As any prominent honors show nears, there’s always a clamor to include additional classifications to honor underappreciated efforts and delight the spirits of enthusiasts dedicated to specific genres.
A fellow writer made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. The same goes for tabletop games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward just as with other blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case supporting my request is the most urgent and significant. The demand is this: We need a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and typically spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why movie academies avoid this approach. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise within the realm of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they barely qualify a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, while allowing diverse titles to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events presently include award types recognizing Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these classifications actually cover numerous genres, allowing placement for most games within them.
Not so for logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Consider three of outstanding current releases, showing diverse approaches: the architectural riddles of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
Acknowledgment Issues
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers published annually lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition for anything in 2014
- Another creative title missed out in 2019
- Popular arranging title got ignored recently
- Just some puzzle games scraped into niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often small games, yet the craft in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games rank among most engaged experiences worldwide maintaining this status for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game challenges famous sandbox experiences claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks to the art of video games, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. It would be easy to populate five nominees interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — actually, with challenge, because you’d have to leave so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these include experiences that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators are working at the challenging frontier game development, developing some of essential manifestations within interactive entertainment. Just like film action specialists, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
