As any significant awards ceremony approaches, there’s always a clamor for introducing fresh award types to honor unsung work and fill the spirits of followers who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer previously argued advocating for terror-themed awards. That would rule. Equally deserving are tabletop games, which is a passionate advocate's mission. However, I must insist for pushing forward because like all blinkered fanatics, there's a strong justification backing this proposal remains most pressing and important of all. The demand is this: There should be a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works is not a science; it remains highly personal, and inevitably start arguments concluding with vague boundaries. There’s a reason film award organizations avoid this approach. Yet it remains a necessary evil within the realm of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they hardly constitute as a single art form.
For the full spectrum of interactive entertainment excellence to gain proper attention, and for games of all stripes to compete fairly, classification by type becomes crucial.
Existing Game Classification System
Prominent interactive entertainment events currently feature classifications covering Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, Role-Playing, Fighting, Simulation and strategy titles, plus athletic and racing experiences. Collectively, these classifications actually cover many game types, making space possible for most games within them.
This doesn't apply to puzzle games. There’s simply nowhere for their placement. Think about these recent excellent titles, each quite distinct: structural challenges in a particular game, the pulse-pounding block-matching of another game, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. Where could they possibly go among existing types? Nowhere, that’s where.
The Representation Problem
Many instances occur of brilliant puzzle games released every year that have no home at major award shows, unless they happen to qualify classification types such as Mobile Game, VR/AR Game, and the highly challenging small studio competitions.
- A renowned logic title received no recognition for anything in 2014
- Another creative title received no nominations that year
- Well-received sorting experience got ignored in 2021
- Only a few logic titles managed to sneak into independent or mobile categories
Value of Brain-Teasers
Commonly they're compact experiences, but the art of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games stand as the most-played games globally continuing this trend for an extended period.
The iconic tile-matching title competes with famous sandbox experiences competing to become highest-selling title ever; it’s also in the running for top gaming experience. Brain-teasers form essential building blocks for gaming as medium, and engaging with diverse game types.
Proposal and Rationale
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. You could fill five nominees interesting, varied, worthy titles every year with ease — perhaps, with difficulty, since numerous excellent so many good games out.
To emphasize again, these represent titles without proper classification in important events. Brain-teaser creators are working at the challenging frontier interactive creation, creating some of the purest expressions of the video game form. Similar to film action specialists, they deserve recognition. Don't make them wait decades.
