Whenever a significant honors show draws close, you'll find a clamor for the addition of new categories to acknowledge overlooked contributions and delight the passions of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
My colleague previously argued advocating for terror-themed awards. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are tabletop games, representing someone's personal cause. However, I must insist for pushing forward just as with other blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand stands as crucial and important of all. The demand is this: We need a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; it’s very subjective, and it will always generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason movie academies steer clear of genre categories. But it is an essential concession for the industry of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they hardly constitute as a single art form.
To recognize the complete range of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, specific award classifications remain vital.
Existing Game Classification System
Leading game ceremonies currently feature genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these classifications actually cover many game types, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Consider three of outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: structural challenges from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. What category would fit them within current classifications? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens outstanding logic titles published annually without proper recognition at major award shows, except when they manage to fit for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated for anything that year
- Another imaginative release received no nominations during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Just some brain-teasers scraped into niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent compact experiences, however the design behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games count as most popular titles globally and have been for an extended period.
The famous puzzle experience challenges popular creative games claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it also contends as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks to the art of video games, while interacting across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. It would be easy to populate a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these are games lacking appropriate categories in important events. Puzzle game makers operate at the challenging frontier interactive creation, creating some of the purest expressions of gaming itself. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
