Each time a prominent honors show nears, there’s always an outcry for the addition of new categories to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and fill the spirits of followers with niche passions.
My colleague made the case advocating for terror-themed awards. It would be amazing. The same goes for board games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward just as with other blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification backing this proposal remains most pressing above others. This is the request: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and it will always generate discussions resulting in unclear classifications. There’s a reason cinema institutions avoid this approach. However, it represents an essential concession in the world of video games, showing incredible range they hardly constitute as a single art form.
To recognize the complete range of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, specific award classifications remain vital.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards currently feature award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these classifications successfully include numerous genres, and you can find room for most games within them.
Different situation exists for brain-teasing titles. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Where could they possibly go among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens outstanding logic titles launched regularly lacking appropriate categories during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match award groups including Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game received no recognition for anything during that awards season
- Another creative title was excluded during that ceremony
- A beloved organization game received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Only a few puzzle games managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often small games, yet the craft in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles stand as most popular titles in the world maintaining this status for many years.
The iconic tile-matching title challenges famous sandbox experiences for the title of most purchased experience; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Logic titles represent cornerstones to the art of video games, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. One could readily select five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
To emphasize again, these represent titles that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Logic title developers are working at the hard edge game development, producing among essential manifestations of the video game form. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
