elements of game design part one :

game play is basically the way you interact with the game the way you run jump kill play but also the depth and atmosphere the game makes you feel when you play it game play is also used to show the interactive of game design game play is difference between interactive games  and non interactive films as such or books in their way that you have to control what happens in the game rather then watch it happen .the biggest game developers i know releasing the best games like epic games rockstar and bio ware  also leading developers like gearbox president randy pitchford who's worked on games like half life and halo pc version an also james hawkins who's worked on gears of 1 and 2 and unreal 1 an 2 and half life counter strike and severall others work al over America in big cities like new york.

i think game design begin with idea from a group of people in a room to one person who would initiate the game and build a team to bring it to life or take it to a big company  imaging an idea for a game begging with concepts designs scripts several different ways to sprout an idea.

i don't think different genre need different design principals i think the initial design skill is needed to build on but always keeping in mind what the genre is to design forward not nessically knowing already  but i think as your stick with a genre you will pick up the key skills that make it what it is .
when i play a game i want to be able to really immerse myself in the world and in the characters believable and enjoy whatever obstacles face them i think characters have really got to feel real an show emotion like what you'd want out of real actors for me to be able to get into a game and also still keeping it action packed but real i think graphics definitely help to add realism for example mass effect series very believable characters even thought some are aliens but there personalty and graphics make them so realistic that it makes the game flow very easy