As any significant prize-giving event approaches, you'll find a clamor for the addition additional classifications to acknowledge overlooked contributions and delight the hearts of followers dedicated to specific genres.
A fellow writer made the case for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are board games, this being a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward because like all dedicated enthusiasts, there's a strong justification supporting my request stands as crucial and significant. The demand is this: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason cinema institutions don’t do it. Yet it remains an essential concession in the world of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute a single creative category.
For the full spectrum of gaming accomplishments to be recognized, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these classifications effectively encompass a lot of ground, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Think about these this year’s best games, each quite distinct: building puzzles of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.
Acknowledgment Issues
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers released every year without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested small studio competitions.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked completely that year
- A different innovative game received no nominations in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored recently
- Just some logic titles barely qualified for niche award types
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often compact experiences, yet the craft in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games stand as most popular titles in the world and have been for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game challenges well-known building titles for the title of highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, while interacting across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. It would be easy to populate five nominees interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these include experiences that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers function at the demanding boundary of video game design, producing among most fundamental forms within interactive entertainment. Comparable to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait decades.
