As any major honors show nears, you'll find a clamor for the addition fresh award types to acknowledge overlooked contributions and fill the passions of enthusiasts who have specialized interests.
A fellow writer made the case for a horror game category. That would be fantastic. Equally deserving are board games, which is someone's personal cause. However, I must insist for pushing forward because like all single-minded supporters, there's a strong justification supporting my request remains most pressing and important of all. The demand is this: It's essential to create a category for puzzle games.
The Genre Classification Challenge
Classifying creative works isn't exact; it remains highly personal, and typically generate discussions concluding with vague boundaries. It's understandable that movie academies steer clear of genre categories. But it is an essential concession in the world of interactive entertainment, showing incredible range they barely qualify a single creative category.
For comprehensive acknowledgment of achievement in video games to receive acknowledgment, and to ensure all game types to receive proper recognition, genre categories are essential.
Current Gaming Award Categories
Leading game ceremonies currently feature classifications covering Action-oriented games, Action/Adventure, RPG experiences, Combat games, Simulation and strategy titles, and Sports/Racing games. Between them, these classifications actually cover numerous genres, allowing placement for numerous titles.
Different situation exists for logic-based experiences. No suitable classification appears for their placement. Think about these recent excellent titles, showing diverse approaches: building puzzles of one title, intense tile-matching from another release, and the sweetly sociological logic puzzles in another game. What category would fit them between these six categories? Unfortunately, nowhere.
The Representation Problem
There are dozens of brilliant puzzle games published annually that have no home at major award shows, if they accidentally match award groups including Mobile Game, Virtual reality experiences, or the intensely contested independent game categories.
- One classic puzzle game got overlooked for anything during that awards season
- A different innovative game received no nominations in 2019
- Well-received sorting experience received no acknowledgment that year
- Just some puzzle games scraped into niche award types
Significance of Puzzle Games
Frequently they represent small games, but the art of the puzzle game holds tremendous importance. Well-known matching games count as most popular titles in the world maintaining this status for many years.
The famous puzzle experience challenges famous sandbox experiences competing to become highest-selling title ever; it additionally competes for top gaming experience. Logic titles represent cornerstones for gaming as medium, while interacting across multiple categories.
The Solution and Justification
Brain-teasers wouldn't encounter that issue. You could fill a field of five with fascinating, diverse, deserving games every year with ease — actually, with challenge, since numerous excellent numerous deserving experiences.
Restating the point, these represent titles without proper classification at major gaming awards. Puzzle game makers operate at the hard edge of video game design, creating some of essential manifestations of gaming itself. Just like movie stunt professionals, they deserve recognition. Let’s not keep them waiting 35 years.
