| ---agriculture | | | | 0 games |
| Absolute rulership | Player has absolute rulership of their particular nation, its goals and policies. |  | 1991 / 2011 | 48 games |
| Adoption | The alternative to actual procreation, adopting one or more children to be raised by you. |  | 2009 / 2011 | 3 games |
| Agriculture (Horticulture)[farming] | Planting seeds, seedlings, etc. and nurturing them to grow until they're edible or otherwise usable, or form parts that are such (e.g. fruits). | | 1994 / 2008 | 9 games |
| Air control | Player has abnormal amount of control while in air. | | 1991 / 2011 | 19 games |
| Air Traffic Control (ATC) | Keeping a safe distance between aircraft and efficient, speedy, and orderly flow of traffic. | | 1982 / 2010 | 23 games |
| Airdash | The protagonist can dash mid-air, causing a sudden burst of speed in the defined direction. |  | 2002 / 2012 | 16 games |
| Ambiguous term: Diving | The term "diving" is ambiguous and thus this should not be used as is, see the child tags for more accurate instances. | | | 0 games |
| Arm wrestling | | | 1985 / 1991 | 8 games |
| Astronavigation (Celestial navigation) | Includes a somewhat realistic starfield that can be used for navigation, mapping, or time. | | | 1 games |
| Atmospheric flight | All or part of the flying is done within the gases surrounding any planetary body. | | 1994 / 2010 | 34 games |
| Backstabbing (Stealth attack) | Attacking people from behind (or otherwise without them noticing you) either allows you to instantly kill them or deal significantly higher amount of damage. | | 1995 / 2012 | 72 games |
| Barricading (Makeshift defenses) | Player can or must build makeshift barricades. Moving furniture, hammering planks on, welding things shut, and otherwise attempting to make entrance as difficult as possible. | | 2004 / 2012 | 40 games |
| Base building | Involves building, maintaining and possibly defending your base of operations. | | 1992 / 2012 | 194 games |
| Blindfiring[blindfire] | Player may fire from behind cover without exposing more than their gun and the hand(s) holding it. Unreliable method, but the purpose is usually to suppress the opposition than the kill them (even if that's also desirable effect). | | 2008 / 2011 | 10 games |
| Blocking | Player can block attacks, usually with a shield or similar. | | 1999 / 2012 | 43 games |
| Body dragging [body carrying] | Player can or must carry or drag unconscious or dead people or other creatures about. | | 1990 / 2011 | 46 games |
| Body Piercing | A specific type of body modification whereby holes are punctured in skin in order to hold jewelry. | | | 0 games |
| Bodyslamming | Player character can jump or drop their own body at an opponent, knocking them down or otherwise injuring them. | | 2009 / 2011 | 9 games |
| Bounty-hunting | Player participates in bounty-hunting: locating, capturing and/or killing individuals. | | 2003 / 2009 | 9 games |
| Bribing [bribes;bribery] | The player may engage in the giving or taking of bribes. | | 1982 / 2011 | 11 games |
| Building designing (House designing) | Player can or must design a house. Such as how many floors, where and what shaped rooms, hallways, doorways, etc. there are. Furniture, electronics, etc. not included. | | 1997 / 2011 | 14 games |
| Captive exchange (Prisoner exchange;Hostage exchange) | Player can exchange captives somehow. | | | 0 games |
| Capturing | | | 1986 / 2010 | 4 games |
| Cargo jettisoning (Emergency dumping) | Player can trivially jettison their cargo, drop their backpack/bag, or similar. Usually to help move faster or gain increased maneuverability when such is needed immediately. | | 2003 / 2011 | 9 games |
| Catch 'em Up | Some or all gameplay is colliding with [b]moving[/b] objects (catching them) while other gameplay (if it exist) does not requiring significant player attention. | | | 0 games |
| Ceiling clinging | The protagonist can cling momentarily or permanently to ceilings or other mostly downward facing surfaces. | | 1995 / 2010 | 11 games |
| Ceiling traversal | The protagonist can freely traverse any ceiling or mostly downward facing surfaces. | | 1995 / 2012 | 15 games |
| Charging (Ramming;Bullrushing)[bull rushing;bull-rushing] | Player character can charge at their opponents and cause damage, stunning or such with the impact. | | 2006 / 2011 | 18 games |
| Chase | Involves chasing, usually in the form of police trying to catch some criminal. Regardless of which side of the chase the player is. | | 1988 / 2009 | 29 games |
| Chasing (Tailing)[Following;Pursuing] | Requires chasing or otherwise following someone, either because they're running away or you're trying to find out where they're going. | | 2007 / 2011 | 10 games |
| Chemistry (Alchemy) | You can concoct potions and/or create other alchemical substances. | | 1993 / 2012 | 52 games |
| Chemistry: Medicine | | | 2002 / 2011 | 4 games |
| Chemistry: Toxins | | | 2002 / 2011 | 4 games |
| Cloaking (Cloaking field;Stealth field;Cloak generator) | Player can turn themselves invisible - to optical and possibly other sensors - or nearly so. | | 1999 / 2012 | 31 games |
| Colonization | Involves colonization of a new continent(s) or even planet(s). | | 1984 / 2009 | 17 games |
| Combat styles (Combat stances) | Player has access to multiple combat styles with single character and is required to mix and match them against different opponents. | | 2002 / 2012 | 10 games |
| Combo moves (Combo attacks) | Player can perform some devastating combo attacks and other moves by following a precise sequence of controller actions. | | 1991 / 2012 | 31 games |
