When pitching Nightmare, I identified its genre as "Action-Adventure". A comment that met with uproar from a couple of critics.
It was suggested to us in a lecture that the "Action-Adventure" genre was a sham--
... a label slapped on an adventure game-- an endangered specieis in games these days-- that didn't want to seem so boring
... a label slapped on an action game that wanted to pretend that it had more depth
Generally, the accusation was that "action-adventure" is a marketer's genre. Not a real genre, as far as game design goes.
Of course, I had to disagree. It seems only natural that games, as a creative medium, would never confine itself to traditional genres. You see games labeled as "action-RPG" (Diablo, Oblivion) or "rhythm RTS" (e.g., Patapon). Are these labels incorrect? Are they just marketing terms?
These games have cross-genre names because they are cross-genre games. For example, to simply label Patapon as a music game misses out on its RTS elements. So yes, while I agree that "action-adventure" is a hybrid genre that was born of two pure genres, I disagree that I should feel ashamed (as a designer) to label a game an "action-adventure"-- if such a label fits.
Personally, the biggest challenge I faced when starting out in design was getting used to being told that I was wrong. Intuitively, I always stepped back to reflect on the accusation. I wondered if they were right? And I wondered how stupid I came accross.
It took a lecture by Sandy Petersen on Designer culture for me to understand that designers just love to disagree. We're critical of each other, and its a good thing.If it wasn't for criticism, I wouldn't have been forced to think so critically about my own beliefs about game design.
I think it still helps to step back (at least a little, or away from the heat of the argument) and reflect on the other person's opinion. At the same time, you have to stand up for what you believe and not let your opinions get bulldozed-over by the loudest designer. You will not always be right (something you have to keep an open mind about), but it's ok to disagree as long as you can support your position.