yeah most of those are full of cheaters

Genres I gravitate to:

1. Resource-gathering real-time strategy (like Starcraft, Age of Empires series etc.).

I just generally find them relaxing and stimulating at the same time. They are generally quite easy to learn and the games tend to teach you the ropes bit by bit by starting with simple missions and advancing from there to more complex stuff etc.

Also there just is something quite satisfying in building a base and its simple economics from scratch, build a up its defences etc... and then later building an attack army and go smash your enemy's base down.

Also RTS games tend to be easy to just pick up and continue playing from an old save game, even if you hadn't played it for months (one exception: the Homeworld games, as I tend to forget the games' esoteric controls...).

2. CRPG

I like all the character developments (skills etc.) in CRPGs, seeing my weakling become a powerful and capable character over time. I prefer party-based RPGs where I get to try out several different kinds of character builds at the same time, which complement each other. I don't like as much single-player RPGs (like Diablo 2 etc.), where I am supposed to replay the game several times if I want to play it as different kinds of characters.

Also in many CRPGs, the combat feels a bit like some mini-RTS game (e.g. Baldur's Gate and such), which makes me like their combat for the same reasons I like RTS games.

However, unlike RTS games, CRPGs are quite often hard to come back if you've been away for months. Depends how good the quest log and mapping system in the game is.

3. FPS

They are simple and satisfying action games.

Genres i seem to avoid (I quite often buy them still and maybe want to play, but I am struggling to start playing them...)

1. Point'n'click adventure games

While in the distant past these were some of my most favorite games (like Space Quest games, Monkey island etc.), at some point I just got fed up with them, feeling they have nothing new to offer. It just presents you with odd "puzzles" that you have to figure out or you will be stuck, or pixel-hunt for some item.

Also this genre is prone to "mistakes" in design that can make the gaming experience very unsatisfying, e.g. requiring you to remember to take some item in the starting location of the game, or you will be totally stuck later in the game (without the ability to go back to get that item). Or, the puzzle is so odd that you can't really grasp it until afterwards, after someone has revealed it to you. A bit like those jokes "what is pink and knocks on the window?" etc. (that's a baby in the microwave oven, by the way).

If I ever start playing some point'n'click adventure game, I usually either drop it at the first puzzle where I become stuck, or I get a walkthrough from gamefaqs.com and finish the game with it. I hardly ever enjoy trying to figure out the puzzles in order to advance in the game.

2. Grand scale strategy games (Paradox games, Master of Orion, Civilization series etc.)

I usually am just totally lost when starting to play any of those games, having no idea what I am supposed to even do in those games. It seems to be a big step to actually learn to play such games. Admittedly, i haven't tried newer more modern Civ games, no idea if they are easier to start for total beginners... At least the early Civ games were like that, I was totally "what the heck I am supposed to do in this vast world map? wander around aimlessly? churn out more units all the time from my city? keep building decorations to my temple? all of the above?".

It is not like RTS games (Starcraft, Age of Empires etc.) which give you clear objectives for the mission.

3. The so called "puzzle games"

By "puzzle games" I don't mean twitch reaction games like Candy Crush Saga or Tetris which are really not about "puzzles" but quick reactions and decisions. It doesn't make it a puzzle to figure out that hey you should line similarly colored items together in a line... It is more about luck than tactic anyway.

The puzzle games I mean are where you are supposed to clear a level by figuring out some mechanical puzzle. Games like The Lost Vikings, The Incredible Machine, The Lemmings etc. To me they seem more work than fun, trying to figure out artificial mechanical problems in order to advance to the next screen with a bit more complicated mechanical problem, etc. etc. etc.

i do enough pure problem solving at my work already, I need some extra meat on games besides mere problem solving, to make them entertaining.

The worst subset of these puzzle games are all those games where you are supposed to use some made-up programming language to solve the puzzles. It just seems a bit silly to me to waste time to learn some made-up programming language for a mere game... when you could use that time to learn something real like python or java or C++ or whathaveyou, and do something real with them.

It is a bit like I had a friend who plays a guitar in a band, and he didn't quite get the idea of Guitar Hero and such games where you pretend to playing a guitar. Same thing basically, you pretend to be programming in those "programming games".

Yeah, but most of the times you don't know which games contain them until you chance upon them. I'd probably just soldier through these terrible sections then, provided they're a one time occurrence and not that long, if I'm already invested in the rest of the game. But I wouldn't buy any title that has it as a central game mechanic. Including those that are not insta-fail but still give you very slim chances of survival when discovered.

I also don't like heavy use of Simon Says QTE mechanics à la Fahrenheit but I guess they're not a genre in itself. Maybe I could have listed music games that make you press buttons like strings on a guitar or piano keys though.

Genres I like:

Fighting
Brawlers
Top Down Shooters
SHUMP
Rouge-Like
FPS

Genres I avoid:

RTS
Open World
Visual Novels
MMOs
Simulations
Tower Defense
RPGs
JRPGs
ARPGs
CRPGs
Crafting Survivals
Hero Based Shooters
MOBA
Sports

Prefer: Strategy, sim and roguelike, including action-roguelike if it has a tactical bent to it. Basically, I want a gameplay challenge and interesting mechanics. Other aspects are secondary at best.

Avoid: RPG (get triggered by too much stuff these days, and less interested in a story), point & click (same reasons), MOBA (garbage internet, toxic communities and just not much interest in this newfangled genre), online shooters, fighting.

Avoid at all costs, wouldn't even play for free: Puzzle, racing, sports, walking sim, kinetic novel, bullet-hell.

