Kolya on 8/11/2009 at 12:40
"FPS" alone is hardly a descriptive name of a homogeneous genre - that would mean mirror's edge and doomIII were in the same genre - scifi/survival/horror on the other hand is a workable genre description, which means settings, themes and the conventions attached to them do play a role in usable genre specifications. So does the gameplay (fps/godgame/jump'n'run), but only as a part.
So how many scifi-survival-horror-fps were there before SS1? Enough to make up a genre with set themes, topoi, conventions that could be defied? If there weren't, then SS1 defined this genre.
Nameless Voice on 8/11/2009 at 13:15
Thief could be defined as "genre-defying" because it's often classified as a first-person shooter, but discourages and often strictly forbids killing, which is a staple of the FPS genre.
