Whenever a significant awards ceremony nears, one notices an outcry for introducing additional classifications to acknowledge overlooked contributions and fill the hearts of followers with niche passions.
Another commentator made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. The same goes for board games, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward since similar to single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification backing this proposal remains most pressing and significant. The demand is this: We need a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Classifying creative works isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and typically spark debates concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why cinema institutions avoid this approach. However, it represents a necessary evil within the realm of video games, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute one unified medium.
To recognize the complete range of achievement in video games to be recognized, and to ensure all game types to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these classifications covering Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these classifications effectively encompass a lot of ground, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears for their placement. Consider three of outstanding current releases, showing diverse approaches: the architectural riddles from a specific release, intense tile-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios of a third title. What category would fit them within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur outstanding logic titles published annually without proper recognition at major award shows, except when they manage to fit award groups including Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser wasn’t nominated for anything that year
- A different innovative game missed out in 2019
- Popular arranging title was overlooked that year
- Only a few logic titles barely qualified for niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
Commonly they're small games, but the art in brain-teasers carries substantial weight. Iconic mobile puzzle games rank among most popular titles in the world and have been for an extended period.
The famous puzzle experience rivals popular creative games for the title of most purchased experience; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Logic titles represent cornerstones to the art of video games, and engaging with diverse game types.
Recommendation and Reasoning
Logic titles wouldn't face that issue. You could fill five nominees with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — or rather, with difficulty, since numerous excellent many worthy titles.
And to reiterate, these represent titles that otherwise have no home in important events. Logic title developers function at the challenging frontier game development, creating some of most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Comparable to film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. Don't make them wait decades.