Whenever a prominent awards ceremony draws close, you'll find an outcry for the addition of new categories to honor unsung work and delight the passions of fans with niche passions.
Another commentator made the case supporting a scary games classification. That would rule. So would strategy board titles, this being a dedicated supporter's campaign. But they will have to forgive me for pushing forward just as with other dedicated enthusiasts, I possess a compelling case for why my demand is the most urgent and important of all. The demand is this: We need a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works is not a science; it’s very subjective, and it will always generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. It's understandable that movie academies avoid this approach. However, it represents an essential concession in the world of interactive entertainment, that demonstrate such variety they hardly constitute one unified medium.
For the full spectrum of achievement in video games to be recognized, while allowing diverse titles to receive proper recognition, 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, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these six categories effectively encompass a lot of ground, and you can find room for most games within them.
Not so for puzzle games. No suitable classification appears to put them. Consider three of this year’s best games, each quite distinct: building puzzles in a particular game, intense tile-matching from another release, engaging interpersonal challenges of a third title. Which classification works among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
Numerous examples exist excellent brain-teasers released every year that have no home in entertainment awards, unless they happen to qualify for categories like Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested small studio competitions.
- A renowned logic title got overlooked in any category in 2014
- Another creative title received no nominations that year
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked in 2021
- Limited numbers of puzzle games managed to sneak into niche award types
Value of Brain-Teasers
Commonly they're small games, however the design in brain-teasers is of massive significance. Iconic mobile puzzle games count as the most-played games in the world continuing this trend for many years.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with well-known building titles for the title of best-selling game of all time; it’s also in the running as greatest title ever. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and engaging with diverse game types.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. It would be easy to populate a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these represent titles lacking appropriate categories during prominent ceremonies. Brain-teaser creators function at the hard edge interactive creation, developing some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Similar to film action specialists, they merit acknowledgment. Don't make them wait decades.