| Component jettisoning | Player can trivially jettison components, gear/equipment (such as worn armor), or similar. Usually for similar purposes as jettisoning cargo. | | | 0 games |
| Constructing (Building construction) | Player spends significant amount of time personally building or managing the building of singular object or structure, such as a house, possibly several but each are worked on separately and with equal effort. | | 2000 / 2012 | 10 games |
| Contracting | Player can create contracts that others may try take and complete. | | | 0 games |
| Conversion[converting] | Player can somehow convert creatures, especially enemies/opponents, to their side. | | 2005 / 2010 | 9 games |
| Cooking | The player is able to do some cooking. | | 1992 / 2012 | 49 games |
| Cooperation | Requires cooperation between two or more characters to progress. | | 1981 / 2012 | 104 games |
| Cooperative construction (Co-operative construction) | One player/character can start constructing a building, unit, etc. and another player/character can join in it to help. | | 2007 / 2008 | 3 games |
| Corpse harvesting | Corpses and other remainders of dead or destroyed creatures can be harvested somehow. | | 1997 / 2008 | 14 games |
| Corpse looting | Player must search through corpses to gain any valuables they were carrying. | | 1994 / 2011 | 64 games |
| Counter attacks | Player has the ability to take advantage of their opponents' attacks and turn them into devastating attacks of their own. Often the opponents can also do this. | | 2003 / 2010 | 14 games |
| Cover swap | There's a simple way to swap to a nearby cover, usually much faster and more fluidly than otherwise would be possible. | | 2009 / 2011 | 7 games |
| Cover system | Player can interact with cover and/or gains various bonuses from using them. | | 1994 / 2012 | 89 games |
| Crafting | Features item crafting. | | 1990 / 2013 | 119 games |
| Crafting: Weapons (Weaponsmithing) | | | | 0 games |
| Creature designing (Species designing) | | | 1997 / 2008 | 8 games |
| Criminal activity (Law breaking) | Player can or must break the law in a manner other characters object to, call law enforcers for or even personally try to apprehend you. | | 1998 / 2012 | 35 games |
| Cruelty | Encourages and/or rewards acts of cruelty. | | 2002 / 2011 | 17 games |
| Curse Removing (Jinx Removing) | Protagonists can be cursed and have curses removed many times in the game (an occurrence, not a plot point). | | | 0 games |
| Cybernetics (Bionics) | Player character can or must work with cybernetic hardware, especially if it's their own. | | 1993 / 2011 | 22 games |
| Dashing | A sudden and short run or similar movement. | | 2002 / 2012 | 19 games |
| Dead animation | Player can animate the dead, regardless of the method (such as magic, technology, psychokinesis, etc.). | | 2001 / 2010 | 3 games |
| Deception (Misinformation) | | | | 3 games |
| Decomposing (Dismantling;deconstructing) | Player can break down objects into base components, regardless if this preserves all that were used in their construction. | | 2003 / 2010 | 7 games |
| Deduction | Deduction plays a central role in gameplay. | | 1984 / 1987 | 8 games |
| Defense breaking (Shield breaking)[defence breaking] | Defenses can be broken, disrupted, or otherwise temporarily or permanently negated. A shield flung aside, struck so hard the person staggers and can't parry for a sec, etc. | | 2000 / 2012 | 10 games |
| Delivering | Player must deliver something to someone. | | 1986 / 2005 | 27 games |
| Demolition | Demolition, purposeful destruction of structures, is a gameplay element (not just incidental). | | 1997 / 2011 | 4 games |
| Designing | A significant portion of the game is spent designing something. | | 2009 / 2011 | 4 games |
| Devouring alive | Involves eating some creatures while they're still alive. | | 1993 / 2011 | 17 games |
| Digging (Tunneling) | Involves digging up tunnels and/or chambers in rock or other solid material. | | 1979 / 2012 | 241 games |
| Diplomacy | | | 1996 / 2012 | 6 games |
| Dirty fighting | Fighting using underhanded, amoral, unfair, dishonourable, etc. methods. | | | 0 games |
| Disarming | The protagonist can somehow disarm her opponents. | | 2000 / 2011 | 32 games |
| Disguising | Player can or is required to disguise themselves. | | 1984 / 2010 | 15 games |
| Dismemberment | Limbs get chopped off. | | 1986 / 2012 | 64 games |
| Distracting | | | 1998 / 2011 | 12 games |
| Dodging (Evasion) | Includes movement functionality solely meant for dodging. | | 1991 / 2012 | 124 games |
| Drawing | Involves drawing shapes or symbols. | | 1986 / 2011 | 25 games |
| Drifting (Sliding;Skidding;Fishtailing;Powersliding) | Ability to maintain momentum while turning. Usually involves a car with which the driver intentionally loses traction, causing the vehicle to continue sliding in its original direction while the vehicle is turned to face another direction. | | 1998 / 2012 | 31 games |
| Drilling | | | 2003 / 2009 | 2 games |
| Driving | Features driving any land-based vehicle(s) as the whole point, for significant part of the game or prominent side activity. | | 1977 / 2012 | 327 games |
| Eavesdropping | Player can or must secretly listen to the conversations of others, usually gaining some inexplicably useful info in the process. | | 1998 / 2010 | 7 games |
| Ecology | Ecology (the study of the natural relationships between lifeforms) plays a key role in gameplay. | | 1991 / 2009 | 7 games |
| Educational Content | | | | 0 games |
| Educational content: Art Techniques | Game teaches techniques for making art (color, texture, depth, shading, perspective etc). | | 1991 / 2007 | 3 games |
| Educational content: Astrology | | | | 0 games |
