Whenever a significant awards ceremony draws close, you'll find a clamor for introducing of new categories to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and fill the spirits of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
Another commentator has already made advocating for terror-themed awards. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are tabletop games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward because like all blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification supporting my request remains most pressing and important of all. This is the request: We need a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; opinions vary greatly, and it will always start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason film award organizations don’t do it. But it is an unavoidable compromise within the realm of video games, which are so diverse they barely qualify a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, specific award classifications remain vital.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards offer these genre categories for Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these six categories actually cover a lot of ground, and you can find room for most games within them.
Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists for their placement. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, all very different: structural challenges in a particular game, intense tile-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Which classification works among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
Acknowledgment Issues
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers launched regularly without proper recognition in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match classification types such as Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition for anything that year
- Another imaginative release missed out that year
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment that year
- Limited numbers of puzzle games managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
Frequently they represent compact experiences, yet the craft behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among most popular titles globally continuing this trend for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with well-known building titles for the title of highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, and engaging with almost every other genre.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. One could readily select a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these represent titles that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers are working at the challenging frontier game development, creating some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Similar to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait generations.
