but genres are also important. Here's why.

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH, this video is secretly very queer, you're welcome.

You can probably define a horror game or a puzzle game, but what is a “thriller game”? You might not think of Alan Wake. It’s usually classified as “action-adventure,” whatever that means. In fact, the only person I’ve ever seen define Alan Wake as a “thriller game”... is Sam Lake, the lead writer of Alan Wake. And what does that guy even know!

I didn’t play Alan Wake for the longest time, because when I asked people if it was horror, they said no. I disagree, but that's not really what this video essay is about!

It's about genres, and why they're actually super important. We take them for granted, but they actually have a huge effect on what kind of media we consume, AND HOW we consume it. If you doubt that, consider the strange case of Starship Troopers. YES WE'RE RE-LITIGATING STARSHIP TROOPERS. It's a satire, but everybody just though it was an action movie, so it bombed.

Calling Alan Wake a thriller didn't do any lasting damage to the game or franchise, but it does highlight an issue with genres, especially video game genres (which btw are terrible. Please stay to the end of the video to hear my pitch on an alternate game genre structure).

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