Whenever a prominent honors show draws close, you'll find a demand for the addition fresh award types to honor unsung work and fill the spirits of followers with niche passions.
My colleague previously argued supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are board games, which is someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal stands as crucial and significant. This is the request: We need a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and it will always start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that movie academies don’t do it. But it is an unavoidable compromise within the realm of video games, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, specific award classifications remain vital.
Existing Game Classification System
Prominent interactive entertainment events presently include classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these classifications actually cover numerous genres, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. What category would fit them among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles launched regularly without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, except when they manage to fit for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked in any category that year
- A different innovative game missed out in 2019
- A beloved organization game got ignored in 2021
- Just some brain-teasers managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're compact experiences, yet the craft behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games rank among the most-played games worldwide and have been for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game challenges well-known building titles claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it also contends for best game of all time. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. One could readily select a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these include experiences that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Brain-teaser creators are working at the challenging frontier game development, producing among the purest expressions of gaming itself. Just like movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
