Whenever a significant awards ceremony nears, there’s always an outcry for the addition fresh award types to honor unsung work and delight the spirits of fans with niche passions.
A fellow writer made the case supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are tabletop games, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front since similar to blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument supporting my request stands as crucial and important of all. Here's the proposal: We need a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. It's understandable that film award organizations avoid this approach. Yet it remains a necessary evil in the world of video games, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, specific award classifications remain vital.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards offer these award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories actually cover numerous genres, allowing placement for most games within them.
Different situation exists for puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Think about these recent excellent titles, each quite distinct: structural challenges from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges from additional release. Which classification works among existing types? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Acknowledgment Issues
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers published annually that have no home at major award shows, if they accidentally match for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested small studio competitions.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated for anything during that awards season
- A different innovative game received no nominations in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Only a few brain-teasers managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
Frequently they represent modest productions, but the art of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as the most-played games worldwide maintaining this status for many years.
The famous puzzle experience challenges well-known building titles claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it also contends as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, and engaging across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. One could readily select five nominees engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers are working at the challenging frontier of video game design, producing among essential manifestations within interactive entertainment. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait generations.