| Educational content: Astronomy | | | 1985 / 1998 | 7 games |
| Educational content: Biology | | | | 0 games |
| Educational content: Chemistry | Game teaches chemistry. | | | 1 games |
| Educational content: Colors | | | 2005 / 2011 | 23 games |
| Educational content: Ecology | The game teaches ecology, the relationships between lifeforms. | | 1991 / 2008 | 13 games |
| Educational content: English language | Game teaches the english language for foreigners. | | 1985 / 2003 | 15 games |
| Educational Content: Finance (Money Skills;Money) | Features learning about, earning, spending, borrowing, lending, etc. of money as a significant theme and element of gameplay. | | 1979 / 2009 | 36 games |
| Educational content: Flight | Game teaches flight skills. | | 1986 / 2000 | 2 games |
| Educational content: Geography | Game teaches geography. | | 1972 / 2010 | 25 games |
| Educational content: Geometry | Game teaches geometry. The measuring of lengths, areas, angles, volumes, size, shape, relative positions, & properties of space. | | 2006 / 2007 | 3 games |
| Educational content: German language | Game teaches the german language for foreigners. | | | 0 games |
| Educational content: Government | Game teaches information about how government works, including politics. | | | 1 games |
| Educational content: Grammar | Game teaches grammar, the rules governing the structure of sentences, phrases, and words of a language. | | 1985 / 2007 | 5 games |
| Educational content: Graphemes (Letters;Syllabograms;Logograms) | Teaches letters (alphabet), syllabograms, logograms or other graphemes. | | 1985 / 2011 | 38 games |
| Educational content: History | Intended to teach about history with qualified accuracy. | | 1983 / 2008 | 11 games |
| Educational content: Life Skills | Game teaches practical skills generally not emphasized in text books or structured education. | | 1984 / 2010 | 10 games |
| Educational content: Logic | Game teaches logic. | | 1982 / 2011 | 34 games |
| Educational content: Machine Operating | Game teaches the player how to operate machinery. | | 1974 / 2011 | 23 games |
| Educational content: Mathematics | Game teaches the use of mathematics (math), the science of patterns, often expressed in numbers and equations. | | 1977 / 2011 | 159 games |
| Educational content: Memory Training | Includes a significant portion of gameplay designed primarily for memory training. | | 1979 / 2011 | 15 games |
| Educational content: Music | Game teaches music. | | 1979 / 2011 | 26 games |
| Educational content: Numbers | Game teaches about number systems and/or counting. | | 1979 / 2011 | 31 games |
| Educational content: Nutrition | | | | 0 games |
| Educational content: Phonemes | Teaches pronounciations, phonetics, etc. | | | 0 games |
| Educational content: Physical Health | Teaches or helps player practice activities to improve/maintain their physical health. | | | 0 games |
| Educational content: Physics | | | | 0 games |
| Educational content: Programming | Game teaches players how create and/or edit algorithms (computer programs). | | 1979 / 1995 | 27 games |
| Educational content: Reading | Game Teaches reading skills. | | 1990 / 1998 | 4 games |
| Educational content: Religion | | | 1991 / 2009 | 5 games |
| Educational content: Shapes | | | 2000 / 2011 | 24 games |
| Educational content: Spelling | Game teaches spelling. | | 1983 / 2007 | 35 games |
| Educational content: Typing | Game teaches typing skills. | | 1984 / 2011 | 20 games |
| Educational content: Vocabulary | | | 2000 / 2010 | 24 games |
| Ejecting | Player can exit moving vehicle without stopping it, shutting down the engine, etc. causing the vehicle to continue moving with its acquired momentum. | | 2008 / 2011 | 7 games |
| Emergency service | Player functions in scope of emergency service, likely in some government funded civil organization. | | 1985 / 2010 | 4 games |
| Emergency venting (Emergency shutdown;Emergency discharging) | An emergency release of a buildup of something. Often limits operation during the release procedure or even completely disables it. | | 1995 / 2002 | 13 games |
| Emotes (Actions) | Player can perform emotes. Point at things, laugh, hop, cry, etc. Things that by themselves do little, but prompt others to respond, are responses themselves or aid verbal or other cues. | | 2002 / 2011 | 15 games |
| Enchanting | Player can place magical enchantments on objects that adds, changes or removes properties it normally has. | | 1996 / 2007 | 10 games |
| Enemy commanding | Player may, under certain circumstances, command the enemy to do something for them, such as dropping their weapons or surrendering. | | | 0 games |
| Engine shutdown | Player can shutdown their vehicle's engine for whatever reason. | | 1989 / 2009 | 37 games |
| Environmental combat | Player can use the environment to vanguish their foes. | | 1999 / 2012 | 26 games |
| Escape | A significant portion of the story involves escaping from somewhere. | | 1981 / 2012 | 98 games |
| Espionage (Spying) | Gathering of information without knowledge, consent, or being noticed by the target. In some cases, manipulation of information by the same means. | | 1985 / 2011 | 69 games |
| Excretion (Urination and defecation) | Excretion serves some gameplay purpose. | | 1981 / 2009 | 15 games |
| Farming | Nurturing flora and/or fauna for food or otherwise usable materials. | | | 0 games |
| Fetching (Gofering) | Player must fetch things for someone. | | 2001 / 2010 | 5 games |
| Flicking (Flick-based controls) | Uses flicks for all or part of the game control. | | | 0 games |
| Flipping | Player character can turn upside down and operate more or less normally. | | | 0 games |
