Each time a significant awards ceremony nears, you'll find a clamor to include of new categories to honor underappreciated efforts and fill the spirits of enthusiasts with niche passions.
Another commentator previously argued for a horror game category. That would rule. So would tabletop games, this being someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize since similar to blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal is the most urgent 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 typically start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that cinema institutions avoid this approach. However, it represents a necessary evil within the realm of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards offer these award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these classifications successfully include many game types, allowing placement for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Consider three of outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: structural challenges of one title, intense tile-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. What category would fit them between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games launched regularly that have no home during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match classification types such as Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game received no recognition for anything that year
- Another imaginative release was excluded in 2019
- A beloved organization game got ignored in 2021
- Only a few logic titles barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
Commonly they're compact experiences, yet the craft behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles count as most popular titles globally and have been for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with well-known building titles competing to become most purchased experience; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. You could fill a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these represent titles that otherwise have no home in important events. Logic title developers are working at the challenging frontier game development, creating some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
