Whenever a prominent honors show nears, there’s always an outcry for introducing fresh award types to honor underappreciated efforts and satisfy the spirits of enthusiasts dedicated to specific genres.
A fellow writer has already made supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. So would board games, representing 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 backing this proposal is the most urgent and important of all. The demand is this: There should be a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; it remains highly personal, and typically start arguments resulting in unclear classifications. There’s a reason movie academies avoid this approach. Yet it remains a necessary evil for the industry of gaming, showing incredible range it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, while allowing diverse titles to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events presently include genre categories for Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these classifications effectively encompass a lot of ground, making space possible for most games within them.
Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears for their placement. Think about these this year’s best games, all very different: the architectural riddles in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. Which classification works between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur outstanding logic titles published annually without proper recognition in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match classification types such as Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition completely that year
- Another creative title was excluded in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Limited numbers of puzzle games scraped into niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent compact experiences, but the art behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among the most-played games in the world and have been for many years.
The famous puzzle experience challenges famous sandbox experiences claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, and engaging with almost every other genre.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. One could readily select a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
To emphasize again, these include experiences lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers function at the challenging frontier of video game design, producing among the purest expressions of the video game form. Similar to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