| Flying | | | 1984 / 2012 | 54 games |
| Flying in caves | You must pilot a flying vessel in confined cave-like spaces. | | 1981 / 2010 | 50 games |
| Formations (Military formations) | Allows or requires the use of formations, pre or user defined arrangements of people, creatures or vehicles. | | 1995 / 2012 | 41 games |
| Freeform designing | The involved designing happens with very little preset limitations, allowing you to create even completely non-functional things even with all necessary parts used. | | | 0 games |
| Freekick | It is a fundamental of football. | | 2009 / 2010 | 2 games |
| Freelancing (Contract working) | The protagonist sells out his/her services for short-term contract work. | | 1995 / 2012 | 32 games |
| Fungiculture (Mushroom farming) | | | | 0 games |
| Furnishing | Placing furniture, electronics and other equipment for use or show. | | 2000 / 2011 | 11 games |
| Garrisons (Garrisoning) | Player can utilize garrisons, either by building and assigning troops to them or using whatever is already available. | | 1993 / 2011 | 20 games |
| Genetic assimilation | Involves assimilation of genetic material which is used to evolve, mutate or otherwise modfy the characters automatically or something akin to voluntary evolution. | | 2000 / 2009 | 9 games |
| Geometry | Gameplay requires geometry. The measuring of lengths, areas, angles, volumes, size, shape, relative positions, & properties of space. | | | 1 games |
| Gesturing(Mouse gestures) | Uses gestures for control; moving the controller in vague motions of varying complexity with or without visual feedback. | | 2001 / 2009 | 8 games |
| Gifting (Giving;Object transfer) | Player can give NPCs objects outside of dialogs and other regular item transfer prompts. | | 1995 / 2010 | 2 games |
| Gliding | | | 1998 / 2012 | 33 games |
| Grammar | Gameplay specifically and notably requires a knowledge of grammar for the language(s) of the game. | | | 1 games |
| Graphemes (Syllabograms;Logograms) | Players must exercise knowledge of basic written language units to advance. ie: knowing the difference between "b" & "f", "!" & "?", "9" & "3", "ボ" & "ぶ". | | 1985 / 2011 | 4 games |
| Grappling | Player can take a firm hold of opponents to either to throw, incapacitate or somehow physically use them or proceed with more straightforward pounding. | | 1991 / 2011 | 43 games |
| Grave robbing [grave robbery;tomb raiding] | Player can or must rob graves, either the corpses themselves or whatever valuables were entombed with them or both. | | 1996 / 2012 | 22 games |
| Gravity control (Gravity manipulation) | Player can trigger changes in gravity. Reversal and switching on-off are common. | | 2006 / 2011 | 13 games |
| Ground diving | Diving on ground, often employed in sports such as baseball. | | 2006 / 2007 | 8 games |
| Ground slamming (Ground pounding)[shockwave slam] | An attack performed by hitting the ground with enough force that it produces a shockwave, usually heavier characters either punch or stomp the ground directly while lighter characters usually jump in the air first. | | 2003 / 2011 | 14 games |
| Grouping | Player can create arbitrary groups that either become literal groups or simple shortcuts to selecting them. | | 1995 / 2011 | 60 games |
| Gun clubbing (Butt-stroking;Pistol-whipping;Buffaloing) | Player can use their projectile weapons to attack in melee, usually by hitting their opponent with the butt of a rifle, pistol handle, or in rarer cases with the barrel or body of the gun. | | 2005 / 2012 | 40 games |
| Haggling | | | | 0 games |
| Healing | Player can or must heal other characters, usually limited to organic beings. | | 2003 / 2012 | 40 games |
| Health draining (Life stealing)[Life draining;Health stealing] | Player can somehow transfer the health of others onto themselves, either when they're still alive or after they've perished. | | 1996 / 2012 | 42 games |
| Hide and Seek | | | 2001 / 2011 | 2 games |
| Hiding (Pursuit evasion) | Player can hide, especially after being noticed and chased. | | 1998 / 2011 | 33 games |
| Hijacking (Commandeering) | Player can hijack or commandeer vehicles. | | 1997 / 2011 | 56 games |
| Hoarding (Kleptomaniacal gameplay) | If the player can pick something up, they must. Simply because that thing, whatever it might be, is necessary for progress. | | 1990 / 2010 | 28 games |
| Holstering (Sheathing;Lowering weapons) | Player can or must occasionally holster, sheathe or otherwise lower their weapons or drop a combat stance to avoid unnecessary fighting. | | 1996 / 2010 | 23 games |
| Home (House owning) | Player has or can have a home of some sort. | | 1986 / 2011 | 31 games |
| Hover flight | Player character can fly, ride a flying animal or control a vehicle that can fly but does not require constant forward motion or similar to stay airborne. | | 1997 / 2011 | 14 games |
| Hunting | Stalking prey, shooting or otherwise killing it, displaying some of its body as a trophy, & eating everything else. | | 1983 / 2009 | 36 games |
| Imprisoning (Taking prisoners;Taking hostages;Taking captives;Arresting) | Player can take prisoners, hostages or other captives. | | 1999 / 2011 | 11 games |
| Intercluster travel | Involves traveling between star clusters or similar astral bodies. | | | 0 games |
| Intergalactic travel | Involves traveling between galaxies or similarly distant astral bodies. | | | 0 games |
| Internal resource allocation (Energy allocation)[resource distribution] | Player can or must manage resource allocation within a single system, such as a vehicle. | | 1992 / 2012 | 6 games |
| Interplanetary travel | Involves traveling between planets or similarly distant astral bodies. | | 1993 / 2011 | 13 games |
