Each time a significant awards ceremony approaches, you'll find a demand for the addition of new categories to recognize underappreciated efforts and fill the passions of enthusiasts with niche passions.
A fellow writer made the case for a horror game category. It would be amazing. The same goes for board games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. However, I must insist for pushing forward since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, I possess a compelling case for why my demand is the most urgent and important of all. Here's the proposal: There should be a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and typically start arguments resulting in unclear classifications. This explains why movie academies steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains a necessary evil for the industry of video games, which are so diverse they hardly constitute a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards presently include genre categories for Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these six categories successfully include many game types, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to put them. Think about these this year’s best games, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles in a particular game, intense tile-matching in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Which classification works among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers launched regularly that have no home during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match classification types such as Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated in any category during that awards season
- Another imaginative release was excluded during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored recently
- Limited numbers of puzzle games barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're modest productions, but the art in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles count as most engaged experiences in the world and have been for over a decade.
The famous puzzle experience competes with famous sandbox experiences claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, while interacting across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. It would be easy to populate five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — actually, with challenge, because you’d have to leave so many good games out.
And to reiterate, these are games without proper classification in important events. Logic title developers function at the demanding boundary interactive creation, creating some of essential manifestations of the video game form. Just like movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait 35 years.
