As any prominent awards ceremony nears, one notices a demand to include fresh award types to recognize underappreciated efforts and fill the spirits of followers who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer previously argued for a horror game category. That would rule. So would board games, this being someone's personal cause. Yet I need to apologize in advance if I try to elbow in front just as with other single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification for why my demand remains most pressing and important of all. The demand is this: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
Organizing Gaming Categories
Classifying creative works defies precise measurement; it’s very subjective, and typically start arguments resulting in unclear classifications. This explains why film award organizations avoid this approach. But it is an essential concession in the world of video games, which are so diverse they hardly constitute as a single art form.
To recognize the complete range of gaming accomplishments to gain proper attention, while allowing diverse titles to compete fairly, genre categories are essential.
Present Award Structure
The major gaming awards presently include genre categories for Action-oriented games, Adventure-action titles, RPG experiences, Combat games, Sim/Strategy, plus athletic and racing experiences. Together, these six categories successfully include many game types, making space possible for numerous titles.
This doesn't apply to logic-based experiences. No appropriate category exists to accommodate them. Think about these recent excellent titles, each quite distinct: the architectural riddles from a specific release, the pulse-pounding block-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. What category would fit them within current classifications? Simply put, no category fits.
Acknowledgment Issues
There are dozens outstanding logic titles released every year without proper recognition during gaming ceremonies, if they accidentally match classification types such as Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, and the highly challenging independent game categories.
- An iconic brain-teaser got overlooked for anything that year
- Another creative title missed out in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience was overlooked in 2021
- Just some logic titles barely qualified for small studio or handheld classifications
Significance of Puzzle Games
These are often modest productions, but the art behind logic titles is of massive significance. Well-known matching games rank among most engaged experiences globally and have been for over a decade.
The legendary block-stacking game challenges well-known building titles competing to become most purchased experience; it’s also in the running for best game of all time. Puzzle games are foundational within interactive entertainment, and they are in conversation with almost every other genre.
The Solution and Justification
Puzzle games wouldn’t have such difficulty. One could readily select a field of five interesting, varied, worthy titles annually without trouble — or rather, with difficulty, given the need to exclude many worthy titles.
To emphasize again, these are games without proper classification during prominent ceremonies. Puzzle game makers function at the challenging frontier game development, developing some of most fundamental forms of gaming itself. Just like film action specialists, they warrant appreciation. Don't make them wait decades.
