Each time a major awards ceremony approaches, there’s always an outcry to include fresh award types to recognize unsung work and delight the passions of followers with niche passions.
A fellow writer previously argued for a horror game category. That would rule. The same goes for board games, which is a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front because like all single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification for why my demand stands as crucial above others. This is the request: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why cinema institutions don’t do it. Yet it remains an essential concession within the realm of gaming, which are so diverse they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards offer these genre categories for Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these award types effectively encompass a lot of ground, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Think about these this year’s best games, all very different: structural challenges in a particular game, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. What category would fit them between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games published annually without proper recognition at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition in any category that year
- A different innovative game received no nominations that year
- Popular arranging title got ignored recently
- Only a few brain-teasers managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're small games, yet the craft in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles count as the most-played games worldwide maintaining this status for over a decade.
The famous puzzle experience challenges famous sandbox experiences competing to become best-selling game of all time; it also contends for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, while interacting across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. You could fill a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
Restating the point, these are games lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Logic title developers operate at the hard edge interactive creation, producing among the purest expressions of the video game form. Just like cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. Don't make them wait generations.