As any major awards ceremony draws close, one notices a clamor for the addition fresh award types to recognize overlooked contributions and delight the passions of enthusiasts dedicated to specific genres.
A fellow writer previously argued for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are tabletop games, which is someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front because like all dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal stands as crucial above others. The demand is this: We need a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and typically spark debates resulting in unclear classifications. It's understandable that cinema institutions avoid this approach. But it is a necessary evil for the industry of gaming, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, while allowing diverse titles to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards offer these genre categories for Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types actually cover many game types, making space possible for numerous titles.
Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to put them. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, each quite distinct: building puzzles of one title, intense tile-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. What category would fit them between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers released every year lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.
- A renowned logic title got overlooked in any category that year
- Another creative title was excluded during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored recently
- Limited numbers of puzzle games managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
Frequently they represent compact experiences, but the art in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles stand as most engaged experiences in the world maintaining this status for many years.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals popular creative games claiming status as most purchased experience; it additionally competes for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and engaging with diverse game types.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. You could fill multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — actually, with challenge, because you’d have to leave numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these are games that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Logic title developers are working at the demanding boundary interactive creation, creating some of most fundamental forms of the video game form. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they warrant appreciation. Don't make them wait generations.
