As any significant awards ceremony draws close, one notices an outcry for introducing additional classifications to recognize unsung work and satisfy the passions of enthusiasts with niche passions.
A fellow writer made the case for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. The same goes for tabletop games, representing someone's personal cause. However, I must insist when I prioritize just as with other single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification for why my demand is the most urgent and important of all. Here's the proposal: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it’s very subjective, and typically start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains a necessary evil for the industry of video games, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
To recognize the complete range of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, specific award classifications remain vital.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these six categories effectively encompass numerous genres, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Think about these recent excellent titles, all very different: the architectural riddles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. What category would fit them between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles released every year without proper recognition in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated for anything during that awards season
- A different innovative game missed out in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored that year
- Only a few logic titles barely qualified for niche award types
Significance of Puzzle Games
Frequently they represent compact experiences, however the design of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most popular titles worldwide maintaining this status for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game challenges well-known building titles claiming status as most purchased experience; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. One could readily select a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators are working at the demanding boundary game development, developing some of the purest expressions of gaming itself. Comparable to movie stunt professionals, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