| Interstellar travel | Involves traveling between star systems or similarly distant astral bodies. | | 1993 / 2011 | 10 games |
| Intimidation[intimidating;threatening] | Player character can somehow intimidate others, especially when this is by their own actions. | | 2005 / 2011 | 9 games |
| Investigation | | | 1996 / 2012 | 29 games |
| Investing | Player can invest some of their resources on some endeavour with the expectation that it will eventually give benefits or profit. | | | 0 games |
| Jumping | | | 1981 / 2012 | 829 games |
| Jury rigging (Makeshift solutions)[jury-rigging] | A type of crafting where unrelated items can be combined in a logical way (more or less) to create useful tools. | | 2003 / 2009 | 5 games |
| Landing | Player must manually land some aircraft, spacecraft or any other flying vehicle. | | 1979 / 2010 | 26 games |
| Leader participation | | | 1995 / 2012 | 46 games |
| Leaning[peeking] | Player can lean left and right to peek around corners without revealing much of their body, either to avoid being detected or to reduce the hitting area for incoming fire. | | 1994 / 2011 | 35 games |
| Ledges | Player can use ledges to pull themselves up to surfaces higher than what they can jump to, move left and right on them while hanging helplessly from them, or otherwise interact with them. | | 1989 / 2012 | 177 games |
| Light (Illumination) | Light and illumination plays a vital role in gameplay, and not simply by dispelling darkness. | | 1981 / 2012 | 21 games |
| Light dousing (Light extinguishing) | Player can extinguish or destroy light sources or otherwise make them inoperable for a time. | | 1998 / 2012 | 18 games |
| Limb control | Player somehow controls the individual limbs, or the equivalent of, of the protagonist. | | 2005 / 2009 | 3 games |
| Living Together (Cohabitation) | Features the situation of 2 or more people relating to each other due to their living in the same residence (or choosing this [i]as[/i] a relationship). 'Cohabitation' implies intimacy. | | | 0 games |
| Lock picking | Player can or must open locks without damaging them or using the appropriate key for whatever reason. | | 1981 / 2012 | 128 games |
| Logic | Gameplay involves logical reasoning. | | 1979 / 2010 | 84 games |
| Logistics (Resource distribution) | Player must build, manage and maintain logistics networks for storage and delivery of resources across their domain and possibly beyond. | | 1984 / 2012 | 22 games |
| Manual interaction | Player interacts with the environment manually rather than being given a generic use/manipulate command that produces a generic result. | | 2007 / 2011 | 14 games |
| Manufacturing | | | 2003 / 2005 | 3 games |
| Map annotation | Player can add notes on maps to describe things found. | | 1994 / 2012 | 13 games |
| Marriage (Matrimony;Civil union) | Player character(s) can or must enter into marriage or similar union. | | 1990 / 2011 | 20 games |
| Mathematics | Gameplay requires the use of Math, the science of patterns, often expressed in numbers and equations. | | 1977 / 2010 | 129 games |
| Mêlée combat | Fighting unarmed or armed (excluding ranged weapons) at contact range. | | | 0 games |
| Mid-air jumping [double jump;triple jump;jumping] | Player can, for some obscure reason, jump again in mid-air once or more often (during "single" jump), reaching much higher he or she normally would. | | 1984 / 2012 | 87 games |
| Mind controlling | Player can somehow control the minds of others, either completely or with some restrictions (e.g. not being able to make them do something they'd never consider doing of their own free will, such as suicide or murder). | | 1993 / 2002 | 16 games |
| Mind-reading | The protagonist can somehow "read" the thoughts of others, regardless of how completely or what part of their thoughts. | | 2009 / 2010 | 3 games |
| Mischief | | | | 0 games |
| Mounted combat | Combat while riding an animal or such. | | 2008 / 2011 | 3 games |
| Multi-tasking | Player is challenged to track and operate two or more disparate elements simultaneously. | | 2006 / 2011 | 9 games |
| Nature control | | | | 0 games |
| Naval (Navy command) | Commanding a single or whole fleet of maritime vessels. | | 1978 / 2012 | 129 games |
| Necromancy | | | | 1 games |
| Object manipulation (Item manipulation) | Player can somehow fiddle with objects in their hands, such as turning them around, shaking them, etc. | | 1998 / 2011 | 10 games |
| Objective: Collecting | To progress, player must collect all or most objects - possibly of certain type - on each level. | | 1982 / 2012 | 244 games |
| Objective: Find Exit | To progress, all you have to do is find the exit or whatever serves a similar purpose. | | 1984 / 2010 | 23 games |
| Objective: Guide (Escort) | Player must guide someone or something besides the protagonist (if there even is one) somewhere. | | 1991 / 2009 | 18 games |
| Objective: Protect (Defend) | The protagonist must protect someone or something besides themselves for a significant portion of the story. | | 1980 / 2010 | 60 games |
| Objectives | | | | 0 games |
| Orbital flight | All or part of the flying is done in orbit around a planetary body, outside their gaseous atmosphere but close enough to be affected by their gravity. | | | 1 games |
| Parkour (Freerunning;Semi-automatic obstacle navigation)[free running;free-running] | Involves parkour or parkour-like action. | | 2007 / 2011 | 22 games |
| Parrying | Player can parry attacks. | | 1990 / 2008 | 6 games |
| Particle manipulation | | | 2009 / 2010 | 3 games |
