As any significant awards ceremony approaches, you'll find a clamor for the addition of new categories to honor underappreciated efforts and delight the passions of followers who have specialized interests.
Another commentator has already made for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are tabletop games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize since similar to dedicated enthusiasts, there's a strong justification supporting my request remains most pressing and important of all. This is the request: It's essential to create a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works is not a science; it remains highly personal, and typically spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason cinema institutions avoid this approach. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise for the industry of video games, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
Leading game ceremonies currently feature award types recognizing Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these classifications actually cover a lot of ground, allowing placement for numerous titles.
Not so for puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to put them. Think about these recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: the architectural riddles of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. What category would fit them within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games published annually that have no home at major award shows, if they accidentally match award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated completely during that awards season
- Another creative title was excluded that year
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked recently
- Only a few puzzle games managed to sneak into niche award types
Significance of Puzzle Games
Frequently they represent modest productions, but the art in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Iconic mobile puzzle games stand as most popular titles worldwide continuing this trend for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals well-known building titles competing to become most purchased experience; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, and they are in conversation with almost every other genre.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. One could readily select multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these are games lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers function at the demanding boundary of video game design, producing among most fundamental forms of the video game form. Just like cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
