So if many modern Roguelikes do not possess all these traits, does that mean that none of them are Roguelikes? I would argue no. Rather, I believe the problem is with the definition itself. The Berlin Interpretation was created over a decade ago, and since then the genre has changed and evolved. As a result, the definition is out of date and out of touch with modern Roguelikes and is written far too exclusionary. Many of its factors are either too arbitrary, too vague, or too specific. Additionally, the Non-Modal factor doesn’t even encompass ADOM, Angband, and Crawl, all games which it claims belong in the Roguelike canon. When taken together, this shows that the Berlin Interpretation doesn’t define what makes a Roguelike a “Roguelike,” but rather what makes the game Rogue “Rogue.” Because of this, we have no choice but to reject the Berlin Interpretation and instead find an alternative definition.
Read moreDoomed to be Doom Clones? How Genres Are Created
Recently for my Games and Society course, I wrote a paper about how to define Roguelikes as a genre. Turns out that topic is a bit complicated, so I decided to break it down into several smaller blog posts. Today, I wanted to share something broad I learned while researching that paper about how video game genres come to be.
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