As any prominent awards ceremony draws close, one notices a demand for introducing additional classifications to acknowledge unsung work and delight the hearts of fans with niche passions.
A fellow writer previously argued for a horror game category. That would rule. The same goes for tabletop games, which is a dedicated supporter's campaign. However, I must insist if I try to elbow in front since similar to single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification backing this proposal remains most pressing and significant. Here's the proposal: We need a classification for brain-teasing titles.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; it remains highly personal, and typically start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. This explains why movie academies don’t do it. However, it represents an essential concession in the world of gaming, which are so diverse they hardly constitute as a single art form.
To recognize the complete range of interactive entertainment excellence to receive acknowledgment, and for games of all stripes to have a chance for representation, classification by type becomes crucial.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies currently feature classifications covering Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, Role-Playing, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, and Sports/Racing games. Collectively, these award types actually cover numerous genres, and you can find room for most games within them.
Not so for logic-based experiences. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Consider three of this year’s best games, showing diverse approaches: structural challenges of one title, fast-paced pattern recognition in a different title, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles from additional release. Which classification works within current classifications? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens excellent brain-teasers launched regularly lacking appropriate categories at major award shows, except when they manage to fit award groups including Handheld titles, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game wasn’t nominated in any category during that awards season
- A different innovative game received no nominations that year
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored that year
- Limited numbers of logic titles managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Significance of Puzzle Games
Commonly they're small games, yet the craft of the puzzle game is of massive significance. Iconic mobile puzzle games stand as the most-played games globally maintaining this status for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game rivals popular creative games claiming status as highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and they are in conversation across multiple categories.
Proposal and Rationale
Logic titles wouldn't face this problem. You could fill a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games annually without trouble — actually, with challenge, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these represent titles that otherwise have no home in important events. Puzzle game makers function at the challenging frontier of video game design, developing some of most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Just like cinema stunt performers, they merit acknowledgment. Let’s not keep them waiting decades.
