As any prominent awards ceremony approaches, one notices a clamor for introducing fresh award types to honor underappreciated efforts and delight the passions of fans who have specialized interests.
Another commentator previously argued advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are tabletop games, representing someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front just as with other single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification for why my demand stands as crucial and important of all. The demand is this: We need a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably spark debates resulting in unclear classifications. This explains why cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. But it is an essential concession in the world of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards presently include award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these classifications effectively encompass numerous genres, making space possible for numerous titles.
Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears for their placement. Think about these this year’s best games, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. Which classification works among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens outstanding logic titles released every year without proper recognition in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game received no recognition for anything that year
- Another creative title was excluded in 2019
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Limited numbers of logic titles barely qualified for niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often compact experiences, but the art behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games rank among most popular titles globally maintaining this status for many years.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with famous sandbox experiences for the title of best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks to the art of video games, and engaging with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. You could fill a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers function at the hard edge game development, developing some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay generations.
