Each time a prominent honors show approaches, you'll find an outcry for introducing of new categories to acknowledge overlooked contributions and fill the passions of followers dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague previously argued supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. Equally deserving are tabletop games, representing someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward since similar to single-minded supporters, 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.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and typically spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that cinema institutions don’t do it. Yet it remains a necessary evil in the world of gaming, showing incredible range it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, specific award classifications remain vital.
Present Award Structure
Leading game ceremonies currently feature award types recognizing Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Between them, these six categories actually cover numerous genres, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Consider three of this year’s best games, each quite distinct: structural challenges of one title, intense tile-matching in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Nowhere, that’s where.
Acknowledgment Issues
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games launched regularly without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, except when they manage to fit for categories like Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition in any category that year
- A different innovative game missed out in 2019
- A beloved organization game got ignored that year
- Limited numbers of brain-teasers managed to sneak into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
Frequently they represent compact experiences, but the art in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles stand as most popular titles globally maintaining this status for an extended period.
The famous puzzle experience rivals popular creative games competing to become best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, and engaging with almost every other genre.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. It would be easy to populate five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these represent titles without proper classification during prominent ceremonies. Logic title developers are working at the challenging frontier of video game design, producing among essential manifestations of gaming itself. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait 35 years.
