Whenever a prominent honors show nears, you'll find a demand for introducing fresh award types to recognize overlooked contributions and delight the passions of enthusiasts with niche passions.
A fellow writer made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. That would rule. So would tabletop games, representing a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward since similar to blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification backing this proposal remains most pressing and significant. This is the request: We need a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and it will always start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains an essential concession for the industry of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events presently include genre categories for Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types effectively encompass a lot of ground, making space possible for most games within them.
Not so for logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists for their placement. Think about these this year’s best games, all very different: structural challenges of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games released every year without proper recognition at major award shows, except when they manage to fit classification types such as Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked in any category that year
- Another creative title missed out in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment recently
- Just some brain-teasers barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're modest productions, yet the craft behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games rank among the most-played games globally continuing this trend for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with famous sandbox experiences claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones to the art of video games, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. One could readily select five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these are games lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Brain-teaser creators operate at the challenging frontier interactive creation, creating some of essential manifestations within interactive entertainment. Comparable to cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. We shouldn't delay generations.
