Whenever a prominent awards ceremony nears, you'll find a clamor for the addition additional classifications to recognize overlooked contributions and satisfy the passions of followers who have specialized interests.
Another commentator previously argued advocating for terror-themed awards. It would be amazing. So would strategy board titles, this being someone's personal cause. However, I must insist when I prioritize because like all single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request stands as crucial above others. This is the request: There should be a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; it’s very subjective, and typically start arguments resulting in unclear classifications. There’s a reason cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise for the industry of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they barely qualify a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards presently include genre categories for Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these award types successfully include a lot of ground, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Think about these this year’s best games, all very different: structural challenges in a particular game, intense tile-matching of another game, engaging interpersonal challenges from additional release. What category would fit them among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers released every year that have no home during gaming ceremonies, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition completely during that awards season
- A different innovative game was excluded that year
- A beloved organization game was overlooked that year
- Limited numbers of puzzle games managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often modest productions, yet the craft in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles count as the most-played games globally and have been for an extended period.
The famous puzzle experience challenges famous sandbox experiences competing to become best-selling game of all time; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones to the art of video games, and engaging across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. It would be easy to populate five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these include experiences that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Logic title developers are working at the demanding boundary game development, developing some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Just like movie stunt professionals, they merit acknowledgment. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