| Phonemes | Players must use knowledge of phonemes, pronunciations, phonetics, & such, to make progress. ie: knowing "oo" sounds different in good, than in moon. | | | 0 games |
| Photographing | | | 1999 / 2010 | 21 games |
| Physics | Physics play an important role in gameplay, usually puzzles that rely in understanding or manipulation of physics. | | 1990 / 2012 | 198 games |
| Pickpocketing | Player can or must steal from the pockets, belt or other worn apparel something of value without being noticed. | | 1998 / 2011 | 26 games |
| Piloting | | | 2008 / 2010 | 5 games |
| Planarshifting (Planeshifting) | The protagonist can freely shift between two or more dimensions or planes of existence. | | 1999 / 2009 | 10 games |
| Planning | Player can or must create plans of action beforehand which are then carried out with little to no ability to alter the plan while it's being executed. | | 1997 / 2011 | 18 games |
| Player initiated reproduction | A rarity in videogames, that players can choose for their characters to attempt have children. Not to be confused with [[tag:breeding breeding]]. | | 1985 / 2011 | 15 games |
| Possession | Taking control of other characters besides your own through possession, regardless of the specific method. | | 1990 / 2011 | 40 games |
| Postal Service | Player participates in an officially service of mail or package delivery as an employee or participant. | | 1981 / 2011 | 47 games |
| Postures [Stances] | Player can assume various postures from upright to crawling. | | 1994 / 2012 | 54 games |
| Premature detonation (Active missile defense) | Player can somehow detonate explosives prematurely, such as shooting the dynamite in the opponent's hand or when they've just thrown it. | | 1997 / 2010 | 14 games |
| Priorities | Player can somehow control the priorities of their controlled characters, units, or anything else. | | 2004 / 2012 | 16 games |
| Prison break | Your task is to break out of a prison or similar institution. Be this the main point or not. | | 1982 / 2011 | 31 games |
| Programming | Player can or must program devices or other things using a language, set of symbols or commands or any other method to perform tasks. | | 1979 / 2008 | 41 games |
| Projectile deflection | Player can deflect incoming projectiles somehow. | | 2002 / 2011 | 15 games |
| Projectile recovery | Player can recover projectiles after firing them, usually arrows or similar. | | 1995 / 2012 | 22 games |
| Prospecting (Mineral exploration) | | | 1992 / 2012 | 47 games |
| Psychic Powers (Psionics) | Player character wields psychic powers. | | 1987 / 2012 | 184 games |
| Racing | You can attend racing challenges, events, or gamble on them. | | 2003 / 2011 | 7 games |
| Reading | Gameplay requires reading. | | | 1 games |
| Recruiting (Unit construction) | Player can recruit, construct or otherwise acquire more people they can control. | | 1993 / 2012 | 90 games |
| Reload (Recharge) | Tools need to be reloaded/recharged occasionally to continue operating. | | | 0 games |
| Reload: Chambering | Player must manually chamber one or more rounds before firing. | | | 0 games |
| Reload: Interrupt | Player can interrupt the reload process. | | | 0 games |
| Reload: Manual | Player must manually initiate reloading process. | | 1994 / 2012 | 161 games |
| Remote control | Player can or must remotely control several devices, bots or vehicles. | | 1998 / 2011 | 23 games |
| Renting | Player (character) can rent things to other players or NPCs. | | 2010 / 2011 | 2 games |
| Repairing | Player can or must repair mechanical, electronic or otherwise artificial entities. | | 1984 / 2012 | 64 games |
| Rescue | Significant part of the plot involves rescuing, or attempting to rescue, one or more people. | | 1980 / 2012 | 501 games |
| Researching | Involves researching and studying things you find or encounter. | | 1994 / 2010 | 20 games |
| Resource generation | Player is required to generate one or more types of resources. | | 1993 / 2012 | 28 games |
| Resource harvesting (Resource gathering) | Involves harvesting of one or more types of resources. | | 1982 / 2012 | 254 games |
| Resting (Camping;Sleeping) | Player character can or must rest occasionally, usually to combat fatigue or for other restorative purposes. | | 1985 / 2012 | 74 games |
| Restoration | Restoration of some thing to its former state is a major plot element or activity. | | 2006 / 2008 | 4 games |
| Retreating (Tactical withdrawal) | | | 1992 / 2011 | 25 games |
| Retrofitting | Newer technology put into use in older things without having to rebuild the thing from scratch. | | 2010 / 2011 | 2 games |
| Reverse engineering | Studying things until you know how to make them yourself, often involves taking them apart and possibly several times. | | | 0 games |
| Ricocheting (Reflecting;Rebounding) | Core gameplay involves ricocheting, bouncing, reflecting, or some similar thing. | | 1984 / 1992 | 4 games |
| Riding | Animal riding, either as a game element or the whole point. | | 1980 / 2012 | 247 games |
| Rolling (Skidding) | Movement works in similar fashion to ball rolling, especially when player controls a ball or a character on a ball. | | 2004 / 2011 | 9 games |
| Romance | Involves romance, either as the whole point or some (optional) sub-plot. | | 1993 / 2012 | 45 games |
| Rope swinging | Swinging from ropes, or any other things that serve the same purpose, often to get over death pits. | | 1982 / 2012 | 61 games |
| Routing | Finding, using and designating routes plays an important role in gameplay. | | 2011 / 2012 | 2 games |
| Sacrificing | Features sacrificial ritual or rituals. | | 1994 / 2011 | 12 games |
