Whenever a prominent awards ceremony draws close, you'll find a demand for introducing additional classifications to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and satisfy the hearts of followers who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer has already made for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. The same goes for tabletop games, representing someone's personal cause. However, I must insist if I try to elbow in front because like all dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request is the most urgent and important of all. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create an award type for logic-based games.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and typically spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that movie academies avoid this approach. Yet it remains an essential concession for the industry of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.
Existing Game Classification System
Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these six categories successfully include numerous genres, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Think about these recent excellent titles, all very different: the architectural riddles from a specific release, intense tile-matching in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur outstanding logic titles published annually that have no home in entertainment awards, except when they manage to fit for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated completely that year
- A different innovative game received no nominations in 2019
- A beloved organization game got ignored in 2021
- Limited numbers of puzzle games managed to sneak into niche award types
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often compact experiences, however the design in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles count as most popular titles in the world and have been for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with popular creative games for the title of highest-selling title ever; it also contends as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, while interacting with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. You could fill five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
Restating the point, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers are working at the challenging frontier of video game design, creating some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Comparable to movie stunt professionals, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay decades.
