I've been writing for over half of my entire life, and about videogames in a professional capacity for over three years now—so I mean it when I say that there is nothing I resent more about the English language than the need to define something. It's a bloody headache, especially when it comes to something so ephemeral as genre.
It's still important, mind—the difference between a Strategy game and an RPG is still useful—but the headaches I get when arguing over whether something like Deadlock is more of a MOBA than a hero shooter (psst, it's a MOBA) are almost not worth the effort.
These kinds of problems turn out to be internal at some games studios, too. Take Dune: Awakening director Joel Bylos, who has finally settled—for now, temporarily—on the fact that Awakening is not, in fact, an MMO, per this interview...
English (US)