| Scavenging (Looting;Plundering) | A significant amount of player's resources are acquired from pillaging anything that comes across, stealing from the dead, and so forth. | | 1994 / 2012 | 48 games |
| Search | Searching for an object, a place, a person or something else is a major element and activity in the story. | | 1981 / 2012 | 166 games |
| Selective breeding (Animal husbandry) | Manipulating creatures to produce offspring with specific traits. | | 1992 / 2008 | 11 games |
| Shapeshifting (Shapechanging) | Player can change their shape, voluntarily or not. | | 1983 / 2010 | 118 games |
| Shooting-gallery | Shooting Gallery is a type of carnival game. That game can be seen at a traveling carnival, charity fund raiser, amusement park, or on a state and county fair midway. | | 1985 / 2010 | 5 games |
| Shopping | Includes shops, merchants, traders or item dispensers where the player can purchase new items. | | 1974 / 2012 | 819 games |
| Silviculture[foresting;silviculturing;silvicultivation] | Tending to forests, including planting new trees. | | 1996 / 2012 | 11 games |
| Singing / karaoke | Gameplay involves singing. | | 1986 / 2010 | 17 games |
| Skill sharing (Teaching;Instructing;Training) | Player character can somehow instruct other characters (NPCs or other player characters), teaching them skill you yourself have. | | 2007 / 2009 | 2 games |
| Skinning | Player can remove the skin from dead critters. | | 2001 / 2008 | 2 games |
| Sliding tackle[slide tackling;slide tackle] | A move where you slide feet first at whatever you want to tackle. | | 2010 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Smuggling | Transportation of contraband or other goods in or out of a region without knowledge of the law keepers (e.g. customs, tax evasion). | | | 0 games |
| Sorcery (Witchcraft;Spellcasting) | Player can or must employ knowledge of the arcane, cast magic spells or do other sorcerous deeds. | | 1980 / 2012 | 705 games |
| Sorting | Gameplay directly involves sorting. | | 1990 / 2005 | 26 games |
| Space flight | All or part of the flying is done in deep space, outside the gravitational effects of planetary bodies. | | 1971 / 2012 | 152 games |
| Spacecraft Combat | | | 1982 / 2012 | 3 games |
| Spell designing (Spell creation) | Player can create new spells by combining various effectors together, varying from spell properties (duration, range, power) to effects (burn, heal, create fork) to application methods (by touch, throw, "just happens", etc.) and so forth. | | 1995 / 2007 | 12 games |
| Spelling | Gameplay requires knowledge or practice of correct spelling. | | 1982 / 1985 | 4 games |
| Stealing | Player can or must steal items or wealth from someone. | | 1983 / 2012 | 70 games |
| Stealth (Sneaking) | Stealth may be required or simply possible. Avoid being seen, heard or smelt. Take care where you leave finger & foot prints, dust & even your shadow. | | 1981 / 2012 | 333 games |
| Stock market | Financial games that mainly deal with share / stock trading, brokerage etc. | | 1981 / 2000 | 16 games |
| Stomping (Curb-stomping)[trampling] | Player can stomp on their (usually knocked down or otherwise incapacitated) opponents, often grievously harming them or even killing them outright. | | 2008 / 2011 | 9 games |
| Strangling | Player can somehow strangle other characters, with their bare hands or with use of tools such as a garrote, either to kill or otherwise incapacitate them. | | 2000 / 2004 | 2 games |
| Stunts | Performing dangerous looking feats for an audience (including real or technical judges) and reward (score, cash, bonuses). | | 1992 / 2011 | 4 games |
| Summoning (Conjuration) | Player can summon creatures to do her bidding. These usually (but not necessarily) perish after a set time. | | 1993 / 2012 | 118 games |
| Superjump | The protagonist can jump abnormally high and far. | | 1986 / 2009 | 11 games |
| Superspeed | Player character can move at abnormally high speed (for whatever they are or is). | | | 0 games |
| Suppressive fire | Any form of activity that degrades the target's performance, commonly sustained weapons fire directed at them. | | 2006 / 2011 | 14 games |
| Survival | Has an overarching goal of surviving. | | 2003 / 2012 | 20 games |
| Swimming | Involves swimming or otherwise traversing through watery bodies without the aid of any vehicles. | | 1984 / 2012 | 146 games |
| Tackling | | | 2005 / 2008 | 4 games |
| Tactics | Requires the use of tactics. Although not much different from strategy on brief glance, tactics involves much greater control over units and their operation. | | 1982 / 2013 | 399 games |
| Tagging | Player can tag targets, usually other NPCs, to signify something. | | 2004 / 2010 | 8 games |
| Tailoring (Crafting: Clothing) | | | | 0 games |
| Task syncing (Plan syncing)[task synchronization;plan synchronization] | Player can synchronize certain parts of a plan, task queue, or such so whatever or whoever is carrying out the plan will perform their task in sync with others. | | 2007 / 2012 | 6 games |
| Taunting | Player can taunt their potential enemies. | | 1983 / 2011 | 5 games |
| Taxi | Player picks up customers and delivers them to their desired destination, usually with better pay the faster you get them there. | | 1984 / 2008 | 27 games |
| Taxonomy | Characters can identify and categorize the creatures they encounter. Likely automatic and based on related skills. | | 1995 / 2001 | 4 games |
| Teaching (Training) | Player must somehow teach or train characters or creatures. | | 1994 / 2006 | 7 games |
| Telekinesis (Psychokinesis) | Player can manipulate objects at a distance, whether this is by psychic powers, magic or by some other means. | | 1994 / 2011 | 35 games |
