Whenever a significant honors show draws close, you'll find a clamor for introducing fresh award types to recognize underappreciated efforts and satisfy the hearts of fans dedicated to specific genres.
Another commentator previously argued supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. Equally deserving are tabletop games, which is someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front because like all single-minded supporters, I possess a compelling case supporting my request remains most pressing and important of all. This is the request: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Classifying creative works is not a science; it remains highly personal, and it will always start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason cinema institutions avoid this approach. But it is an essential concession in the world of video games, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to receive acknowledgment, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, specific award classifications remain vital.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events presently include award types recognizing Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these six categories successfully include a lot of ground, and you can find room for most games within them.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Think about these recent excellent titles, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Which classification works between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.
Acknowledgment Issues
There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games released every year without proper recognition in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify classification types such as Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated in any category during that awards season
- Another creative title was excluded during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked that year
- Only a few logic titles managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're small games, but the art in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games count as the most-played games in the world and have been for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game challenges well-known building titles competing to become highest-selling title ever; it also contends for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Puzzle games wouldn’t have that issue. You could fill five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Logic title developers operate at the challenging frontier of video game design, producing among the purest expressions of the video game form. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
