Each time a major prize-giving event approaches, you'll find an outcry to include additional classifications to honor unsung work and satisfy the hearts of fans with niche passions.
My colleague made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. Equally deserving are board games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize because like all blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification backing this proposal is the most urgent above others. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents an essential concession within the realm of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they hardly constitute one unified medium.
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
The major gaming awards presently include award types recognizing Action, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these award types successfully include many game types, and you can find room accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears for their placement. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, all very different: structural challenges of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
Acknowledgment Issues
Numerous examples exist of brilliant puzzle games published annually that have no home at major award shows, if they accidentally match classification types such as Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging Indie races.
- A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated in any category that year
- Another imaginative release received no nominations in 2019
- A beloved organization game got ignored in 2021
- Only a few puzzle games scraped into small studio or handheld classifications
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're small games, yet the craft in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles count as most popular titles worldwide continuing this trend for many years.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals famous sandbox experiences competing to become 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 engaging across multiple categories.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. You could fill multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these include experiences lacking appropriate categories at major gaming awards. Logic title developers operate at the challenging frontier of video game design, producing among most fundamental forms of the video game form. Just like cinema stunt performers, they warrant appreciation. We shouldn't delay 35 years.
