As any major awards ceremony nears, you'll find a demand to include fresh award types to acknowledge underappreciated efforts and satisfy the passions of followers dedicated to specific genres.
A fellow writer has already made advocating for terror-themed awards. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are strategy board titles, representing a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance when I prioritize since similar to blinkered fanatics, I possess a compelling case supporting my request is the most urgent and important of all. This is the request: We need a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works is not a science; it’s very subjective, and inevitably spark debates and end in fuzzy definitions. It's understandable that cinema institutions avoid this approach. However, it represents a necessary evil for the industry of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range it's challenging to consider them one unified medium.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies currently feature award types recognizing Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these six categories effectively encompass a lot of ground, making space possible for most games within them.
Not so for logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears to accommodate them. Consider three of this year’s best games, each quite distinct: structural challenges in a particular game, intense tile-matching from another release, thought-provoking social scenarios from additional release. Where could they possibly go within current classifications? Nowhere, that’s where.
Recognition Challenges
Many instances occur outstanding logic titles launched regularly that have no home at major award shows, if they accidentally match classification types such as Handheld titles, VR/AR Game, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked for anything that year
- Another creative title was excluded during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored that year
- Limited numbers of brain-teasers managed to sneak into niche award types
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often compact experiences, but the art behind logic titles holds tremendous importance. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most popular titles worldwide continuing this trend for over a decade.
The iconic tile-matching title challenges popular creative games competing to become most purchased experience; it additionally competes for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, and engaging with diverse game types.
Proposal and Rationale
Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. It would be easy to populate multiple candidates engaging, different, qualified experiences every year with ease — or rather, with difficulty, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these are games lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers operate at the hard edge interactive creation, creating some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Comparable to cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.
