As any major awards ceremony approaches, there’s always a clamor to include fresh award types to acknowledge overlooked contributions and delight the hearts of followers who have specialized interests.
My colleague has already made for a horror game category. It would be amazing. The same goes for tabletop games, which is a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist if I try to elbow in front just as with other blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case for why my demand remains most pressing above others. This is the request: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Categorizing art by genre is not a science; it’s very subjective, and typically spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why film award organizations steer clear of genre categories. However, it represents an unavoidable compromise for the industry of video games, which are so diverse they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these genre categories for Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these award types effectively encompass a lot of ground, and you can find room for numerous titles.
Different situation exists for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere to put them. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, all very different: structural challenges in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. Which classification works within current classifications? Unfortunately, nowhere.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur outstanding logic titles released every year lacking appropriate categories in entertainment awards, except when they manage to fit award groups including Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- One classic puzzle game received no recognition for anything during that awards season
- A different innovative game received no nominations in 2019
- Popular arranging title received no acknowledgment in 2021
- Limited numbers of brain-teasers managed to sneak into niche award types
Importance of Logic Titles
These are often modest productions, yet the craft behind logic titles is of massive significance. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as most engaged experiences globally continuing this trend for many years.
The famous puzzle experience competes with famous sandbox experiences claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones within interactive entertainment, and engaging across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter this problem. It would be easy to populate a field of five engaging, different, qualified experiences annually without trouble — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these include experiences that otherwise have no home in important events. Logic title developers are working at the demanding boundary interactive creation, producing among the purest expressions of the video game form. Just like cinema stunt performers, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
