As any major prize-giving event draws close, one notices an outcry for the addition of new categories to acknowledge overlooked contributions and fill the passions of enthusiasts dedicated to specific genres.
Another commentator has already made supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are board games, representing someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front just as with other blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand is the most urgent and important of all. This is the request: We need a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Classifying creative works isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and typically start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that movie academies don’t do it. However, it represents a necessary evil within the realm of video games, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards currently feature classifications covering Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Between them, these six categories effectively encompass numerous genres, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to put them. Think about these this year’s best games, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles of one title, intense tile-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. Which classification works between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur outstanding logic titles launched regularly lacking appropriate categories in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested Indie races.
- A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated for anything that year
- Another imaginative release missed out in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored recently
- Just some logic titles scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often modest productions, but the art of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games stand as most engaged experiences worldwide and have been for many years.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with famous sandbox experiences competing to become best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks to the art of video games, and they are in conversation with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. You could fill five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.
To emphasize again, these represent titles that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators operate at the challenging frontier game development, developing some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay generations.
