For a Pragmatic Study of the Generic Categorization of Video Games: The Case of Survival Horror

The study of video game genres has been largely inspired by theories
from other media, notably literature and film. In doing so, it has also taken up
the aporias of these other theories, the question of genres never having found
truly satisfactory answers. I will focus here on the case of survival horror in or der to explore three types of generic theory (formalist, emotional and semio pragmatic) and to expose their strengths, their weaknesses, in particular by
pointing out the relative artificiality of certain approaches. Then, on the basis of
the comments made, I will set out the criteria that should be considered as part
of a generic classification close to the actual use of gamers, who remain the
main people interested in the use of genres. However, the exact methodology
for taking such criteria into account has yet to be defined.