Browser games
- Browser games can be played without first having to be downloaded or installed, directly and for free in any internet browser. They are entirely independent of specific platforms, and can be based entirely on HTML, or for an even better multimedia-experience, on plug-ins such as Flash or Unity.
Casual Games
- Casual Games, as the term suggests, are games that can be played at any time, without requiring lengthy introductions. They are easily operated and allow players to gain achievements and thus have a sense of success equally fast and easily. It’s their intuitive control, made popular by games programmed for mobile devices as well as the instant rewards for successful actions, which make casual games so enjoyable.
Free 2 Play
- The term free-to-play refers to games that can be downloaded and played for free or played for free directly in any web browser. Players are not charged for acquiring or playing the games, and are not obligated to pay subscription fees or similar. They can, however, make use of additional offers such as premium memberships or exclusive items in exchange for real money.
Online games
- The first visually enhanced online games playable with thousands of fellow players have been developed in the 1990ies. The genre is subdivided into browser-based and client-based multi-player-games. Client-based games require to be downloaded first.
Player versus Player (PvP)
- In Player versus Player or, in brief PvP encounters, players use avatars or characters, to engage in direct combats with other real players. Playing against an artificial intelligence, as opposed to facing real persons’ characters, is referred to as PvE (Player versus Environment).
Role-playing games (RPGs)
- In role-playing games or RPGs, players assume the role of a character they identify with. The character is equipped with useful gear and used to explore as well as to shape the game world, and engage in combats with other players in what are mostly round-based battles (cp. PvP). Due to their technological and visual potential, online role-playing games have gathered millions of followers already.
Business simulation games
- Business simulation games, also known as economic simulation games, are ranked among the strategy or tycoon games. Here, combat-action only occurs very marginally or does not exist at all, however. Business simulations allow players to – in a simplified manner – reenact real-life economic interdependencies and production chains.
Action games
- In action games, players use avatars or vehicles to live through the adventures they are faced with. Health points make the character or vehicle mortal or destroyable. That’s why one of the main challenges players are faced with in action games is, to try and make it through the game, or parts of the game, such as battles, jump and runs or obstacles, as unharmed as possible.
Strategy games
- Strategy games emphasize the need to strategically plan ahead, as opposed to having to quickly react to new situations. The element of chance therefore is only rarely involved in strategy games. Instead, players need to assess the structures of situations the game confronts them with, and consider the possible long-term effects of their moves in advance.
Tycoon games
- Tycoon games are not true genre by themselves, but form part of the genre of strategy games or simulation games. Football managers, for instance, can be considered tycoon games. Depending on what the tycoon game focuses on, players are either asked to shape economic or military scenarios. They may, for instance, develop their own farm (such as in the game MyFreeFarm), a town, or an entire empire.
HTML-Games
- HTML-Games require neither downloads nor additional plug-ins such as Unity or Flash, and can therefore be played entirely independent from specific platforms. The games’ data and all actions carried out inside the games, are being processed and saved on the servers’ side and therefore don’t strain the players’ hardware in any way. Thanks to the markup language HTML5, developers can now create visually demanding, animated games.