Whenever a prominent honors show approaches, there’s always an outcry to include additional classifications to acknowledge unsung work and satisfy the spirits of fans who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer previously argued advocating for terror-themed awards. That would be fantastic. So would board games, this being someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward just as with other single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal remains most pressing and significant. This is the request: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why cinema institutions don’t do it. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise within the realm of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they hardly constitute a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, specific award classifications remain vital.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards presently include genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these six categories actually cover numerous genres, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Consider three of this year’s best games, each quite distinct: structural challenges of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Nowhere, that’s where.
Recognition Challenges
Many instances occur outstanding logic titles published annually without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify classification types such as Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition completely during that awards season
- Another creative title received no nominations that year
- Popular arranging title got ignored in 2021
- Only a few logic titles scraped into niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often modest productions, however the design in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games count as most engaged experiences in the world and have been for an extended period.
The iconic tile-matching title challenges popular creative games for the title of best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, while interacting across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have that issue. It would be easy to populate a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave numerous deserving experiences.
Restating the point, these are games without proper classification at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers function at the challenging frontier interactive creation, developing some of the purest expressions of gaming itself. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.
