As any prominent prize-giving event nears, there’s always a demand for the addition of new categories to recognize underappreciated efforts and delight the passions of followers who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. It would be amazing. So would board games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front since similar to single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request stands as crucial and significant. Here's the proposal: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; it remains highly personal, and inevitably spark debates resulting in unclear classifications. It's understandable that movie academies don’t do it. Yet it remains a necessary evil for the industry of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards currently feature award types recognizing Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these six categories actually cover numerous genres, and you can find room for numerous titles.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Consider three of this year’s best games, all very different: building puzzles from a specific release, intense tile-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles released every year that have no home at major award shows, if they accidentally match for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title got overlooked for anything in 2014
- A different innovative game received no nominations during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Limited numbers of puzzle games scraped into independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
Commonly they're small games, however the design in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among most engaged experiences worldwide maintaining this status for many years.
The famous puzzle experience competes with popular creative games competing to become most purchased experience; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, while interacting across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. One could readily select multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these are games that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers operate at the hard edge of video game design, developing some of essential manifestations within interactive entertainment. Comparable to cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
