Whenever a significant honors show nears, there’s always an outcry for introducing additional classifications to acknowledge overlooked contributions and delight the spirits of fans who have specialized interests.
My colleague made the case for a horror game category. That would rule. So would board games, which is a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist when I prioritize since similar to blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case supporting my request remains most pressing and significant. Here's the proposal: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Categorizing art by genre defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and it will always spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why cinema institutions steer clear of genre categories. But it is a necessary evil for the industry of video games, which are so diverse they barely qualify one unified medium.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to be recognized, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
The major gaming awards presently include award types recognizing Action, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types effectively encompass a lot of ground, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
Different situation exists for puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere to accommodate them. Examine these examples from outstanding current releases, all very different: structural challenges in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, engaging interpersonal challenges in another game. What category would fit them among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
Acknowledgment Issues
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers launched regularly lacking appropriate categories during gaming ceremonies, except when they manage to fit award groups including Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition for anything during that awards season
- A different innovative game received no nominations during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored that year
- Only a few puzzle games managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
These are often modest productions, yet the craft of the puzzle game is of massive significance. Iconic mobile puzzle games stand as most engaged experiences globally and have been for many years.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with famous sandbox experiences claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational to the art of video games, while interacting with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. You could fill a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
And to reiterate, these are games that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Logic title developers are working at the hard edge of video game design, producing among the purest expressions of gaming itself. Just like film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
