Whenever a significant awards ceremony draws close, you'll find a demand to include of new categories to honor unsung work and satisfy the passions of fans with niche passions.
A fellow writer made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. That would rule. The same goes for board games, this being a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist for pushing forward because like all blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal stands as crucial and important of all. The demand is this: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and it will always spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that film award organizations don’t do it. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise in the world of video games, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify one unified medium.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature genre categories for Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Between them, these six categories effectively encompass many game types, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
Not so for puzzle games. No appropriate category exists for their placement. Consider three of recent excellent titles, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles in a particular game, intense tile-matching from another release, engaging interpersonal challenges of a third title. What category would fit them among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games launched regularly that have no home during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match for categories like Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated in any category that year
- A different innovative game received no nominations during that ceremony
- Popular arranging title was overlooked recently
- Just some logic titles barely qualified for niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
Frequently they represent modest productions, but the art behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles count as the most-played games in the world maintaining this status for an extended period.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with famous sandbox experiences competing to become best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, and engaging with almost every other genre.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. It would be easy to populate a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these are games lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers operate at the hard edge of video game design, creating some of essential manifestations within interactive entertainment. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
