As any significant prize-giving event nears, there’s always a clamor to include fresh award types to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and delight the spirits of followers with niche passions.
Another commentator made the case for a horror game category. That would rule. Equally deserving are board games, representing a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist for pushing forward since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, I possess a compelling case for why my demand remains most pressing above others. Here's the proposal: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and typically start arguments resulting in unclear classifications. It's understandable that film award organizations avoid this approach. Yet it remains a necessary evil in the world of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify one unified medium.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards presently include award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these classifications effectively encompass numerous genres, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
Not so for puzzle games. No appropriate category exists to put them. Think about these this year’s best games, all very different: building puzzles in a particular game, intense tile-matching in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers launched regularly lacking appropriate categories during gaming ceremonies, except when they manage to fit for categories like Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated for anything that year
- Another creative title was excluded during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored recently
- Just some puzzle games managed to sneak into niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent compact experiences, but the art of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles stand as most popular titles in the world continuing this trend for many years.
The famous puzzle experience challenges famous sandbox experiences claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones to the art of video games, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Puzzle games wouldn’t have that issue. One could readily select five nominees interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
And to reiterate, these include experiences lacking appropriate categories in important events. Puzzle game makers operate at the hard edge interactive creation, creating some of most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Comparable to cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.
