Whenever a major honors show nears, one notices an outcry for the addition of new categories to honor underappreciated efforts and fill the passions of followers with niche passions.
Another commentator has already made for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are tabletop games, this being someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me if I try to elbow in front since similar to single-minded supporters, I possess a compelling case for why my demand remains most pressing above others. The demand is this: We need a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Organizing artistic expressions defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and typically start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that film award organizations avoid this approach. Yet it remains an essential concession in the world of gaming, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these award types effectively encompass many game types, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
Not so for logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears to put them. Think about these outstanding current releases, all very different: building puzzles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. What category would fit them among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers released every year without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, except when they manage to fit award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game received no recognition for anything during that awards season
- A different innovative game received no nominations that year
- A beloved organization game was overlooked in 2021
- Just some logic titles managed to sneak into niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often compact experiences, yet the craft of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Well-known matching games stand as the most-played games in the world continuing this trend for many years.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with well-known building titles for the title of most purchased experience; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, and engaging with diverse game types.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. One could readily select multiple candidates with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these include experiences without proper classification at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers are working at the hard edge interactive creation, producing among most fundamental forms of the video game form. Similar to movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait generations.
