As any major prize-giving event nears, there’s always a demand for the addition additional classifications to honor overlooked contributions and delight the passions of followers who have specialized interests.
Another commentator has already made advocating for terror-themed awards. It would be amazing. Equally deserving are board games, representing a dedicated supporter's campaign. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front since similar to blinkered fanatics, I have a cast-iron argument backing this proposal is the most urgent and important of all. Here's the proposal: We need a category for puzzle games.
Categorizing Game Types
Classifying creative works 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. Yet it remains an unavoidable compromise for the industry of video games, which are so diverse it's challenging to consider them as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to gain proper attention, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
Leading game ceremonies presently include award types recognizing Action, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these award types successfully include numerous genres, allowing placement accommodating various experiences.
Not so for logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Consider three of this year’s best games, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles in a particular game, intense tile-matching of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles of a third title. Which classification works among existing types? Simply put, no category fits.
Acknowledgment Issues
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers released every year without proper recognition at major award shows, if they accidentally match award groups including Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the extremely competitive Indie races.
- A renowned logic title wasn’t nominated completely in 2014
- Another creative title received no nominations during that ceremony
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored recently
- Only a few puzzle games managed to sneak into small studio or handheld classifications
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often small games, yet the craft in brain-teasers holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games count as most engaged experiences globally maintaining this status for many years.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with famous sandbox experiences competing to become highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes as greatest title ever. Puzzle games are foundational for gaming as medium, and engaging across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. You could fill five nominees interesting, varied, worthy titles each ceremony simply — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
And to reiterate, these represent titles that otherwise have no home at major gaming awards. Brain-teaser creators function at the demanding boundary game development, creating some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Just like film action specialists, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting generations.
