Each time a major honors show draws close, you'll find a clamor for the addition additional classifications to recognize underappreciated efforts and satisfy the spirits of enthusiasts with niche passions.
A fellow writer has already made supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. Equally deserving are board games, which is someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize because like all blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case for why my demand remains most pressing and important of all. The demand is this: There should be an award type for logic-based games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Organizing artistic expressions isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and typically generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why film award organizations avoid this approach. But it is an essential concession within the realm of gaming, showing incredible range they hardly constitute a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, specific award classifications remain vital.
Existing Game Classification System
Leading game ceremonies presently include classifications covering Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these six categories successfully include many game types, allowing placement for numerous titles.
Not so for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Consider three of recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios in another game. What category would fit them between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.
Acknowledgment Issues
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles released every year that have no home at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify classification types such as Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated completely that year
- Another creative title was excluded in 2019
- Popular arranging title got ignored recently
- Just some logic titles barely qualified for niche award types
Significance of Puzzle Games
Commonly they're compact experiences, however the design in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most popular titles worldwide maintaining this status for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with popular creative games for the title of most purchased experience; it also contends for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. One could readily select five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
And to reiterate, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers operate at the demanding boundary interactive creation, producing among essential manifestations of the video game form. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. Don't make them wait 35 years.
