The classification of a particular piece of entertainment media into one or more genres is central to the way in which audiences and critics understand, interpret, and form judgments about the piece. The genres to which works belong reveal formal elements shared by different works within a medium and thus provide common grounds upon which works can be compared and evaluated. In general, media like television shows and movies are fairly easy to sort into different genres – the identification of which sort of genre a work belongs to is among the first concept defined by the work’s producer. The genre is either declared outright or made obvious by short scene selections in trailers. Genre is the first aspect in establishing the work’s target audience. Furthermore, genre is the primary means of categorizing works in critical reviews and award nominations. When new films or TV programs blur the line between genres, new genres or subgenres are often identified to describe them. For example, drama programs with humorous plotlines are frequently referred to as “dramedies”, dramatic movies with a primarily female audience become “chick flicks”, etc.
With digital games, however, genre is not such a straightforward matter. According to Mark J.P. Wolf’s essay Genre and the Video Game, “video game genre study differs markedly from literary or film genre study due to the direct and active participation of the audience in the form of the surrogate player-character, who acts within the game’s diegetic world, taking part in the central conflict of the game’s narrative.” However, the interactive narrative form is not the only point of diversion between digital games and other types of media, nor can the level of interactivity alone be used exclusively to determine the genre of a particular digital game. For how are we to describe such games where there is no such “surrogate player-character”, or those in which there isn’t even a narrative conflict to interact with in the first place? Many games that fall under this description are difficult to categorize in terms of interactivity, let alone by genre, and thus make the process of critical analysis based on genre a very complicated issue.
In his essay, Wolf continues to provide an extensive and detailed list intended to portray digital game genres defined on the basis of the level of interactivity a player has with a game – though admittedly, using this list to analyze some games results in a classification so muddled as to be self defeating; if indeed the primary function of a genre is to provide a reference point to facilitate the evaluation and analysis of the works belonging to it, then abstract digital games pose an interesting problem for the use of genre in the study of this medium.
An example of such a game is the digital adaptation of the totally addictive Sudoku puzzles which have recently become very popular internationally in the past couple of years. In spite of its name (which translates from Japanese to “single number”), the logic game is actually of American origin from the early 1980’s, popularized in Japan and re-Americanized with some modifications. Both the original pencil and paper game and the digital adaptations have the same simple rules: a 9x9 square, further divided into 9 3x3 boxes (totaling of 81 small boxes), is given, with a varying quantity of digits 1-9 filled in. The player’s objective is to complete the puzzle by filling all the empty boxes in with the digits 1-9 such that every row, column, and small 3x3 box contains each digit only once. The puzzles come in degrees of difficulty, ranging from beginner or easy to very difficult.
Pen and paper versions of the game can be found these days in any newspaper or in puzzle books. Although the digital version of these puzzles is available on handheld consoles like the Nintendo DS and PS Portable, computer programs featuring Sudoku are widely available on cell phones and for free on many, many, many websites (here's a longgggg list of web Sudoku sites).
The particular features of the digital game vary greatly depending on the source, but most computerized versions provide monitoring to keep track of the player’s game time and check for errors as the player goes along; furthermore, other sources allow the player to digitally “pencil in” multiple numbers in a particular box, allowing them to see all possible solutions at once, in closer imitation of the original pencil and paper puzzle.
As such, the digital Sudoku games fall into several of Wolf’s interactivity-based categories.
Since there is no narrative structure or characters to speak of, and has nonrepresentational graphics, the game is decidedly abstract in form, and complies with Wolf’s definition of the “abstract” games as having the objective of “constructing, visiting, or filling every part of the screen.” However, Wolf specifies in his definition of the “abstract” genre that “games which are adaptations of games in existing media” should not be categorized as such, and refers us to the “adaptation” genre. This is likely an appropriate genre for digital Sudoku. It obviously also falls into Wolf’s “pencil-and-paper games” category, as well as the “puzzle” category, simply by definition. But it could also be identified as a member of the “educational” category; though it is not necessarily a number game, it is a logic game, and certainly involves the player’s use of abstract thinking and skills of deduction. It’s also a “strategy” type game – fast action isn’t necessary, and a player has to utilize some kind of complex logical strategy to determine which numbers can and can’t go into a particular box, and further strategy to decide which number must be decided upon. It also incorporates some aspects of the “racing” genre: it’s possible on many websites for a player to save the time it took them to complete a puzzle and email the puzzle to a friend, inviting them to try and beat the first player’s time.
So, if we are to comply with Wolf's criteria, we arrive at the very tricky question of which genre best fits digital Sudoku? I think the answer is arbitrary. The game is so well known as to practically count as a genre in and of itself. As for me, all I care about is that it's fun and it gets my brain going in the morning (along with the obligatory vat of coffee) - but beware, it's completely addictive.
