Each time a significant awards ceremony nears, one notices an outcry for introducing of new categories to acknowledge overlooked contributions and fill the passions of fans who have specialized interests.
Another commentator made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. Equally deserving are tabletop games, which is a passionate advocate's mission. Yet I need to apologize in advance for pushing forward just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, there's a strong justification backing this proposal is the most urgent and significant. The demand is this: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Categorizing art by genre isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and it will always start arguments and end in fuzzy definitions. This explains why movie academies don’t do it. But it is an unavoidable compromise in the world of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety it's challenging to consider them one unified medium.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Present Award Structure
Prominent interactive entertainment events offer these classifications covering Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these classifications actually cover numerous genres, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. No appropriate category exists for their placement. Consider three of this year’s best games, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles from a specific release, fast-paced pattern recognition 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 outstanding logic titles launched regularly that have no home during gaming ceremonies, except when they manage to fit classification types such as Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked completely that year
- Another creative title received no nominations in 2019
- A beloved organization game got ignored that year
- Just some logic titles barely qualified for independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
Commonly they're small games, however the design of the puzzle game carries substantial weight. Famous handheld logic titles rank among most engaged experiences worldwide continuing this trend for many years.
The famous puzzle experience challenges popular creative games claiming status as most purchased experience; it also contends for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, and engaging with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter such difficulty. It would be easy to populate a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, because you’d have to leave so many good games out.
Restating the point, these include experiences that otherwise have no home in important events. Puzzle game makers are working at the challenging frontier of video game design, creating some of the purest expressions of gaming itself. Similar to cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait generations.
