As any major prize-giving event nears, you'll find a demand for introducing fresh award types to acknowledge unsung work and delight the spirits of enthusiasts dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. So would tabletop games, this being 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 possess a compelling case for why my demand remains most pressing and significant. Here's the proposal: We need a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and inevitably generate discussions resulting in unclear classifications. It's understandable that film award organizations avoid this approach. But it is a necessary evil within the realm of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies presently include genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these six categories successfully include numerous genres, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, all very different: building puzzles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur outstanding logic titles launched regularly without proper recognition in entertainment awards, except when they manage to fit for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition for anything during that awards season
- A different innovative game was excluded in 2019
- Popular arranging title was overlooked that year
- Limited numbers of puzzle games barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often small games, but the art behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles count as most popular titles worldwide continuing this trend for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with well-known building titles claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it also contends as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, while interacting with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these are games without proper classification during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers function at the demanding boundary game development, creating some of the purest expressions of gaming itself. Similar to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
