As any prominent honors show approaches, there’s always a demand for the addition fresh award types to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and fill the spirits of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
Another commentator previously argued advocating for terror-themed awards. That would rule. The same goes for board games, which is someone's personal cause. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward just as with other single-minded supporters, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal is the most urgent above others. The demand is this: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Categorizing art by genre isn't exact; opinions vary greatly, and typically start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. It's understandable that cinema institutions don’t do it. But it is a necessary evil for the industry of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they barely qualify a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of gaming accomplishments to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards currently feature genre categories for Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types actually cover many game types, making space possible for numerous titles.
Not so for brain-teasing titles. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Examine these examples from recent excellent titles, all very different: the architectural riddles of one title, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Where could they possibly go between these six categories? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur excellent brain-teasers released every year without proper recognition in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify award groups including Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated in any category during that awards season
- A different innovative game was excluded that year
- Popular arranging title was overlooked in 2021
- Just some puzzle games managed to sneak into niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
Frequently they represent small games, however the design behind logic titles carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games stand as most engaged experiences in the world continuing this trend for an extended period.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with popular creative games claiming status as best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, while interacting with almost every other genre.
Proposal and Rationale
Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. One could readily select a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
Restating the point, these are games that otherwise have no home during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers function at the hard edge of video game design, developing some of most fundamental forms within interactive entertainment. Just like movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
