Whenever a prominent honors show nears, one notices a demand for the addition additional classifications to acknowledge unsung work and delight the passions of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer has already made for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. The same goes for tabletop games, representing a passionate advocate's mission. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, I possess a compelling case backing this proposal remains most pressing above others. The demand is this: We need a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and inevitably start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. There’s a reason film award organizations don’t do it. Yet it remains a necessary evil in the world of video games, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
Leading game ceremonies offer these award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these award types actually cover a lot of ground, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Consider three of this year’s best games, all very different: the architectural riddles 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? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Acknowledgment Issues
There are dozens outstanding logic titles released every year that have no home in entertainment awards, if they accidentally match for categories like Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked for anything in 2014
- A different innovative game was excluded in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment recently
- Only a few logic titles scraped into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often modest productions, but the art behind logic titles is of massive significance. Well-known matching games rank among most engaged experiences in the world and have been for over a decade.
The famous puzzle experience rivals popular creative games competing to become best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. 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 this problem. One could readily select multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these represent titles without proper classification in important events. Brain-teaser creators are working at the challenging frontier of video game design, developing some of the purest expressions of gaming itself. Comparable to cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait decades.