| Teleporting | Player can teleport. Always or after acquiring a device, skill or spell that accomplishes it. | | 1985 / 2012 | 54 games |
| Temperature control | | | | 1 games |
| Thoroughfare construction (Road construction;Rail construction) | | | 1993 / 2012 | 16 games |
| Time change | Player can change what time it is, usually swapping from day to night and back, or with greater control. | | 2005 / 2006 | 2 games |
| Time control[Time shifting] | Player has limited control over time, excluding only actual time travel. | | 1991 / 2011 | 23 games |
| Time freeze (Time stop)[time freezing;time stopping] | Player can freeze time for everyone except themselves and perhaps a few other elements in the environment. Usually momentary. Rarely can be undone at will. | | 2006 / 2007 | 4 games |
| Time management | Involves planning and enforcing time spent on various activities. | | 1991 / 2011 | 50 games |
| Time travel | Travelling across time to the past or to the future. Excluding minute time shifting. | | 1980 / 2012 | 156 games |
| Tool interaction (Gun interaction) | Includes more interaction with whatever tools the player has besides plain use. | | 2006 / 2011 | 4 games |
| Torture | Involves torture, especially cases where the player takes active part as the perpetrator. | | 1999 / 2011 | 13 games |
| Towing (Hauling) | Vehicles and other large objects can be towed, hauled or otherwise dragged off. Usually done with a towing hook or other rope/chain like set-up. | | 2009 / 2010 | 2 games |
| Tracking | | | | 1 games |
| Trading | Features buying and selling goods to and from merchants, manufacturers, prospectors, potential enemies and others for profit. | | 1984 / 2012 | 137 games |
| Trap disarming (Trap dismantling;Mine defusing) | Player can disarm or dismantle set traps, especially those not set by the player. | | 1990 / 2012 | 24 games |
| Trapping | Player can set up traps, either to capture, wound, kill, tag or otherwise affect the creature(s) that set off the trap. | | 1979 / 2012 | 98 games |
| Treasure hunt | | | 1983 / 2010 | 4 games |
| Trespassing | Player can or must trespass on areas where they have no right to be in, prompting a call for law enforcers, local guards or even personal attempt to apprehend or subdue the player character. | | 2006 / 2011 | 17 games |
| Tumbling (Rolling) | Player can tumble, roll head over heels on the ground more or less controllably. | | 1994 / 2012 | 22 games |
| Typing | | | 1984 / 2009 | 16 games |
| Unarmed fighting (Hand-to-hand combat)[unarmed combat] | The protagonist can attack with fists, claws, or by some other method using their bare hands, feet or other limbs or body parts. | | 1984 / 2012 | 335 games |
| Undertaking (Entombing;Engraving;Cremating;Holding funerals) | Player can or must perform funeral customs on the dead. | | 2005 / 2008 | 4 games |
| Underwater diving | Humanoid character(s) spend air limited time underwater with or without equipment. | | 1974 / 2012 | 98 games |
| Underwater walking | Walking at the bottom of a body of water. Usually because the character is too heavy to actually swim (for example, due to wearing a diving suit). | | 2005 / 2011 | 6 games |
| Unloading | Player can remove the ammo loaded into a weapon. | | 2005 / 2012 | 7 games |
| Vaulting | | | 2008 / 2012 | 36 games |
| Virtual articulation (Digital articulation) | A more lifelike control mechanism, although usually limited to single limb such as your dominant arm while the rest are controlled in the regular way. | | 1998 / 2007 | 4 games |
| Waiting (Loitering;Idling) | Player can voluntarily skip time, often at an extreme accelerated rate or instantaneously. | | 1996 / 2010 | 19 games |
| Walking (On foot;Ambulation)[running;jogging] | Player can or must move about on foot, regardless of speed. | | 1976 / 2012 | 1965 games |
| Wall climbing (Wall scaling) | Involves scaling vertical surfaces without the aid of ladders or similar aides. | | 1980 / 2011 | 46 games |
| Wall clinging | The protagonist can cling momentarily or permanently to walls or other mostly sideways facing surfaces. | | 1999 / 2011 | 27 games |
| Wall jumping | Pouncing off walls to reach greater heights. | | 1985 / 2012 | 66 games |
| Wall sliding | A safe method to reach places below when you can't climb on walls, by gaining friction from a vertical surface to reduce or completely eliminate any harm you'd come into without it. | | 2008 / 2011 | 8 games |
| Wall traversal | The protagonist can freely traverse any wall or mostly sideways facing surfaces. | | 1999 / 2010 | 15 games |
| Wall-hugging | The protagonist can lie flat against a wall for one reason or another. | | 2004 / 2009 | 6 games |
| Wallrunning | Player is able to run short distances on the walls, usually to sides avoiding something or as some other mechanic. | | 2002 / 2012 | 35 games |
| Warp travel (Warping;Hyperspace;FTL travel;Superluminal travel) | Includes any method of travel that breaks known laws of physics by usually exceeding the speed of light or using alternate dimension - such as hyperspace, subspace, etc. - to achieve effects similar to it. Excluding outright teleportation. | | 1989 / 2012 | 56 games |
| Wilderness survival | Features wilderness survival as either the main or side activity. Fighting against starvation, dehydration, and any other difficulties you might encounter when living out in the back without the safety nets of modern society. | | 1987 / 2005 | 16 games |
| Wind control | Player can more or less control wind. | | 2006 / 2010 | 5 games |
| Word input (Textual control;Typed-in commands) | Player controls the game or part of the game by typing in full or partial sentences that are interpreted as commands. | | 1972 / 2011 | 333 games |
