Whenever a major prize-giving event draws close, you'll find a demand for the addition of new categories to recognize unsung work and satisfy the hearts of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. The same goes for tabletop games, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward because like all dedicated enthusiasts, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal is the most urgent and significant. Here's the proposal: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; opinions vary greatly, and it will always generate discussions and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that film award organizations avoid this approach. But it is an unavoidable compromise for the industry of video games, showing incredible range it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies offer these classifications covering Action, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types successfully include a lot of ground, making space possible accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears for their placement. Consider three of this year’s best games, each quite distinct: structural challenges from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.
Recognition Challenges
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers launched regularly without proper recognition at major award shows, if they accidentally match classification types such as Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser received no recognition completely that year
- A different innovative game was excluded in 2019
- Popular arranging title was overlooked recently
- Limited numbers of brain-teasers scraped into independent or mobile categories
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often modest productions, but the art in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles stand as most popular titles worldwide continuing this trend for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title rivals famous sandbox experiences claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it also contends for best game of all time. Logic titles represent cornerstones to the art of video games, and they are in conversation with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — perhaps, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
Restating the point, these are games without proper classification in important events. Logic title developers operate at the challenging frontier game development, creating some of most fundamental forms of the video game form. Similar to film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
