As any major honors show draws close, one notices a clamor to include additional classifications to recognize overlooked contributions and fill the spirits of enthusiasts with niche passions.
A fellow writer previously argued advocating for terror-themed awards. 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 dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument for why my demand remains most pressing above others. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; it’s very subjective, and it will always start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. But it is an unavoidable compromise within the realm of video games, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
The major gaming awards currently feature award types recognizing Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these award types actually cover numerous genres, making space possible for numerous titles.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Think about these recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. Which classification works within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Recognition Challenges
Numerous examples exist outstanding logic titles published annually without proper recognition at major award shows, if they accidentally match classification types such as Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked in any category that year
- Another imaginative release received no nominations during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked that year
- Only a few brain-teasers scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're small games, but the art of the puzzle game is of massive significance. Famous handheld logic titles stand as the most-played games globally and have been for many years.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals well-known building titles competing to become best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks to the art of video games, while interacting with diverse game types.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. You could fill multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.
To emphasize again, these include experiences without proper classification in important events. Logic title developers operate at the demanding boundary game development, developing some of most fundamental forms of the video game form. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
