Whenever a major awards ceremony draws close, one notices a clamor for the addition fresh award types to recognize underappreciated efforts and satisfy the hearts of fans who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer has already made supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, representing someone's personal cause. However, I must insist for pushing forward because like all blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification supporting my request is the most urgent above others. Here's the proposal: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Categorizing Game Types
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and typically generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents an essential concession for the industry of interactive entertainment, which are so diverse they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, specific award classifications remain vital.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these classifications actually cover many game types, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
Different situation exists for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, all very different: building puzzles in a particular game, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Which classification works between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens outstanding logic titles released every year lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, except when they manage to fit award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated in any category that year
- Another imaginative release missed out during that ceremony
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment that year
- Limited numbers of logic titles scraped into independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
Frequently they represent small games, yet the craft in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games stand as most engaged experiences in the world maintaining this status for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals well-known building titles claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones to the art of video games, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face such difficulty. One could readily select multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these include experiences lacking appropriate categories in important events. Brain-teaser creators are working at the hard edge game development, developing some of most fundamental forms within interactive entertainment. Comparable to film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay decades.
