of game development.[citation needed]It has been suggested that any game can be emulated as a computer game.[citation needed] Because computer games are simulations, every conceviable tool, environment or rule can be created.[dubious — see talk page] Whether or not the computer emulation possesses the same gameplay as the original game is an open question.[citation needed]In more open-ended computer simulations, aka sandbox-style games, notably those designed by Will Wright, the player may be free to do whatever they like within the confines of the virtual universe. Due to the lack of goals or opposition, it is disputed whether these programs are games or toys. (Crawford specifically mentions Wright’s SimCity as an example of a toy.[2])[edit] Board gamesParcheesi is a board game originating in India.Parcheesi is a board game originating in India.Main article: Board gameBoard games use as a central tool a board on which the players' status, resources, and progress are tracked using physical tokens. Most also involve dice and/or cards. Most games that simulate war are board games, and the board may be a map on which the players' tokens move.[edit] Card gamesMain article: Card gameCard games use as a central tool a deck of cards. The cards may be a standard Anglo-American (52-card) deck of playing cards (such as Go Fish or Crazy Eights, or a deck specific to the individual game (such as Set). Uno and Rook are examples of games that were originally played with a standard deck and have since been commercialized with customized decks.[edit] Role playing gamesMain article: Role playing gameRole-playing games, often abbreviated as RPGs, are a type of game in which the participants assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create stories and world setting. Examples of computer roleplaying games are RuneScape, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, Final Fantasy, Fable: The Lost Chapters, Elder Scrolls, and Anarchy Online. Pen-and-paper roleplaying games include, for example, Dungeons & Dragons and GURPS.[edit] Single-player gamesSingle-player games are unique in respect to the type of challenges a player faces. Unlike a game with multiple players competing with or against each other to reach the game's goal, a one-player game is a battle solely against an element of the environment (an artificial opponent), against one's own skills, against time or against chance. Playing with a yo-yo or playing tennis against a wall is not generally recognised as playing a game due to the lack of any formidable opposition. This is not true, though, for a single-player computer game where the computer provides opposition.Lawn gamesMain article: Lawn gameLawn games are outdoor games that can be played on a lawn. Many games that are traditionally played on a pitch are marketed as "lawn games" for home use in a front or back yard. Common lawn games include Horseshoes, Croquet, Bocce and Stake.
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Arcade game
The first popular "arcade games" were early amusement park midway games such as shooting galleries, ball toss games, and the earliest coin-operated machines, such as those which claim to tell a person their fortune or played mechanical music. Although none of these were coin-operated games themselves, the old midways of 1920s-era amusement parks (such as Coney Island in New York) provided the inspiration and atmosphere of later arcade games.In the 1930s, the earliest coin-operated pinball machines were made. These early amusement devices were distinct from their later electronic cousins in that they were made of wood, did not have plungers or lit-up bonus surfaces on the playing field, and used mechanical instead of electronic scoring readouts. By around 1977, most pinball machines in production switched to using solid state electronics for both operation and scoring.History of…Video gamesConsole gamesFirst generationSecond generationVideo game crash of 1983Third generationFourth generationFifth generationSixth generationSeventh generationArcade gamesGolden Age of Arcade GamesIn 1972, Atari was formed by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari essentially created the coin-operated video game industry with the game PONG, the smash hit electronic ping pong video game. PONG proved to be popular, but imitators helped keep Atari from dominating the fledging coin-operated videogame market. Nonetheless, video game arcades sprang up in shopping malls and small, "corner arcades" appeared in restaurants, grocery stores, bars and movie theaters all over the United States and other countries during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Games such as Space Invaders (1978), Galaxian (1979), Pac-Man (1980), Battlezone (1980), and Donkey Kong (1981) were especially popular.By the late-1980s, the arcade video game craze was beginning to fade due to the reputation of arcades as being seedy, unsafe places as well as the advances in home video game console technology. The last gasp of the youth arcade subculture, as it once was, may have been the advent of two-player fighting games such as Street Fighter II (1991) by Capcom, Mortal Kombat (1992) by Midway Games, Fatal Fury (1992), and King of Fighters (1994-2005) by SNK.By 1996, 32-bit home video game consoles and computers with 3D accelerator cards had reached technological parity with arcade equipment — arcade games had always been based on commodity technology, but their advantage over previous generations of home system was in their ability to customize and use the latest graphics and sound chips, much as PC games of today do. Declines in arcade sales volume meant that this approach was no longer cost-effective. The arcades also lost their status as the forefront of new game releases. Given the choice between playing a game at an arcade three or four times (perhaps 15 minutes of play for a typical arcade game), and renting, at about the same price, the exact same game — for a video game console — the console was the clear winner. Fighting games were the most attractive feature for arcades, since they offered the prospect of face-to-face competition and tournaments, which correspondingly led players to practice more (and spend more money in the arcade), but they couldn't support the business all by themselves.Recent 20th anniversary arcade machine, combining two video gamesRecent 20th anniversary arcade machine, combining two video gamesTo stay in business, the arcades themselves were reinvented as "fun centers" such as Chuck E. Cheese's, with arcade games being supplemented by a variety of other attractions, most notably the redemption game. Many old video game arcades have long since closed and classic coin-operated games have become largely the province of dedicated hobbyists.Today's arcades have found a niche in games that use special controllers largely inaccessible to home users. An alternative interpretation (one which includes fighting games, which continue to thrive and require no special controller) is that the arcade game is now a more socially-oriented hangout, with games that focus on an individual's performance, rather than the game's content, as the primary form of novelty. Examples of today's popular genres are rhythm games such as Dance Dance Revolution (1998) and DrumMania (1999), and rail shooters such as House of the Dead (1998) and Time Crisis. However, with the increase of Internet cafes opening (which also provide gaming services), the need for video arcades and such arcade games are reduced, and many have been shut down or merged with the cafes as a result.TechnologyVirtually all modern arcade games (other than the very traditional midway-type games at county fairs) make extensive use of solid state electronics and integrated circuits. Coin-operated arcade video games generally use custom per-game hardware with multiple CPUs, highly specialized sound and graphics chips and/or boards, and the latest in computer graphics display technology. Sometimes, arcade games are controllable via more immersing and realistic means than either PC or console games, and feature specialized ambiance or control accessories, including fully enclosed dynamic cabinets with force feedback controls, dedicated lightguns, rear-projection displays, reproductions of car or plane cockpits and even motorcycle or horse-shaped controllers, or even highly dedicated controllers such as dancing mats and fishing rods. These accessories are usually what set modern arcade games apart from PC or console games, as they are usually too bulky, expensive and specialized to be used with typical home PCs and consoles.