Each time a prominent awards ceremony draws close, you'll find an outcry for introducing additional classifications to acknowledge overlooked contributions and satisfy the passions of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
My colleague has already made for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. The same goes for tabletop games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward just as with other single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand remains most pressing and significant. The demand is this: We need a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and it will always spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason film award organizations don’t do it. However, it represents a necessary evil within the realm of video games, showing incredible range they barely qualify 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, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards offer these classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories effectively encompass numerous genres, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to put them. Think about these this year’s best games, each quite distinct: building puzzles from a specific release, intense tile-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. What category would fit them within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers released every year that have no home at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked completely in 2014
- A different innovative game received no nominations during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked that year
- Just some logic titles managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent modest productions, yet the craft behind logic titles is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most engaged experiences globally and have been for an extended period.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with famous sandbox experiences competing to become best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. It would be easy to populate five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
And to reiterate, these represent titles that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Logic title developers function at the demanding boundary interactive creation, creating some of the purest expressions of gaming itself. Just like movie stunt professionals, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.
