Whenever a prominent honors show nears, you'll find an outcry to include of new categories to acknowledge overlooked contributions and fill the spirits of enthusiasts with niche passions.
A fellow writer made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. So would board games, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. However, I must insist if I try to elbow in front because like all single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification for why my demand remains most pressing and important of all. Here's the proposal: There should be a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Categorizing art by genre isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and inevitably generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason movie academies avoid this approach. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise for the industry of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range it's challenging to consider them one unified medium.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, specific award classifications remain vital.
Existing Game Classification System
Leading game ceremonies presently include award types recognizing Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these six categories actually cover many game types, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, all very different: building puzzles in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. What category would fit them among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games published annually lacking appropriate categories during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated for anything that year
- Another imaginative release was excluded in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment recently
- Only a few brain-teasers scraped into niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
Commonly they're compact experiences, however the design of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games stand as most engaged experiences in the world continuing this trend for an extended period.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals famous sandbox experiences for the title of highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks to the art of video games, while interacting with diverse game types.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Logic titles wouldn't face that issue. One could readily select five nominees interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these include experiences lacking appropriate categories in important events. Brain-teaser creators function at the challenging frontier interactive creation, producing among essential manifestations of the video game form. Just like movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay decades.
