Each time a major awards ceremony approaches, one notices a demand for the addition fresh award types to recognize unsung work and satisfy the spirits of enthusiasts with niche passions.
A fellow writer made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. So would board games, which is someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward because like all blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case supporting my request remains most pressing and significant. This is the request: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and inevitably spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that film award organizations avoid this approach. However, it represents an essential concession for the industry of gaming, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute as a single art form.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, specific award classifications remain vital.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies currently feature award types recognizing Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these six categories actually cover a lot of ground, allowing placement for numerous titles.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Think about these this year’s best games, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles in a particular game, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games published annually lacking appropriate categories in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated completely during that awards season
- Another creative title received no nominations that year
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Only a few puzzle games scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent modest productions, yet the craft behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games count as most engaged experiences in the world and have been for an extended period.
The famous puzzle experience competes with famous sandbox experiences claiming status as most purchased experience; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, and engaging with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these represent titles without proper classification in important events. Logic title developers function at the demanding boundary interactive creation, developing some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Just like film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay decades.