Gravitate towards:

1. Flight simulators; both civilian & combat, period indifferent. Also, space focused games.
2. Racing sims; strong preference to vintage auto-racing, so i'm right at home with Grand Prix Legends / Power & Glory 3.
3. wRPG, aRPG, Hack & Slash, Dungeon Crawlers etc; right at home with the Infinity Engine games, i won't say no to 3D action-RPGs like the TES series.
4. Strategy games; both RTS & TBS, period indifferent.
5. FPS; i enjoy chewing gum and kicking ass, but i'm always outta gum.

Off:

1. Platform games; i enjoyed Symphony of the Night though, so i guess i'm OK with metroidvanias.
2. Adventure games; I've played most of the classic ones that are currently on GOG, i love nearly everything Wadjet Eye. Still, i'm not a die-hard adventure person.
3. Roguelike; I enjoy playing games like The Curious Expedition, Caves of Qud, NEO Scavenger, ToME etc. I don't have the itch to play every roguelike game in existence though.
4. Arcade racing games; i enjoyed FlatOut a lot. Maybe a couple of others too, but i generally stay away from them.

Avoid completely:

1. jRPGs; i've played several of the classic ones, especially those that were released on PSX (and SNES maybe) back then. Nowadays i avoid them completely.
2. Anything that contains LGTB(-and whatever) stuff.

hmm not many like jrpgs

yeah pushed political agendas are not welcome in games

Like:
RPG
FPS / TPS
Metroidvanias/Platformers
Adventures
Action-Adventures
SHMUps
Turn based strategy
Flight/Space-Sims
VN (somewhat)

Disinterested:
Managerial
Tower Defense
Sports

Hate/Avoid:
Rogue-like
Souls-like
RTS
Anything with time-pressure or QTEs
Anything MMO

For me, generally it works like this:
* If I see or hear that such a game has such a segment, I won't buy it. If I've already bought it, I likely won't play it.
* If there's a way to skip or trivialize the section, I will do so, even it it involves a cheat or a mod, if I choose to play the game.
* If I have already played the game (the situation that Ocarina of Time is in), I will not replay it, because of the stealth sequences, unless I can find a patch or easy side-effect free glitch that removes or skips it.

Another game that's in a similar situation for me, but for a different reason, is Chrono Trigger. There is, at one point, a mandatory button mashing part, made worse by the fact that (IIRC) it's in between a boss figut and your first opportunity to save following that boss fight. As a result, I will not replay that (otherwise good) game without a turbo controller (real or emulated).

(I actually consider the Chrono Trigger case to be an accessibility issue with that game, that along with the part earlier where you have to press multiple buttons simultaneously to activate something. Not a bad game, but it does have those two parts that make the game inaccessible to some players without assistance.)

But will you *watch* any of these genres?
I mention this because:
* Bullet hells can be fun to watch, even if you would not be able to play such games. (For some people, troll games might also fall into this category; funny to watch people play them, but not everyone is comfortable actually *playing* them.)
* For kinetic novels, there's no difference between watching and "playing" them (putting "playing" in quotes because there's a reasonable argument about them not being games).

Why? (Specifically looking at point 2.)

I don't think I've seen any mention of political agendas in this topic before this post.

(Also, I like JRPGs as long as they're not too cutscene heavy, or if they allow you to skip all those pesky cutscenes.)

If you had a game with all the elements of a rogue-like except permadeath, and if that game allows you to do a full save anytime (which does not delete itself), would you consider that game, or would you still avoid it?

Gravitate towards: Dungeon Crawlers, Immersive Sims, First-Person Shooters

Off: Point & Click Adventure, Turn-Based Tactics, Platformers

Avoid: Grand Strategy, Third-Person Shooters, Management Sims

I just don't find the games particularly interesting / can't relate to the characters. Nothing wrong with the community itself.
Haha, you're right. :P

I've been hyped about FS2020 but didn't try it yet; still flying with FS2004. I made a thread sometime ago, just before its release, a search will reveal it. I think you better wait until you can experience VFR in all its photoreal glory. I heard that crashing on your house is the latest trend, so i guess you'd like to at least look pretty while trying that. :)

"BIG YES" = My favorites games, the ones I've been playing the most through my life

Racing
Role-Playing Game
First-Person Shooter
Horror / Survival Horror

"Meh" = Games I may enjoy from time to time

Puzzle ( It's a mix bag )
Platformers ( I hate the ones in 2D but 3D is fine )
Visual Novel ( Highly Depends of the type of story )
Versus Fighting ( only the "noob friendly" like Soul Calibur or Tekken )
SHMUPS ( never been a fan but I've enjoyed some of them like Caladrius Blaze )

"BIG NO" = Games I'm totally avoiding

Sports
Strategy
MMORPG
Point-And-Click
Competitive Online Multiplayer games

Favorite:
FPS
RTS
TBS
RPG
Action-Adventure
TPP games

Off:
Racing
4X
Adventure & Open World
Fighting
Platformers

Avoid:
Visual Novels
Point&Click
Walking Sims
Sandbox&Survival&Crafting

Gravitate toward: RPGs with an intriguing story and world-building, party RPGs with realtime combat and deck-building.

Off: Action RPGs, tactical turn-based RPGs, XCOM style, real time strategy, point&click adventure, 2d platformer, 3d platformer, arcade style flight simulator, building games. Never played but probably also compatible with me: visual novels.

Avoid: Porn, Rape, Torture, Horror, Gore and Grind games, survival/crafting, first-person shooters without story, browser games and mobile games, online games (the irony, my favourite game is an online game, but I won't ever touch another one because the good experiences with other players can't outweigh all the unpleasant experiences with the majority of people), mindless hack&slash, sports, music, "artistic" (as in: It's not even a game). Meta: also games affected by DRM.