Each time a significant awards ceremony draws close, you'll find a demand to include of new categories to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and fill the hearts of followers dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. That would rule. So would board games, this being someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward because like all blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request remains most pressing above others. This is the request: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and it will always spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason cinema institutions don’t do it. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise within the realm of gaming, that demonstrate such variety it's challenging to consider them one unified medium.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to be recognized, while allowing diverse titles to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies presently include genre categories for Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Between them, these award types actually cover many game types, making space possible for most games within them.
Not so for puzzle games. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, all very different: the architectural riddles of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges from additional release. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games launched regularly lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, if they accidentally match classification types such as Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition for anything during that awards season
- A different innovative game received no nominations in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment recently
- Just some logic titles scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often modest productions, but the art of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games count as most engaged experiences worldwide continuing this trend for an extended period.
The famous puzzle experience competes with famous sandbox experiences claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it also contends for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. One could readily select a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these are games without proper classification at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers operate at the hard edge of video game design, producing among essential manifestations of gaming itself. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait generations.
