While homo sapiens assigns significance to a wide variety of genres of play (and subgenres within those categories) and individuals often entangle their self-identity with their choice of leisure activity, most games fit into one or more of these standard categories:
- Put other player(s) into a situation before they can put you into a situation (ie: chess, mahjong, counterstrike).
- Avoid putting yourself into a situation (ie: tetris, solitaire).
- Invent a situation that's interesting to be in (ie: sim city, blades in the dark)
- Interact with the world in satisfying ways (ie: skipping rocks, drumming)
- Repeat actions until a situation naturally develops (ie: runescape, manual labor)