As any significant prize-giving event nears, you'll find a demand to include of new categories to honor overlooked contributions and satisfy the spirits of followers with niche passions.
My colleague has already made supporting a scary games classification. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, representing a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front just as with other blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification backing this proposal is the most urgent above others. This is the request: There should be a classification for brain-teasing titles.
Categorizing Game Types
Organizing artistic expressions is not a science; it’s very subjective, and it will always generate discussions resulting in unclear classifications. There’s a reason film award organizations don’t do it. But it is a necessary evil in the world of video games, showing incredible range they barely qualify one unified medium.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to receive proper recognition, specific award classifications remain vital.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies presently include award types recognizing Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types actually cover many game types, and you can find room for most games within them.
Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Think about these outstanding current releases, each quite distinct: structural challenges in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching in a different title, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. What category would fit them between these six categories? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers published annually lacking appropriate categories during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match classification types such as Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title got overlooked in any category that year
- A different innovative game missed out in 2019
- A beloved organization game got ignored in 2021
- Limited numbers of puzzle games scraped into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
Commonly they're modest productions, but the art in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among most engaged experiences globally maintaining this status for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game competes with popular creative games competing to become best-selling game of all time; it also contends for top gaming experience. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, while interacting with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have this problem. One could readily select a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these represent titles without proper classification at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators are working at the hard edge interactive creation, creating some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Similar to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait 35 years.
