Whenever a major awards ceremony approaches, one notices a clamor to include fresh award types to acknowledge overlooked contributions and delight the hearts of fans with niche passions.
A fellow writer previously argued for a horror game category. That would rule. The same goes for tabletop games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me 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 above others. The demand is this: We need an award type for logic-based games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and inevitably generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason movie academies don’t do it. But it is an unavoidable compromise in the world of video games, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types effectively encompass numerous genres, making space possible for numerous titles.
Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, all very different: the architectural riddles of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, engaging interpersonal challenges from additional release. Which classification works within current classifications? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games released every year without proper recognition at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked completely during that awards season
- Another creative title was excluded that year
- A beloved organization game was overlooked recently
- Only a few brain-teasers scraped into niche award types
Significance of Puzzle Games
Commonly they're compact experiences, however the design in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games rank among most engaged experiences in the world maintaining this status for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals well-known building titles for the title of highest-selling title ever; it also contends for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, while interacting across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. You could fill five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these include experiences that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers operate at the demanding boundary game development, developing some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
