Whenever a major honors show nears, one notices a demand for introducing fresh award types to honor overlooked contributions and satisfy the spirits of followers with niche passions.
A fellow writer made the case for a horror game category. That would rule. The same goes for tabletop games, this being a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist for pushing forward since similar to blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request stands as crucial above others. The demand is this: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and typically generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. It's understandable that film award organizations avoid this approach. But it is a necessary evil for the industry of gaming, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, while allowing diverse titles to compete fairly, specific award classifications remain vital.
Present Award Structure
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these six categories successfully include numerous genres, making space possible for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. What category would fit them among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles released every year that have no home during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated in any category during that awards season
- A different innovative game missed out in 2019
- A beloved organization game was overlooked that year
- Only a few puzzle games scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent small games, yet the craft behind logic titles is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most popular titles globally and have been for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with 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, and engaging across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave numerous deserving experiences.
Restating the point, these are games lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Brain-teaser creators are working at the demanding boundary interactive creation, creating some of the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Just like movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
