As any major awards ceremony draws close, you'll find an outcry for the addition fresh award types to recognize unsung work and fill the hearts of enthusiasts with niche passions.
Another commentator has already made advocating for terror-themed awards. That would rule. So would tabletop games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize because like all blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand is the most urgent and significant. The demand is this: There should be a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and it will always spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that movie academies avoid this approach. But it is a necessary evil in the world of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they barely qualify a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to be recognized, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these genre categories for Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these six categories successfully include many game types, and you can find room for most games within them.
Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears for their placement. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, each quite distinct: building puzzles from a specific release, intense tile-matching in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Which classification works between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles launched regularly lacking appropriate categories in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested small studio competitions.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked for anything during that awards season
- Another creative title received no nominations during that ceremony
- A beloved organization game was overlooked that year
- Just some puzzle games barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent small games, but the art behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games count as most engaged experiences worldwide and have been for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals well-known building titles competing to become highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, while interacting with diverse game types.
Proposal and Rationale
Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. It would be easy to populate a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these are games lacking appropriate categories in important events. Puzzle game makers operate at the demanding boundary interactive creation, developing some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Similar to film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. Don't make them wait generations.
