What makes a game good? Depending on who you ask that question to, you could get very different responses. A business executive could have one idea of what a good game is. A person that lives and breathes games could have a completely different idea of what makes a good game. A person that plays games casually could have still another idea. This article is an attempt to document the different viewpoints of what makes a "good" game.

The first type is the Well-Marketed game. The standard of success for these games is the number of sales, and is about proportional to the amount of marketing either for the game specifically, or for the brand over a period of time. A somewhat recent example of this is Driv3r, which sold very well, despite receiving a number of poor reviews. In this case, the number of sales were high because of the brand that had been established by the previous two games in the Driver series. The Well-Marketed game is the "good" game of choice for business. While this type of game is not necessarily a shining example of great gameplay, it sells very well, which is the most important factor from a business standpoint. Driv3r suits this purpose in the short term, because it makes a good deal of money, but in the long term, the brand could be hurt if the people that bought the game because of the branding are not satisfied with it. The ideal Well-Marketed game is one that sells a high number of copies, and has quality that is just good enough to not noticably disappoint the people that buy it. Again, it doesn't have to have the greatest gameplay, it just has to not have bad gameplay.

The second type is the Simple game. The standard of success for these games is the number of people that play the game. Getting a large number of people to play this game is acheived by making the game as simple as possible to play, through a combination of very intuitive interface and very simple rules for playing, thus the name Simple game. An example of this is the game Deer Hunter. The Simple game is the "good" game of choice for casual gamers, because they can play right away without having to spend time learning complicated rules or controls, and they don't have to invest a lot of time on the game each time they play.

The third type is the Artistic game. The standard of success for these games is the amount of innovation in terms of gameplay, visual and audio presentation, level design, or a combination of any of these. This is usually reflected in the reviews that the game receives. A few examples of this type of game are Ico (gameplay), Jet Grind Radio (visual presentation), and Advance Wars (level design). The Artistic game is the "good" game of choice for hardcore gamers, because they are willing to invest time to learn new gameplay styles, recognize innovative presentation due to the fact that they've seen a large number of games in action, and recognize good level design also due to having seen a large number of games. This doesn't mean that non-hardcore gamers can't or don't recognize these qualities as well, it's just that hardcore gamers actively seek out these games because of those qualities.

Although these three types represent three very different philosophies of what makes a good game, none of them is a better philosophy than the other two. Each as a pure approach has advantages and disadvantages. If you wanted to have a pure Well-Marketed game, there is the obvious advantage of getting a lot of money out of it. But just because you get a lot of money from it doesn't mean that the game is necessarily very fun to play. If you decide to have a pure Simple game, you will have the advantage that a lot of people know and have played your game, but at the same time you risk alienating hardcore gamers and the gaming press by not significantly expanding on their experience. Finally, if you make a pure Artistic game, you'll offer a new experience, which is what hardcore gamers want, and what the gaming press will praise you for, but you may not make a lot of money off of it because casual gamers don't necessarily want a game that is vastly different from the games they already know and enjoy. Artistic games are great, but so is having a job, and if your Artistic game doesn't make money, you could be looking for a new place to work.

As pure types, these games would all leave at least one group unsatisfied, but luckily, these three categories of "good" games are not exclusive. For example, Halo had a lot of marketing behind it and it sold very well, making it a Well-Marketed game, but it also had innovative presentation and gameplay, characteristics of an Artistic game. Similarly, the aforementioned groups of business, casual gamer, and hardcore gamer are not exclusive groups either. Not all people on the business side only care about the money and many gamers fall in between being a casual gamer and a hardcore gamer. That is to say, they will take some time to learn how to play new games, but they are not too likely to pick up a game that is too different from established genres. Games that combine the qualities of the three types of "good" games tend to innovate and push the industry forward, but they still appeal to a large audience, which in turn generates more money. Developers strive (or should strive) to create such games, because when such games are made, they are always successful.

Note: views and opinions expressed in this article are the author's and are not necessarily those of Wolverine Soft.