As any major awards ceremony draws close, there’s always an outcry for introducing additional classifications to recognize underappreciated efforts and delight the hearts of enthusiasts with niche passions.
Another commentator made the case supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. The same goes for board games, this being someone's personal cause. However, I must insist when I prioritize since similar to single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification for why my demand is the most urgent and significant. This is the request: We need a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and typically generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why movie academies avoid this approach. But it is a necessary evil within the realm of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they barely qualify one unified medium.
To recognize the complete range of gaming accomplishments to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, specific award classifications remain vital.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature award types recognizing Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these award types actually cover many game types, and you can find room for numerous titles.
Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears for their placement. Consider three of this year’s best games, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles published annually without proper recognition in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title got overlooked for anything in 2014
- Another creative title received no nominations in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked that year
- Just some brain-teasers managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often small games, but the art of the puzzle game is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles count as most engaged experiences globally continuing this trend for an extended period.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals popular creative games for the title of best-selling game of all time; it also contends for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation with almost every other genre.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
To emphasize again, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators function at the hard edge of video game design, producing among essential manifestations of the video game form. Just like movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.
