As any significant prize-giving event draws close, there’s always an outcry for the addition of new categories to recognize overlooked contributions and delight the passions of followers dedicated to specific genres.
My colleague previously argued for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are tabletop games, representing a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front because like all single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification backing this proposal is the most urgent and important of all. The demand is this: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and inevitably start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that movie academies steer clear of genre categories. Yet it remains an essential concession within the realm of video games, showing incredible range they barely qualify a single creative category.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, while allowing diverse titles to compete fairly, specific award classifications remain vital.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these genre categories for Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Together, these award types actually cover numerous genres, and you can find room for numerous titles.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Examine these examples from this year’s best games, all very different: the architectural riddles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Where could they possibly go among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers published annually that have no home at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive small studio competitions.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked in any category that year
- Another imaginative release missed out during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked recently
- Only a few logic titles scraped into niche award types
Significance of Puzzle Games
Frequently they represent modest productions, yet the craft in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games rank among most engaged experiences worldwide maintaining this status for many years.
The famous puzzle experience challenges famous sandbox experiences for the title of most purchased experience; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks within interactive entertainment, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. One could readily select multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, because you’d have to leave so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these are games without proper classification in important events. Puzzle game makers are working at the hard edge of video game design, creating some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Similar to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. We shouldn't delay decades.
