Whenever a significant prize-giving event approaches, one notices an outcry for the addition of new categories to recognize unsung work and satisfy the spirits of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, this being someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me when I prioritize because like all single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand stands as crucial and important of all. Here's the proposal: We need a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Classifying creative works isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason film award organizations avoid this approach. However, it represents an essential concession in the world of gaming, that demonstrate such variety they barely qualify as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events presently include classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these six categories successfully include a lot of ground, making space possible for numerous titles.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, all very different: structural challenges 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 among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers published annually lacking appropriate categories in entertainment awards, except when they manage to fit for categories like Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game received no recognition in any category during that awards season
- A different innovative game received no nominations in 2019
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment recently
- Only a few brain-teasers scraped into independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often modest productions, but the art behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most popular titles globally maintaining this status for an extended period.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals well-known building titles claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. You could fill a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these are games lacking appropriate categories in important events. Puzzle game makers are working at the demanding boundary game development, creating some of the purest expressions within interactive entertainment. Just like cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait generations.
